The COVID-19 pandemic has produced many first-time homeschool parents, and some feel trepidation at the thought of being responsible for their child’s education. This edited Q&A is the second in a series in which we pose questions about home education to several experts. In this installment, Alice Churnock, Sally Clarkson, Cathy Duffy, and Mystie Winckler address the issue of social needs.

At school, kids socialize with peers, teachers, and coaches. How can we meet kids’ social needs at home?

For a decade and more, I’ve been wrestling with some ideas that could reshape the way Christian school and homeschool students engage in what we’ve typically called “social studies.” 

At least, we used to call it social studies. It had its moments, but it wasn’t usually the high point of the day. We typically didn’t allow the use of the word boring at our house. But if we had, social studies would have been an apt target. 

Scenario: Deanna is a new homeschool mom with three kids. The oldest is in 10th grade and loves volleyball. The second is a fourth grader who loves math. And the third is a kindergartner with special needs. All planned to do in-person school this year, but because of COVID-19, their family chose to homeschool. Deanna feels some trepidation as she starts her homeschool journey.

Claire Taylor of Midlothian, Texas, said she knew she was on the right track when a friend told her, “You’re already a homeschool mom.” The friend pointed out that Taylor was doing many of the things involved in teaching her children at home. She already thought home education might be a good fit for her sons, 8-year-old Rhett and 6-year-old Reed, but the pandemic gave her the final push to switch.

If you are a parent of school-age children, I don’t have to tell you that COVID-19 has shaken no institution more than education. July saw a mad scramble as school districts across the nation anxiously eyed the data and monitored each other on best practices for reopening their facilities—or not.

As shutdowns and social distancing debates dragged through the summer and COVID-19 flared in the South and West, politicians and educators in Washington, D.C., wrangled over a big question: How should they direct a mighty army of 57 million schoolchildren? Meanwhile, parents across the country wondered how they could provide for their little platoons, children used to the routine of school and likely to be on their own for part or all of the fall.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Gregg and Sono Harris became familiar faces to many in the growing number of Christian families educating their children at home. 

Gregg Harris spoke at conferences and workshops, and the couple’s oldest son, Joshua, became something of a teen icon: He spoke to homeschool audiences, he wrote articles, and he produced New Attitude, a magazine for homeschool kids.