Statistics Homeschooling:

Facts And Research on Homeschool

Statistics Homeschooling brings together the facts which show why an increasing number of families are choosing homeschool and gives you some of the evidence which proves that home school works.

I've looked at the available data and tried to boil things down so you can see at a glance the most useful and relevant homeschooling facts. I've concentrated here on the homeschooling statistics available for the US, but I've also included research results from the UK where the facts, as you'll see, prove the success of homeschooling.

Teaching home school science is one way of emphasising the importance of facts to prove a hypothesis, so let's see what comes out of the homeschooling research.

Homeschooling Statistics for the US

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) provides homeschool statistics. The home school statistics which follow are for 2007, the most recent year data is available.

Homeschooling Facts:

1. Number of homeschool students.

   NCES Statistics Homeschooling show that numbers for students increased by 74% from 1999 to 2007.

   In 2007, there were about 1.5 million homeschool students.

2. Homeschool Arrangements.

   84% of homeschool students were taught at home exclusively. Of the remaining 16%, most students spent less than 9 hours each week at school.

3. Reasons for Homeschooling.

   The most important reason parents gave for choosing homeschool was to offer religious or moral instruction (36%).

   NCES Statistics Homeschooling also list the facts behind other parental reasons, which were:

   • choice of available schools
   • concerns about the school environment (safety, negative peer pressure, drugs, etc.)
   • disappointment with the teaching provided
   • wishing to provide a non-traditional learning experience
   • problems with time, money, or distance from school
   • child health problems or special needs

4. Who chooses to homeschool?

   77% of all home school children in 2007 were white.

Other Homeschooling Statistics

More facts are available from the National Home Education Research Institute, which publishes the Home School Researcher.

According to NHERI's homeschool statistics published in January 2011, approximately 1.73 to 2.35 million children in grades K-12 were homeschooled in the U.S. during the spring of 2010. Facts show that the homeschool population is growing at the rate of 2-8% annually.

NHERI puts the number of nonwhite home school families at about 15% (which largely tallies with the statistics from NCES), an encouraging sign that increasing numbers of minorities may be choosing to homeschool.

Facts About Homeschooling

How does homeschool affect academic results?

The Home School Legal Defense Association published a report, Homeschooling Achievement, looking at research facts on homeschool.

The statistics clearly show that home school students outscore their peers on standardized tests.

You can see more details about this in our page on Homeschooling Statistics.

In the UK, the academic advantage of homeschooling was shown by statistics produced by Paula Rothermel from the University of Durham which proved that: "children at home significantly outperform their contemporaries at school."

The US statistics revealed something else, which has great relevance to homeschool families. The academic achievement for home school students was not dependent upon:

• teacher certification
• the amount of money spent (something I referred to in my tips on Affordable Homeschooling)
• the level of government oversight
• gender
• race

Further, although their parent's level of education did make a noticeable difference, the homeschooled children of non-college educated parents still scored well above the national average.

Dr Alan Thomas, (Senior Lecturer In Psychology, Darwin, Australia) found that:

"Research in the United States suggests that home educated children who eventually enter school are generally ahead of their age mates, sometimes way ahead."

You can find more evidence of the academic advantage of homeschooling from the UK, and other facts back up the statistics. Homeschool students, for example, have matriculated at over 900 different institutions, including highly selective Universities like Harvard and Princeton.

Overall Statistics: Evaluating Home School

There are many benefits to homeschooling, but one of the strongest facts to bear this out are the results of the HSLDA's research.

Over 90% of those studied are glad they were homeschooled, and over 80% plan to educate their children at home.

What a fantastic endorsement of homeschool!

Statistics Homeschooling And You

I have not attempted here to provide a definitive list of all home school research, but only to have picked out some of the most interesting facts.

Nonetheless, the statistics prove that homeschooling is a choice that has been made by a significant and growing number of families. If you're asking yourself whether you're up to the challenge, have a look at our page on Homeschooling for Dummies. You might be pleased to learn that many of the skills you already have as a good parent will transfer into turning you into a first-rate homeschooler!

HSLDA's Statistics Homeschooling has provided lots of evidence to show that home school does work for a significant number of families.

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