RESEARCH FACTS ON HOMESCHOOLING

General Facts, Statistics, and Trends:

There are over 2.3 million home school students in the United States.  That is, there were an estimated 2.3 million in spring 2016, and this was up from one estimate of about 2 million home-educated children (in grades K to 12) during the spring of 2010 in the United States (Ray, 2011). It appears the home school population is continuing to grow (at an estimated 2% to 8% per annum over the past few years).

Home schooling – that is, parent-led home-based education; home education – is an age-old traditional educational practice that a decade ago appeared to be cutting-edge and “alternative” but is now bordering on “mainstream” in the United States. It may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States.

Home-based education has also been growing around the world in many other nations (e.g., Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, Japan, Kenya, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, and the United Kingdom).A demographically wide variety of people home school – these are atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals; low-, middle-, and high-income families; black, Hispanic, and white; parents with Ph.D.s, GEDs, and no high-school diplomas. One study shows that 32 percent of home school students are Black, Asian, Hispanic, and others (i.e., not White/non-Hispanic) (Noel, Stark, & Redford, 2013).

Families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children’s education. The finances associated with their homeschooling likely represent over $27 billion that American taxpayers do not have to spend, annually, since these children are not in public schoolsTaxpayers spend an average of $11,732 per pupil annually in public schools, plus capital expenditures.

Taxpayers spend nothing on most home school students and home school families spend an average of $600 per student annually for their education.Homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity among minorities. About 15% of home school families are non-white/non Hispanic (i.e., not white/Anglo).

An estimated 3.4 million or more U.S. adults have been home schooled for at least one year of their K-12 years, and they were home schooled an average of 6 to 8 years. If one adds to this number the 2.3 million being home schooled today, an estimated 5.7 million Americans have experienced being home schooled.

Reasons and Motivations for Home Educating:

Most parents and youth decide to home school for more than one reason. The most common reasons given for homeschooling are the following:

customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child,accomplish more academically than in schools,use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in institutional schools,enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings,provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults,provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, racism, and improper and unhealthy sexuality associated with institutional schools, and teach and impart a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview to children and youth.

Academic Performance:

The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. (The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.) A 2015 study found Black home school students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students (Ray, 2015). Home school students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income. Whether home school parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement. Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement. Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions. Home school students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development (Socialization):

The home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem. Home school students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work. Adults who were home educated are more politically tolerant than the public schooled in the limited research done so far.

Gender Differences in Children and Youth Respected?

One researcher finds that homeschooling gives young people an unusual chance to ask questions such as, “Who am I?” and “What do I really want?,” and through the process of such asking and gradually answering the questions home-educated girls develop the strengths and the resistance abilities that give them an unusually strong sense of self. Some think that boys’ energetic natures and tendency to physical expression can more easily be accommodated in home-based education. Many are concerned that a highly disproportionate number of public school special-education students are boys and that boys are 2.5 times as likely as girls in public schools to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Success in the “Real World” of Adulthood:

The research base on adults who were home educated is growing; thus far it indicates that they participate in local community service more frequently than does the general population, vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population by adulthood, internalize the values and beliefs of their parents at a high rate.