It was a typical morning for Anna Rogers and her children, 9-year-old daughter Rynn and 6-year-old son Jackson, on a recent Wednesday in September. They just returned home from a trip to a nearby garden.
“Let’s read a couple of facts about one kind of owl,” Rogers said to them. “What kind do you all want to read about?”
Jackson told her he wants to hear about a bird he saw at a local wildlife and conservation center.
“There’s one at the Audubon and it’s stuffed and it’s, like, two feet long,” he said. “It’s huge.”
The family is doing a nature study and will make lunch right after. They follow a schedule of different subjects mixed in with interactive learning and extracurriculars, like jiu jitsu and indoor rock climbing.
Rynn said one of her favorite things is poetry, which she and her brother recite from memory during that morning’s class.
“My favorite subject is when me and mom do writing,” Rynn said.
Rogers said Rynn did kindergarten at home, then first and second grades at public school.
Ultimately, Rogers and her husband opted into homeschooling both children as a more flexible alternative to public school.
“And not have them be on screens, but really dive into things like books and art and experiences,” said Rogers.
More and more families in Montana are choosing a self-paced education.
According to data from the Office of Public Instruction, homeschool enrollment peaked at 9,868 students in 2020 and never returned to pre-COVID levels, which hovered around 5,800 students in both 2018 and 2019. Last year’s enrollment - the most recently available data - was 8,524 students.
“The pandemic made a real change to the numbers,” said Steve White with the Montana Coalition of Home Educators.
The three counties with the highest homeschooling populations are Flathead, Yellowstone and Gallatin Counties, but White said there could be even more students learning at home. That’s because students are only required to go to school from ages 7 to 16 under state law.
“They’re not required to notify the school superintendent annually once they get past the age of 16,” he said.
In Anna Rogers’ family, 6-year-old son Jackson is too young to be included in Yellowstone County’s homeschooling enrollment, but he’s still learning. Rogers says she loves homeschooling.
“And we just have time,” said Rogers.
