Education was suddenly transformed earlier this year when schools across the world were shut down because of a single-cell organism. For the most part, homeschoolers were unaffected. Co-ops, field trips, social activities, and other enrichment experiences were put on hold or cancelled but the way we educated our kids really wasn’t affected. Why we decided to educate our children at home also hadn’t changed. Online, we were bombarded by memes from celebrities and micro-influencers about the realities of “homeschooling”. Mom’s holding glasses of wine joked about teaching Algebra and teachers posted about lecturing to students in their pyjamas. Now, “We’re all homeschoolers,” can be heard far and wide but is it really true? Now, in the United States, there are in-person and online classes for public and private school students. Some parents have opted for 100% virtual classes and have declared themselves as “homeschooling”. There are some key differences between homeschooling and online schooling and it probably isn’t obvious to parents who were “forced” to do school at home. * Homeschoolers choose to educate their children at home for various reasons.* Homeschoolers pay for their online curriculum and (usually) pay school taxes too.* Homeschoolers don’t take attendance.* Homeschoolers choose their curriculum.* Homeschoolers aren’t (usually) bound by a schedule.* Homeschooling is a lifestyle. I applaud the teachers and parents who’ve had to adjust to doing school online. The upheaval to their normal way of doing things has been stressful and difficult. But there are key differences between doing school online and homeschooling. The primary one is choice. Homeschoolers choose this lifestyle while the teachers and parents doing school online are bound by the traditional education system. Did you enjoy this episode of The Wired Homeschool? Consider supporting the podcast when you buy me a coffee. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more. Music for the podcast is “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. In some cases, I may have been given a free sample of a product to review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement.