By Kayla DeKraker
Erin Napier opened up about why she and husband Ben decided to homeschool their daughters, a choice they don’t regret.
“Some people think homeschooling is weird. I did too when I was young,” the HOME TOWN star admitted on Instagram. “Around the time Helen was born, we met some homeschoolers who were so remarkable, so mature, so communicative, and interested in learning, it made us realize we wanted whatever that was.”
She shared some snaps of her homeschooling daughters Helen and Mae.
“My favorite IG posts are ‘day in the life,’ especially seeing how other homeschool families do it,” Napier continued in the caption. She shared a little bit about how her family does it.
“We have school 4x a week,” she said. “Our team generously carves out 2 or more hours from our filming day to teach the girls 3 of those days, sometimes 4. If there’s a day that construction needs us the whole day, our friend who is a retired teacher subs those 2 hours for us.”
Her and Ben’s backgrounds help them successfully teach their children at home.
Related: 5 Fun Facts About HOME TOWN’S Ben and Erin Napier
“Ben has a degree in history, minor in English and is a former youth pastor, so he does a daily deep dive on teaching history, Bible and math,” Napier explained. “While he does his subjects, I work with Mae on phonics and simple arithmetic. Then we switch, and I teach Helen language arts (grammar, spelling, poetry, cursive), etiquette (I’m learning some things alongside her best of all!), art and science.”
The family also incorporates “literature” and “read-alouds,” which includes comprehension questions.
Planning for the upcoming week happens on Sunday afternoons.
“I fill out the week at a glance and make the lesson plan,” Napier said. She explained that on their day off of school, “they have French lessons, piano lessons, go to work with us and learn how we do our jobs, job shadow the vet taking care of our animals (Helen’s dream job!), they go horseback riding or to museums or homeschool courses at the zoo.”
She continued, “They pick the vegetables they grew in the garden, and last week they learned canning from my parents (just in case we need to be pioneers one day??). I plan to have Ben’s mom teach them sewing soon. Sometimes, they are traveling with us for work.”
To meet their children’s social needs, the family has them in extracurricular activities.
“Every day they have group extracurriculars or sports: gymnastics, tennis, ballet, art class, track team. They see 12-20 of their friends for about an hour every day,” she said.
Napier emphasized how grateful she is to teach her daughters at hope, saying, “We hope to do this for as long as it serves the girls, and someday send them to high school. It has been the best season of our life as a family that I thank God for every night.”
Homeschooling is on the rise, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were about 3.408 million homeschool students in 2024-2025 in grades K-12 in the United States. This is up from 2.5 million in spring 2019,” the National Home Education Research Institute reported. “The 3.408 million is an estimated 6.262% of the school-age population. The homeschool population had been growing at an estimated 2% to 8% per annum over the past several years, but it grew drastically from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021.”
One of the biggest reasons parents opt to teach their children at home is a desire to teach their values.
There are many reasons a family may choose to homeschool, and sticking to values is a major one of them. One professor told Psychology Today,
“In modern times, parents must take an active role in monitoring what children are exposed to,” Calvina Ellerbe, Ph.D., a professor, wrote for Psychology Today. “Concerns about safety, bullying, exposure to drug culture, and pressures toward early sexual debut push many parents to homeschooling.”
Although it’s not for everyone, the Napiers are grateful they can educate and nurture their daughters in a way that honors their family and convictions.
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