Facts about Homeschooling

General Facts about Homeschooling

• There are over two million homeschooling children in the United States alone.
• Homeschooling is a growing trend with about 15-20 % growth per year.

• Because families pay for the cost of their only homeschooling books and supplies, they save the United States tax payers more than $16 billion in public schools funding!
• A wide variety of different people homeschool – they include: varying income-level families; varying ethnicities; parents who advanced degrees, GEDs, and some with no high-school diploma and atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals.
• Homeschool families choose to homeschool for a variety of different reasons.
• Homeschool students tend to claim that they enjoy learning more than their traditionally-taught peers.
• Homeschooling is a rising trend among minority groups.

Homeschool Academic Achievement Facts

• The average homeschool student scores between 15 - 30 percentage points higher than their public-school peers on standardized academic achievement tests.
• Home-educated children still score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of education.
• Home-educated children still score above average on achievement tests regardless of their family's household income.
• Whether their parents were ever certified teachers does not have any correlation to the homeschooled students’ academic achievement.
• The degree of state regulation has not shown to have any effect on the rates of student achievement.
• Homeschooling students score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that most colleges and university consider for admissions and are being actively recruited by many colleges.

Homeschooling Facts Regarding Social Development

• Homeschoolers do very well (and often above average!) on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development including peer relations, self-esteem, leadership abilities, and participation in community service.
• Most homeschool students are more regularly engaged in social activities with a larger variety of people outside their homes than those children who are in school!

Homeschooling Facts about Adult Success

Adults who were homeschooled as children generally:

• participate in local community service more often than the average person,
• vote and attend public meetings more often than their peers, and
• attend and are successful in college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.

What Does the Research Mean?

It is possible that homeschooling is the cause of the positive outcomes seen in research. However, there has been no research done that can actually provide proof that homeschooling is the root cause. However, there is also no evidence that homeschooling causes any much-feared negative consequences or worse outcomes than any more traditional school choices.

(For us, we think the proof is in our kids—who seem happy, well-adjusted and enjoying being kids.)

The detailed reports on these facts about homeschooling can be found from reports by The National Home Education Research Institute and by the U.S. Census Bureau.

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