AI Homeschool Marketing: Why AI-Forward Positioning Puts You Behind

Should homeschool parents be concerned about AI technology in education?

AI has crept into our dining rooms, where many of us educate our children. Even if you don't explicitly see it as an AI feature, it's in the layers underneath so many shiny new apps.

We see student planners “powered by AI.” Math tests now provide AI insights, and parents can shop for just the right literature course by asking questions of an AI chatbot.

Is this a good thing? Is it bad? While AI is technically values-neutral, it can communicate mission and intent in ways brands may not anticipate. And it can ultimately make it hard to sell even the best educational tools.

How Homeschool Parents Really Feel About AI Education

AI technologies aren't new. We’ve used them for a decade to decide which Netflix movie to watch and to get notified when someone in Florida uses our credit card to buy steaks from a Walmart we’ve never visited. (One guy buying 14 steaks and just one pack of beer is a statistical anomaly. Who knew?)

But parents don’t necessarily want this same tech to enter their family rooms and personal vehicles. They aren’t keen on having AI interject with tips on engagement, delivery, or promotional pricing as they juggle dating advice with the stages of the water cycle.

Homeschooling should be cozy, safe, and familiar. At least for now, AI is none of those things. 

And because school and life are rarely separated in a homeschool environment, it will be a tough sell to get parents to let AI into their most intimate parenting moments, even if they could use it for specific purposes–such as an add-on to a reading app. 

So, where do we go from here? Parents and marketers have two different views of the value of AI.

EdTech Marketing Mistakes That Alienate Homeschool Families

Our research on homeschool families shows there is no single avatar of what they look like. We have parents (and grandparents) of all races, classes, geographies, values, political affiliations, and interests. It’s just too diverse to make a blanket statement about how to approach AI with them.

The bucket of homeschoolers includes parents who shop primarily on Instagram and want to be part of the latest app to give them time and flexibility in their busy days. They will try anything that’s been “scientifically” developed, and are more enthused if it hints at success in the STEM fields. 

However, the bucket also includes the parents who read about “dangerous” AI in the news, the same tech that’s prompted teens to “unalive” themselves. These parents have led a rally on social media to ditch electronics altogether and get back to printed texts and limited (if any) use of cell phones. 

We know that most parents are somewhere in the middle. Generally, they aren’t as excited about AI as the market-obsessed LinkedIn population would have you believe. Today,  two out of three posts in my feed praise or rail against AI. Everyone seems to have an opinion about it. It’s a dominating topic.

But LinkedIn is not real life. Parents largely don’t have time to hang out on there, and they don’t care about this week’s Sam Altman drama. Address the magic of AI at your own peril, and use these tips when discussing it in any educational context.

Alternative Positioning Strategies for the Homeschool Market

AI is just a technology, like electricity or wifi. And I know that. And you know that. But even electricity had its initial detractors. Here’s what I recommend to curriculum sellers and edtech startups wanting to court the homeschool market:

• Learn more about homeschool audiences. Don't simply pivot your existing messaging to this new audience. Research deeply to understand their concerns.

• Present AI to homeschoolers as an added or optional feature, if possible. Make it something they can turn off, such as a chatbot or generative AI homework help. 

• If it’s part of your core offering, consider whether it needs to be called out at all. Yes, you should be upfront with your parents about how AI is used, but promoting your product as AI-forward may be alienating to those who don’t value it.

• Choose appropriate language. “AI” might not even be the best word to describe what you offer. Netflix doesn’t tout its recommendation engine as AI, so do you need to?

• Present a clear data and privacy path. Show parents how student data will be used and its relationship to the AI component. Let them opt out of sharing anything private or sensitive.

• Get your legal teams involved. It’s one thing for social media platforms to use AI for their adult consumers. It’s another to do this for students. Stringent child privacy protections require you to collect carefully and have a quick off-ramp for student data to be archived or destroyed. 

Your competitors aren’t banking on AI

Finally, there’s a misconception out there that AI-first is the future of education. On an institutional level, this may be correct. School systems deal in vast amounts of data, with some arguing that it’s the data that’s most valuable – and not learning outcomes, at all. Without AI, it would be hard to meet bureaucratic requirements and keep stakeholders happy. Investors want to use AI. 

Marketing to homeschool families requires that you differentiate yourself from being another institutional offering. These parents left the public school system for a reason. Marketing yet another public school product disguised as a homeschool product won’t fly. It’s intellectually dishonest and won’t earn you the trust you need to succeed.

Do you have to abandon AI entirely? Not exactly.

Those edtech innovators who excel in the homeschool market may utilize AI, but they view it as a means to an end, rather than the end itself. It can do things quickly, accurately, and – in some cases – at scale. It’s useful for rolling out great products to a larger market in time to actually help today’s students. For those who use AI responsibly, it can help transmit the messages of goodness, beauty, and truth to more students at a lower cost. And that’s great for all homeschoolers.

But marketing as “AI first” distracts from that mission and may turn off the homeschool audience completely. You have but one chance to make a great impression this school year. Don’t let the robots tell your story for you. 

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