by Katherine Stievater
Did you know homeschooling in the U.S. has doubled in just a few years? The Department of Education and Census Bureau found that nearly 6% of K-12 students were homeschooled in 2024, up from 2.8% in 2019. Increasingly, these students are stepping into gap year experiences, bringing a strong sense of independence and self-motivation shaped by their personalized education.
Take Evan Collins, a 19-year-old homeschooled student from Massachusetts, who took a gap year after graduating in 2024. Evan’s gap year included an immersive cultural exchange in Patagonia, Chile, where he engaged with local communities and environmental projects. Later, he interned as a co-manager at a football academy in Cape Town, South Africa, gaining hands-on experience in sports management. These experiences helped him explore career interests and develop real-world skills.
Or take our recent student from Duluth, MN. She wanted to take a gap year so she could practice curling, with the goal to make the U.S. National Junior team (spoiler alert: she made the team!) But she didn’t just want to train all day long. She hoped to gain more maturity and confidence, be more comfortable with her college decision, and feel like it was the right fit for her. So she also did research with a professor at a nearby college, worked a part-time job, spent three weeks with her grandparents doing odd jobs, learned to cook and made meals for her family, and re-applied to college. She’s now happily enrolled at Notre Dame!
We also just received an inquiry from a family with a homeschooled student here in Massachusetts. He decided to redo his second half of high school sophomore year online. He did well, got a job and has now remained as a self-directed homeschool student with interests in business, history, gaming, and travel. He thinks he will graduate high school early – and wants to line up an opportunity for a gap year the summer after graduation. He may even want to end up studying at a European university.
It makes sense that homeschooled students are natural candidates for gap years. They are already “off the traditional path” of academics and open to different ways to learn. Expect to see more homeschooled teens fill the ranks of gap year students in the years ahead!
