Emily Greer's four children know the rules of Greer Academy by heart. Students are expected to love God and others, not complain or argue, be kind and, maybe most importantly, love and respect Mama.
Greer set and maintains these rules in her homeschool to be followed by her four children: Solomon, 15; Elias, 13; Caleb, 10; and Joy, 5. The homemade sign sits near the couch alongside Greer's curriculum books to serve as a constant reminder to her students.
On a normal day in August for the Greers, Joy plays with Magna-Tiles and trucks on the living room floor next to the family dog, Rose. Greer works with Caleb on state capitals and verbs, occasionally asking Joy to repeat multiplication facts. Elias pores over his Latin and math workbooks at the kitchen
counter.
The Greers are part of a growing group of Knox County families who have made homeschooling a long-term choice. More than 1,000 students were homeschooled last year, even as the pandemic boom has leveled off.
Get the Daily Briefing newsletter: Keep up with the top news about education, families and Knox County Schools
Choosing a homegrown education
Greer was sitting in her high school classroom when she came to a realization that would change the course of her life: she would homeschool her children.
"I was very bored in school," Greer, 41, told Knox News. "I was annoyed at how much time was spent on disciplining other students and not learning, or the busywork."
Her husband, Dave, wasn't immediately sold. But after meeting homeschooling families whose children seemed unusually mature and comfortable with adults, they agreed it was the best path for their family.
Homeschooling spiked across the country at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing by 111% from the 2019-20 school year to 2020-21 in Knox County, according to state data. The practice doubled across the United States as families isolated themselves, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
But the Greers chose the path long before the boom. A classical, Christian education was at the heart of their decision, Emily Greer said.
"We love that we get to center our curriculum around our values and our beliefs," she said, "and teach our children about God throughout the day. Every single subject, it's pointing back to God."
Classical Conversations provides the family's curriculum, which takes a Christ-centered approach to each subject.
In addition to the religious angle of the work, Greer chose the path to have added time with her children, and they can be together as well. Students in Tennessee spend around 14,000 hours in school over 13 years.
"I love being with my kids. For them to grow a strong sibling bond, that's a huge desire as parents (that) my husband and I have for our kids," she said.
The quartet are together all day, every day. The older children are expected to tutor the younger ones, to help them with homework and read to them. There are no age barriers in Greer Academ; they learn alongside one another.
'We're not getting up at 6 a.m.'
Flexibility is central to the homeschooling lifestyle, at least at Greer Academy.
"We could do school on a Saturday if we want to take a day off in the week. If we have things we want to do in the morning, that's fine. We can do school at night," Greer said. "And sometimes that works best."
No two days look the same, but one thing remains constant: Tennessee requires four hours of instruction each school day.
"It doesn't mean that you're sitting at a desk with a book open the whole four hours," especially when the children are younger, Greer explained. "Kindergarten doesn't take four hours of sitting down with worksheets; we're playing. They're learning through so much play."
Spelling lessons often take place on the family trampoline. Greer uses a Classical Conversations curriculum book she purchased to call out a word for Caleb to spell as he's flipping around.
Learning looks different for each child, Greer said. She tailors curriculum to their interests and spends more time on a subject when they struggle.
"They don't feel like we're going to just move on when they don't really understand it, whereas in public school, you can just get left behind because they have to keep on their schedule, whether you get it or not," she said.
Her goal is to "work yourself out of the job" by teaching her children to be independent learners. She wants her kids to "have this ownership of their own education."
Not one reason, not one type of family
Homeschoolers are not a monolith, and families fight stereotypes. Families choose homeschooling for any number of reasons, including avoiding bullying or catering to students' medical or social needs, said researcher Albert Cheng.
"A lot of families are (homeschooling) not because they have some ideological or philosophical commitment to it," Cheng, based at Ohio State University, told Knox News. "They're just recognizing it as a means to meet whatever needs happen to be present for that particular child."
Cheng said families totally dedicated to homeschooling certainly exist, but are not in the majority. His 2023 national study revealed 17% of respondents were homeschooled for their entire K-12 career compared to 36% of respondents who homeschooled for a one or two years.
"We've got to think about what this population actually is a bit more carefully," Cheng warned. "The broad brushes that we typically paint with might not be the right ones."
Homeschooling cuts across parents' income and education levels, according to a 2023 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics. White students were more likely to be homeschooled, but similar rates of Black and Puerto Rican students were homeschooled, the survey shows. Households making between $50,000 and $100,000 were most likely to homeschool, but not at a highly disproportionate rate compared to other socioeconomic groups.
The outcomes for homeschoolers
Cheng's research found students homeschooled for more than three years were less likely to earn a bachelor's degree than short-term homeschoolers and those who always learned in a classroom.
"They're moving on with their careers in a less traditional way, and that's not surprising if they were nontraditional from the beginning," said Angela Watson, researcher and founder of The Homeschool Hub at Johns Hopkins University.
For example, the Classical Conversations curriculum does not place emphasis on regular testing for children, but does encourage families to consider the ACT and SAT for college applications, or its alternative Classical Learning Test. Classical education testing is continuous, and takes the form of essays, memory recall and the Socratic method.
Students who were homeschooled eventually tend to value hard work over money, have a more positive outlook on life and report less depression and anxiety than non-homeschoolers. Cheng wonders if this should "give us all pause."
"Some groups of homeschoolers are people that have different value systems. Is that all bad?"
How Knox County Schools fits in
Right now, more than 1,000 local students are learning at home. It's a reality Knox County Schools reckons with as its enrollment has dipped. Homeschooling grew by 1.4% over the 2025-26 school year across Tennessee, according to a September report by Watson.
New figures obtained by Knox News show 1,231 students were homeschooled in the 2023-24 school year, 1,172 in 2024-25 and 1,090 in 2025-26.
Most of those students would be attending an elementary school, data from May shows. Nearly half of the 1,090 students were reported to be between ages 6 and 9, according to figures reported by KCS to the Tennessee Department of Education based on forms submitted to the district by families.
Greer openly shares with other families the benefits she's seen for her kids, and for herself. She said she's become more patient, and has fostered deep relationships with her children as both their mother and teacher.
"I see what their struggles are, and I know how each one learns. I know how they show love and receive love because we spend this time together," she said as Caleb helped Joy paint in the kitchen. "Having that family time is so precious, and I cannot imagine life without that."
Caitlyn Meisner is the K-12 education reporter for Knox News. Email tips and story ideas to caitlyn.meisner@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: The rising numbers behind homeschooling, where 'family time is so precious' | Exclusive
