Homeschooling in the United States

In the spring of 1999, an estimated 850,000 students nationwide were being home schooled. This amounted to 1.7 percent of the U.S. students, ages 5 to 17, with a grade equivalent of kindergarten through grade 12. Four out of five homeschoolers were home schooled totally and one out of five homeschoolers were enrolled in public or private schools part time.

There has been continued growth in the parent-led home school movement and it parallels a simultaneous decline in the enrollment in other forms of education. About 1.5 to 1.9 million students in grades K-12 were home schooled during 2000-2001.

The key reasons for home educating their children are varied. These reasons included being able to give their child a better education at home, for religious reasons and because of a poor learning environment at school. Also some have gone this way because of special needs that their children have that are not being meet by other means of education – both public and private.  With the primary goal of homeschooling being to direct your child’s upbringing and help to shape their philosophy, theology, character, and world view.

Patricia Lines of the U.S. Department of Education concluded that home education families “…have not turned their backs on the broader social contract as understood at the time of the Founding of America. They are…asserting their historic individual rights so that they may form more meaningful bonds with family and community. In doing so, they are not abdicating from the American agreement. To the contrary, they are affirming it.”

Home educators and their families are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources. In fact they seem to be saving taxpayers at least $61 million per year. Neither do they, in general, have a strong desire for access to tax-funded resources.

Home educators children are learning well. They do not need or want regulation and will strongly oppose it. The parents will not likely be coaxed into more regulation by the lure of offered services. They want to be understood and treated as people and educators with a serious purpose and integrity.

Dr. Howard Richman and his colleagues have found that the home educated score on the average at the 86th percentile in reading and the 73rd percentile in math. The national average is 50th percentile. Repeatedly, across the nation, the home educated score as well as or better than those in conventional schools.

Dr. Larry Shyers observed children in free play and group interaction activities. Conventionally schooled children had significantly more problem behaviors than did the home educated. This is probably because the primary models of behavior for the home educated and their parents. Home educated children are more mature and better socialized than are those sent to school according to Thomas Smedley’s personal interaction and communications approach to understanding socialization. Dr. Gary Knowles, of the University of Michigan, explored adults who were home educated. None were unemployed and none were on welfare, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent person, 79% said it helped them interact with individuals from different levels or society, and they strongly supported the home education method.

A greater percentage of homeschoolers compared to non homeschoolers were white, non-Hispanic. At the same time, a smaller percentage of homeschoolers were black. These figures are changing though rapidly since 1999.

The household income of homeschoolers in 1999 was no different than non homeschoolers, However, parents of homeschoolers had higher levels of educational attainment than did the parents of non homeschoolers.

A much greater percentage of homeschoolers than non homeschoolers came from families with three or more children. 62 percent of home schooled students were part of families with three or more children compared to 44 percent of non homeschoolers. Homeschoolers were just as likely to be an only child as non homeschoolers and were less likely than non homeschoolers to have just one sibling.

In order to home school, parents may need to dedicated a significant amount of time to schooling their children. Because of the time required, HOME SCHOOLING usually involves two parents, one who home schools. Rudner in 1999 found that 97 percent of HOME SCHOOLING parents were married couples.

The household income of HOME SCHOOLING families was higher than the median household income of families with children nationwide. NHES in 1999 reported though that the household income of homeschoolers reported in ranges from less than $25,000 to over $75,000, is the same as the household income of non homeschoolers. The same percentage of home schooled and non home schooled students lived in household with annual incomes of $50,000 or less.

Parents’ highest educational attainment was clearly associated with HOME SCHOOLING. Parents of homeschoolers had higher levels of educational attainment than did parents of non homeschoolers. 37 percent of parents of non homeschoolers did not complete any schooling beyond highschool compared to 19 percent of parents of homeschoolers. Conversely, 25 percent of parents of homeschoolers attained bachelor’s degrees as their highest degree, compared to 16 percent of parents of non homeschoolers.

Urbanicity refers to the classification of households as urban or rural. The percentage of homeschoolers living in a city was about 9 percentage points lower than the percentage for non homeschoolers. There were non statistically significant differences between the percentages of homeschoolers and non homeschoolers living in towns or rural areas.

DETAILS ON PARENTS REASONS FOR HOME SCHOOLING: (percentages will not add to 100 percent because respondents could give more than one reason. – Source: U.S. Depart of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program- 1999)

Public schools or school districts sometimes offer support for homeschoolers by providing parents with a curriculum, books and materials, places to meet, and the opportunity for home schooled children to attend classes and participate in extracurricular activities at the school. Research has found only a small percentage of homeschoolers enrolled in these classes and using these textbooks or libraries when they were made available by the public schools and that many homeschoolers did not want public support.

I would like to thank the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement – NCES 2001-033 for supplying much of the statistical information. I would also like to thank NCES for information from their work.