According to the news, homeschooling your kids is in and public schooling is out. In LAUSD, the number of homeschooling students has grown by 89% after the pandemic. 

But most Hamilton students say they want to go to school. Whether it’s to see their friends, play, or because they just like school, they’d rather be there in the present.

AMPA junior Elijah Smith was homeschooled from fourth grade to eighth grade. Elijah said he would much rather attend public school. 

“It sucked,” he said. “I was homeschooled because my mom saw it fit. She hated that I was getting into fights and getting in trouble all the time. Being homeschooled was like COVID for everyone else, except y’all did it for two years and I did it for five.” 

Elijah said that it was hard to see his family members enjoying school and meeting new people every day. He spoke about how many new opportunities his family members got when going to school that he knew he couldn’t get at home.

“Whenever I talked to my cousins at family events, they always talked about how fun school games and events were,” Elijah said. “They always spoke about being in clubs and how high school was the year to have that High School Musical experience.”

Digging deeper, Aryn Wallace, CAA Senior, provides another student’s perspective of what they think about being homeschooled. 

“I could not do it,” Aryn said.

She stated how much of a social butterfly she is and how she’d lose her mind being at home all day. Aryn loves interacting with her teachers and friends, and also being at school events.

 “I wouldn’t recommend being homeschooled to anyone who likes being around people,” Aryn said. “I’ve always thought being homeschooled was for kids who didn’t like school or kids who were always in trouble at school, but to each their own.”