“I never would have told you that we would have ever homeschooled our kids.” That was Danielle Busby in February 2026, announcing the decision that split her own fandom in two. Nine months later, five 11-year-olds are doing sixth grade at the kitchen table instead of a middle school hallway — and the argument has not cooled one degree.
How Five 11-Year-Olds Ended Up Learning at Home
The decision landed on the More Than Reality podcast in February: the quints would start sixth grade in a homeschool co-op, learning at home at their own pace, with some subjects taught by a teacher in a classroom setting. On August 25, the first-day photo arrived — all five girls on the porch holding handmade “First Day” and “Homeschool” signs. Danielle captioned it, “Bare feet, comfy clothes, and a late morning start to school…”
The parents said the choice followed prayer, research and honest conversations. The reasons were plain: academic struggles, dyslexia support, protecting their daughters’ innocence in middle school, flexibility — and keeping all five together. They had debated splitting the girls up, but the quints turned 11 in April and every one of them wanted to stay together. Born on April 8, 2015, the first all-female quintuplets born in the United States, Ava, Olivia, Hazel, Riley and Parker have never done anything apart.
Team Keep Them Home: The Case Adam and Danielle Actually Made
Adam’s defense is the line his supporters still quote: “If you look at the statistics of homeschooled kids, they’re more adjusted to just interactions.” Danielle’s argument was about what middle school feels like at 11, when external pressure tops academics: “They see, ‘What do I look like? Who’s my friend? They made fun of me.’” Her answer was to flip the order — academics first, and “let us coast in the social.” When a critic wrote that kids need to be around other adults and children, Adam answered directly: “And that’s why we are doing a co-op. Homeschool isn’t locking your kids in a basement, to never go outside.”
Team Send Them Back: The Critics Who Are Not Buying It
The other side has not gone quiet. “Kids need to learn to be around other adults and kids… they need to adjust to being in the public without parents watching over them,” one critic wrote. Others questioned whether a mother with no teaching background should run the classroom for five sixth graders at once, and whether girls who have spent their whole lives together need school friends of their own. And the question that keeps resurfacing is about fairness inside the house: just the quints, not Blayke? Their big sister, 15, still walks into a public high school every morning — the school split inside one Texas house fans cannot stop arguing about.
Three Months In: The Honest Update Nobody Expected
Danielle has not pretended it is easy. One month in, she said every day looks a little different, but they had adjusted — and admitted there are days she struggles with “wanting to do this.” Episode 103, “Homeschooling 5 Kids Is Hard… But This Is Why We Chose It,” went further: some days end with five girls writing essays because nobody will stop bickering, and some days Danielle admits she feels overwhelmed, wants to quit, and wonders if she is capable of doing more. Then episode 108, on November 12, added a twist: Adam took over homeschooling while Danielle was away, and his perspective changed after a turn at the front of the class. The episode notes even ask the question fans keep circling back to: do the girls actually enjoy homeschooling? It is the same question underneath whether the quints should get a say in the choices made for them.
YOU MAY LIKEAdam Busby’s Halloween Scare Totally Backfired — 5 Wild Busby Halloween Moments RankedSo here is the question, stripped of the shouting: if Ava, Olivia, Hazel, Riley and Parker asked tomorrow to go back to public middle school with their friends, should Adam and Danielle say yes — or is the co-op, bickering essays and all, the right classroom for five girls who have never done anything apart?
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