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More parents opting to home school their kids

Feeling safer while learning in your own home is one important benefit of home schooling.

BOISE - Since the horrific school shooting that killed 17 people Wednesday in Florida, KTVB has seen many parents take to social media posting they would rather opt to home school their children for fear of their safety.

At Arrow Home School Co-Op, where parents teach their children a curriculum of their choosing at home, then meet once a week for in-person classes and assemblies, enrollment has skyrocketed since the co-op was formed a year and a half ago.

"By the time we started we had 20 families and that first year we grew like crazy, every week we had to three families trickling in, and by the end of the year 75 families. We have over 140 families that have signed up and enrolled with us," says Debra McCarver, Arrow's vice chair of the board.

That amounts to about 300 students and they enroll for a variety reasons.

"Mostly it's wanting control over how your child is educated and the content," says McCarver.

But McCarver says feeling safer while learning in your own home is also a plus.

"Here in our home were able to lock our front door and kind of control that," says McCarver.

And it's possible others are feel the same way with families from across the valley signing up for the partial home-schooling.

"They come all the way from Boise, Meridian, a lot of Nampa, families south of Nampa, even over to Caldwell from Middleton," says McCarver.

She admits most parents don't specifically cite gun violence in their decisions to choose education outside of a classroom, but said it can put people at ease.

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