2024 Fall Homeland | Back-to-School Decisions 

With more options than ever for educating children, many families are weighing the pros and cons of homeschooling versus traditional schooling.  

 In 2020, for the first time ever, virtually all American children were forced into remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation enabled parents to see what schooling from home might look like for their family. Some concluded it was the best way to educate their children and switched to homeschooling. For others, it solidified their decision to send their kids to public school.  

Regardless, there appears to be a national trend toward homeschooling. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2.8 percent of U.S. students were homeschooled in 2019. Last year, nearly 6 percent of students nationwide were reported as homeschooled, according to the United States Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The number of homeschooled kids in America has more than doubled in the past four years. 

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Agricultural families may have had additional factors influencing either decision: distance from town, socialization, inclusion in life on the ranch, and elimination of learning distractions. Five area agricultural families weighed in on how they made these decisions for their family: two utilize public school, two homeschool, and one family does both. 

Staying in School  

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Secrest Family  

Ashley Secrest, a mother of two, used to drive 120 miles a day to get her kids to and from school. She and her husband, Shannon ranch 30 miles south of Buffalo, South Dakota. As of January, their oldest son, Brayden, is of driving age, which relieved the commuting burden from Secrest’s shoulders. “Hours of my day were now opened up because I wasn’t spending them driving or waiting for sports to be done. That was a big life change. Nine years of me driving 120 miles a day for school since we do not get offered a bus. Occasionally, we have tried to carpool with other families, but it was difficult with differing sports schedules. Ultimately, it went back to each family doing it themselves,” she said.  

In the winter months, Secrest substitute teaches at Harding County schools. For her, the off-the-ranch work is a good opportunity to socialize during the long winter months, while also making money with a flexible job.  

She said that their family enjoyed the COVID lockdowns, as they occurred during calving and lambing. “It took a little bit to figure out a routine that worked. The kids would come help with morning chores and be back in time to do classes and get work done,” she said.  

After 2020, Secrests have continually discussed the possibility of homeschooling, but Brayden (15) and Josie (11) ultimately decided they liked going to school best.  

“Brayden would tell you that he was spread pretty thin. We probably put too much on his shoulders at a young age,” said his mom. Her fear is that their family would find it difficult to balance ranch work with school work and other activities if they were to homeschool. “I’m afraid that if we did homeschool, we would push him further than his age should be. This keeps things in a nice healthy balance. He still is a huge part of the ranch and has lots of responsibility.”  

Brayden said, “I like [school]. Mainly, just getting to be with friends and getting to do sports with friends.” Brayden is an avid wrestler going into his freshman year, while his little sister will start volleyball this year as a sixth grader. They are also active in 4-H and FFA, respective to their ages.  

As with most states, homeschooled kids are allowed to participate in extracurriculars in South Dakota, so they would be able to participate, regardless. The law states,  

“Each public school district shall allow homeschool students to participate in athletics, fine arts, or activities within the district in which the child resides (South Dakota Codified Laws §13-36-7).” 

Whereas many parents currently fear political agendas being taught to their children in school contrary to their family values, Secrest has no such worries about the Harding County School District. “I don’t fear liberal teachers or indoctrinating in Harding County. I don’t think that’s a big concern in our school. I do like our school. It’s very close-knit.” She cites mornings in the calving barn when she was meant to be driving kids to school. “I’d just text the teacher that I was going to be late. It’s nice having a small school.”  

Balance is the goal for the Secrest family. “I do think that you can’t hide the real world from kids forever. Eventually, they’re going to go out in the world and hear things and see things. It’s our job to approach it responsibly.” 

Schiley Family 

Karin Schiley raises her five kids on their family’s ranch 32 miles south of Lemmon, South Dakota. Her children range in age from 20 to 11, with the oldest pursuing an agricultural education degree at South Dakota State University. The rest attend school in Lemmon and help on the ranch, where the family has a cow/calf and feed crop raising operation. Schiley and her husband, RJ, have ranched the same place since they were married, purchasing an addition to his childhood place in 2005.  

Sadly, RJ passed away in April 2023, but his family continues operating, though slightly scaled down. “It was a lifestyle we’d both grown up in, and it’s a good place and good way to raise our kids,” Schiley said.  

The Schiley kids are involved in numerous extracurriculars at Lemmon schools, including football, volleyball, basketball, FFA, youth group, and rodeo. Educational opportunities are an important deciding factor for Schiley.  

“I just think there’s a lot of opportunities: sports opportunities, clubs, and the FFA program in Lemmon is phenomenal. They have a great advisor who has done so much to grow the program and encourage kids that don’t have an ag background. That’s something we really appreciate. It’s important to the district and administration as a whole. They value that program as much as they value sports. Kids can utilize that program to get scholarships or gain experience that you can use on a resumé,” she said.  

Schileys got a glimpse of homeschooling during spring of 2020, which ultimately helped them decide that going to school was best for their family. “For us during COVID, we just saw the difficulty the kids had with doing work outside the classroom, amid the distractions of the ranch. They would rather be outside, especially in the springtime during calving. It was hard to get them to focus on their work. It was hard for us to build that time into our already busy schedule to do their work. They missed their friends and the classroom structure,” Schiley said.  

“In your mind, you’d think [homeschooling] would be easier. It’s not as easy as it looks. I know a lot of people that homeschool, especially where we live. There’s a lot of families that choose to do that and I respect that because it takes a lot of commitment and organization.” 

Schiley serves on the school board, which gives her the opportunity to both voice the needs of ranching families and have a pulse on her children’s education.  

“Being a rancher, we pay a fair amount of property tax. It’s nice to have that viewpoint on the board of someone that knows absolutely we want our tax money to go to the best use we can in our school district.” Additionally, she serves to remind the board of the unique challenges that rural kids face, whether it be their commute, time constraints for homework, or added responsibilities in busy seasons. “I had some things I could offer,” Schiley said.  

Going to school “fits our family better,” she goes on. “For us, I think my kids have benefitted from getting to do those things like FFA and sports programs and things like that. They have a lot of friends that I’m sure they wouldn’t get to see if they were homeschooled.” 

As with Secrests, Schiley appreciates the small-town values that accompany their children’s education. Schiley says that many families have opened their doors to let her kids stay in town so they do not have to drive home late after a sporting event.  

Their hometown and school community came together in a meaningful way for the Schileys when Karin’s husband passed. “My family went through a pretty hard time recently and I was so thankful for the support my kids received through our school from friends, teachers, and administration. It was good to have all of those people supporting us and knowing my kids had resources if they needed them. I think that those of us in rural communities also need to recognize the fact that our school is really the heart of our small towns. The school sports functions, concerts and events are events that the whole community attends. If we didn’t have those things, our communities would be very different.” she said.  

Doing Both  

Bail Family 

Kim Bail never thought she would homeschool any of her kids, especially since her oldest two have had great experiences at Harding County schools. But when her youngest, Kash, showed great anxiety and sadness over going to kindergarten, she decided to explore other options.  

“It got progressively worse. Of the first two or three weeks of school, he probably only went seven days. He was bawling when I left him there, and that’s hard as a parent. I was like, ‘Gosh you are only in kindergarten. Why are we doing this?'” she said.  

Kash cried at bedtime, knowing he would have to get up for school the next day. “It was disrupting bedtime and disrupting morning routines getting ready for school,” Bail said.   

Bail found a group on Facebook called Black Hills Home Educators, where she found support and answers to her questions. Kash was enrolled in an online program called Acellus, and the home dynamic changed immediately.  

“That was a big bonus when we stopped sending him, the whole rest of the family could relax,” she said. “I didn’t see the point in making him cry it out.” 

She describes their routine. “We’d get the [older] kids off to school and [Kash] would sit down with his breakfast and start his class. He’d have science, math, and language arts,” she said. Acellus consists of pre-recorded lessons and assessments. “After he’d finish, we’d do a paper or two from a book. It took two hours or less. It’s kind of nice, you can set your own schedule.”  

Since Kash got his work done so quickly every morning, Bail supplemented his needs with additional work and engagement. “I thought he needed interaction and to be accountable. We did add in outschool.com.” This resource provided live classes in which Kash learned his letters and sounds with a teacher that would call on him and other students. “It was some different interaction,” Bail said.  Kash was able to finish his entire school year by April, just in time for calving season. “For a rancher, it was great. He made it through and graduated his accredited program by April 10.”  

Bail is aware that her three children have different needs. “I’m a firm believer that boys mature slower than girls. For [Kash], even though he was six, I don’t think he was ready,” she said. “Even though he’s ‘behind’ some of his friends in kindergarten who can read or write, he can literally go change your car tire. The kid can pull fence posts, he can drive a tractor. He helps move the hay wagon forward so his dad can load bales. For him, with all that down time in school, he would just be like, ‘Why am I not being active?'”  

Bail acknowledges the socialization debate, but says when the family is at youth rodeos, “Kash is the first kid to disappear and always has a group of friends around him. Socially, I’m not worried about him.” 

Kash toured a first-grade classroom and decided he wants to join his peers on a trial basis for the first quarter this year.  

Bail said, “I’m a little sad. I would homeschool them all now if I could, now that I’ve tried it. And I was against homeschooling. But gosh, to have them do their work in two hours and then we have the rest of the day to get life experiences… it actually was pretty cool. I enjoyed it and I was nervous and didn’t think I was for homeschooling.”  

Switching to Homeschool  

Hisel Family 

Sara Hisel was so dedicated to her children’s education she used to drive her daughter to preschool three days per week, an hour each way. She waited at a local gas station (the only business in the town) for the three-hour preschool to finish. Then, they drove an hour home. Their oldest son, who was in kindergarten and first grade at the time, had a 45-minute commute to the nearest bus stop. He left early in the morning and got home well after dark most days.  

Sara and her husband were working for a remote ranch in the panhandle of Nebraska at the time. “We stuck it out. We did it for two years. I still don’t know why I didn’t homeschool then,” she said.  

Looking back, a major motivation was trying to ensure their kids had the socialization they needed, especially living so remotely. “That’s why I was so committed to the public school route. Now that we’re homeschooling, that [concern] has gone away. That really isn’t a problem. The assumption is they’ll be those weird homeschool kids because they’re in the backwoods and never seeing people.”  

Hisel, who said that she and her husband both went to public school and were heavily involved in sports and on the ranch, valued the chance for her kids to be involved in sports. Later, she found out that there are sports opportunities outside of public school. “The Lord just changed my heart on this. It’s been really cool to see how much better these homeschool co-ops have gotten. I see the opportunities those kids really do have. It turns out, there’s a whole lot of sports going on in the homeschool community,” she said.  

What finally led to the Hisels switching to homeschool was an eleven-hour move from Nebraska to southeast Kansas. They had an opportunity to purchase their own place, on which they raise Quarter Horses and run cattle. After many conversations and much prayer, they decided to begin educating from home. 

Hisel admits that the first year of homeschool was not picture-perfect. Their move consisted of packing up a lifetime worth of tack, vehicles, furniture, six dogs, and doubling their number of horses. Hisel also had a three-week old baby. “That first year was definitely rough and spotty,” she said. However, their second year was more in line with what she envisioned.  

At first, they tried a homeschooling method called “free schooling,” which consists of learning on the go. Hisel said, “For ranchers, I would’ve thought that would’ve been a no-brainer. I know some ranching families it works for. For us, before we knew it, we were just ranching.”  

Now, the Hisels are more structured with their school routine. Doing morning chores then going back inside was a struggle, she said, as the temptation is to stay outside. “But you can’t skip chores.” Now, school is done in the hours leading up to lunch during the heat of the day during summer. Because Kansas has mild winters, they may work most of the day outside then complete school in the evenings.  

“It used to feel like [homeschool] took six or eight hours and I wondered why I was doing this. I’m glad I stuck with it because now we can get done in three hours, average,” Hisel said. They chose to do the online curriculum, Abeka, which consists of prerecorded lessons from a Christian-based curriculum. “It’s private school quality,” she said.  

Hisel was able to tailor their schooling to their family’s needs. “I’m juggling a two-year-old and then I have the first grader who is not a self-starter,” she said. “My son, I can tell he gets overwhelmed with everything on the screen.” He learns his foundational subjects from Abeka, but other subjects like history and science are taught by Hisel. “I didn’t think I would ever do virtual school, but that has worked really well for me as a business owner. It varies by household. I need my desk time as well. And I need my outside time.”  

“We just want to protect the family table. Anything that takes away from the family table, that’s where we draw the line.” Hisel had to make a sacrifice in order to homeschool her children by putting her photography business on hold for the time being. “That’s something I’ve had to work through,” she said.  

What has become most important for Hisels is quality family time.  

“I lost my dad when he was only 44. That changed me forever. Our days are numbered.” She reflects on how their lifestyle allows them to work alongside one another every day. “It’s an opportunity and a blessing. This is what we signed up for when we became parents, and we want every bit of [our kids] that we can have. That’s the added benefit of it all.”  

Furthermore, they are grateful to be able to include their children in the lessons and rhythm of ranch life.  

“I realized that public school creates that eight-to-five mindset. When my husband and I sat down and thought about what kind of adult children we hoped to see, what we envisioned for them, it’s not an eight to five at all. To best prepare them, we saw the value in including them in everything. They are young, but when we do our meetings with our accountant, they’re with us. I see the value in them hearing the numbers. It’s not all roping cattle – there’s a lot to ranching. They’re in every part of that. There’s just so much they would’ve missed on a public school schedule. My husband and I were raised [ranching] and public schooled, but I think there’s so much more that I missed out on,” Hisel said.  

Now, their children are aged two, seven, and nine. Their nine-year-old son often day works with his dad for neighbors, sometimes earning a day wage. “That’s shown a lot of confidence,” she said.  

“On the social side of things, our kids are different, and I do see that. I just really love kids that make eye contact and know how to work. They’re not distracted. Their world is pretty relatable and realistic. Their mind is not elsewhere, so that’s been cool to see,” Hisel said. 

“You have to remember as parents, things have changed so much. We can’t, as parents, box it up and say, ‘Well, I turned out okay.’ I think we can really challenge that mindset and say, ‘Okay, but how could we benefit them better?'” 

Nielsen Family  

Will and Jennifer Nielsen of Fallon, Montana, never envisioned being homeschool parents. The couple both received an “outstanding education” in public school, and all of their family has gone to public school. Nielsens have a cow/calf operation, background cattle, and raise feed crops. They have a purebred herd and sell some bulls and replacement heifers.  

Last year, Nielsens began asking questions about their children’s education that set them on a journey toward home education.  

It was their son Landon’s first year in the classroom as a third grader at Terry Public Schools. He had done remote learning fully or partially for three years after the Covid pandemic. Landon and his little sister, Hailey (kindergarten), were both placed in classrooms taught by teachers hired through an emergency hiring process. Neither instructor had teaching degrees or teaching experience. “It was a very rough year academically for both of our kids. They were both very behind after completing the year,” Jennifer said.  

Being very involved parents, Nielsens continually helped their children with homework, looked at handouts, and asked questions. “We started seeing papers and literacy readers that we were questioning the tone of. We started doing a thorough review,” Jennifer said. Nielsens went to the school and requested to see the entire year’s curriculum for third and fourth grade.  

“[Will and I] spent endless hours studying and researching,” she goes on. “We started seeing trends. The content repeatedly emphasized the failures of American history.” The literacy books consisted of historical fiction stories. “Race was at the forefront of each of the stories. History was fictionally taught through the lens of oppression of certain races. I read it and I felt really anti-American reading these stories. It was all Critical Race Theory. They never would come out and say it. We had to research what CRT was, but the whole picture was interlaced. We never dreamed in third and fourth grade that we would see the planting of this foundation, especially in a small, rural school.” Furthermore, Nielsens said, the curriculum consisted of anti-agricultural and Green Agenda literature, such as cancer-causing and polluting effects of tractors and farming.   

Nielsens researched the companies whose curriculum the district had purchased. “We were really alarmed and speechless when we found out the creators were pretty dangerous people as far as the ideals they stand for and the type of things they wanted to put into the curriculum.”  

“The Attorney General for Montana made it law that Critical Race Theory is not allowed in schools, but the curriculum writers are not dumb. They’ve studied the pedagogy their whole career, and they lace the information throughout all the textbooks. The theories and ideologies are being implemented at young ages. These kids are being indoctrinated, and parents don’t even know it until you get to high school, and then it’s really bad. The curriculum is the Trojan Horse, and it’s purchased by little and big schools everywhere.”  

Prepared with copies and notes, Nielsens scheduled a meeting with teachers, principals, and superintendents. “We totally gave them the benefit of the doubt. We both graduated from that school. When we first entered this whole meeting and discussion with them, we figured we’d walk away feeling reassured. Surely the teachers don’t teach this, we assumed. Will and I are really quiet people. We don’t make a squeak about anything. It was really uncharted territory for us,” they said.  

Unfortunately, their worries were not laid to rest. Few of their questions were acknowledged or answered in the meeting. Nielsens said, “We simply asked, ‘What do you teach? We see this is what you as a school purchased.’ It was disappointing. We really love the community that we live in.”  

Nielsens discovered that after 2020, “curriculum started to get pretty progressive. We had no clue that was even happening. We felt bad that we missed it and honestly, we feel bad for public education. I was a huge advocate for it until I wasn’t,” said Jennifer. They also discovered the influence and motives of teachers’ unions, which are a part of every state’s education.  

TSLN reached out to Terry Public Schools regarding concerns with CRT influencing curriculum. Superintendent Paige Denny responded, “As far as the question regarding critical race theory, this is not a part of our curriculum. Our teachers are extremely caring, professional educators who understand their school community and make decisions that best meet the needs of the community. By utilizing the science of reading and integrating research-based best practices, we are empowering our students to become confident, capable, and lifelong learners. Through personalized instruction and a focus on fostering a love of learning, we are preparing our students for post-secondary success.” 

Even though Will was a member of the school board and Jennifer subbed in the kitchen at the schools, they opted to educate from home. “The decision to homeschool was pretty easy for us,” they said.  

As a ranch wife, Jennifer was able to shift her focus from other sides of the business to educate her children. “I accepted it like I accepted a job. That was one thing we talked about before we went in: what’s going to give? I knew I wouldn’t be able to be out helping Will like I normally do, and we let some things go in the business.” 

She emphasizes structure and routine. “We start every day at 8 a.m. with prayer time and Bible devotional time. That’s really important to us.”  

The Nielsen kids are enrolled in Abeka, like Hisels. Jennifer said, “My biggest misconception was that we’d be done in 3-4 hours.” She said after the first month or two, this was true, but their immediate workload was like a regular school day. “We had to play catch up for a couple months to get them where they needed to be. We didn’t realize how far behind they were.”  

“It was rigorous, but the curriculum was outstanding,” she said. “Every subject is covered every day.” Though they followed a strict schedule, Nielsens still enjoyed the flexibility of taking the day off of school to help with fall work like gathering and preconditioning. An additional bonus was knowing that their kids studied all of the curriculum, whereas if they took a day off of school, they would miss out on the information.  

As socialization is one of the biggest objections to homeschooling, Nielsens said, “Our kids are definitely not un-socialized. It’s not true, especially in today’s homeschooling world.” Their kids are participants in a number of activities, including church, 4-H, AAU sports like flag football and soccer, and a homeschooling group. Nielsens are a part of Glendive Rural Area Christian Educators, which is a homeschool group that provides over 40 area kids with various opportunities to take art classes, field trips, and more.  

“I won’t lie, we thought homeschooled kids were weird. The ones we have met are incredible. The kids are outstanding, the parents are awesome. We have been awakened to how incredible homeschool is,” they said.  

Nielsens look forward to providing their kids with a well-rounded education, in and outside of their home classroom. “As they get older, it’ll be incredible the trades they learn. [Will and I] both have degrees: Will is an engineer and I graduated in finance. Will is a skilled welder and craftsman – both leather and wood – and a great mechanic.” Gaining skills is important, but taking back family time has increased how “tight-knit” their family is. “It’s incredible spending time together,” they said.  

“We did make some sacrifices, but we would do it again and again. It’s been so rewarding and gratifying,” Jennifer said.