Homeschool families create a co-op where parents take turns teaching their kids together in one home, accidentally reinvents the one room schoolhouse of the 1800s: 'Why doesn't everyone do this!'

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Aug 1, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

I cannot imagine living during a time when there wasn't compulsory schooling in the United States. Trying to rally together my hypothetical rural community to create a one-room schoolhouse that kids aren't even required to attend would make me so stressed out. Even though public school can have some problems, we take for granted that any kid in the United States can have the opportunity to receive a K-12 education without paying for it or having to be taught by their parents. There are always exceptions to this rule, but you can't deny that we're in a better position education-wise in the USA than we were 150 years ago.

Some parents don't want to play by the modern conventions of schooling. A Twitter user recently went viral for sharing a new development in his community. Homeschooling parents decided to alternate teaching their children together, setting up a guest house as a classroom, essentially reinventing the one-room schoolhouse.