Homeschool Statistics

Are they important to know about? Consider these questions!

How popular is homeschooling? Why do families decide to homeschool? Are homeschoolers achieving at a better level than their public school peers? What about college?

These are legitimate questions that come up when I talk about homeschooling. Are there good homeschool statistics to support some of these answers? Yes! Read on for homeschool statistics to help answer these questions!

How Popular is Homeschooling?

According to the Department of Education, the number of home-schooled students has surged by 74 percent over the past eight years, to 1.5 million.

The National Home Education Research Institute, which supports homeschooling, puts the number of home-schooled students above the Department of Education's estimates, at just over 2 million.

Why Do Families Choose to Homeschool?

In the magazine, U.S.News, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, wrote. "The government has eliminated God from the classroom and too often replaced Him with an anti-life, anti-family curriculum that misses life's deepest meaning."

According to the Department of Education report in 2007, parents homeschooled their children for a variety of reasons, but three reasons were noted as most important.

• To provide religious or moral instruction

• Concern about the school environment

• Dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools

Many parents find it unthinkable that kids have to go through metal detectors before they can enter their schools.

School violence has increased at an alarming rate.

According to Isabel Lyman's article, "An Analysis of Print Media Coverage of Homeschooling: 1985-1996",

The top four reasons given to homeschool were:

• Dissatisfaction with the public schools

• The desire to freely impart religious values

• Academic excellence

• Building of stronger family bonds

What types of Families Choose Homeschooling?

• Different races

• Social economic backgrounds and religions

• Live in the country

• City

• Suburb

• Small towns

• Single parents

• Moms that stay home

• Two parent families

Through the Scholastic Achievement of Homeschool Students Bob Jones University Press Testing and Evaluation Service, 20,760 students in 11,930 families were surveyed:

• One-fourth of home school students (24%) have at least one parent who is a certified teacher.

• Home school students watched much less television than students nationwide; 65% of home school students watch one hour or less per day compared to 25% nationally

• 98% were in married couple families

• Most home school mothers (77%) did not work outside the home.

What are the results of Homeschooling?

The homeschool statistics of "The Scholastic Achievement of Homeschool Students" states:

• Almost 25% of home school students were enrolled one or more grades above their age-level peers in public and private schools.

• The median scores for every subtest at every grade were typically in the 70th to 80th percentile... above those of public school students.

• Home school students in grades 1 to 4 performed one grade level above their age-level.

The National Home Education Research Institute institute's research has found that home-schooled students score about 15-30% above their public-school peers on standardized achievement tests.

Home school students do exceptionally well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS and TAP batteries, home school students scored significantly higher than their public and private school counterparts.

Scientific research has shown that home schooled children are 77% more likely to complete a four-year college degree with honors than children who are educated in a more traditional fashion.

The HSLDA's study of 1,657 homeschooling families notes that homeschooled students want to attend college: 69% of respondents pursued a college education.

Because home education allows each student to progress at his or her own rate, almost one in four home school students (24.5%) are enrolled one or more grades above age level.

Do Homeschooled Students Get Admitted to College?

A growing number of colleges and universities around the United States, including Harvard and Yale, are admitting homeschooled students to their freshman classes.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported a boom in homeschooled students' winning admission to selective colleges.

In the year 2000, a Times magazine article stated that Stanford University accepted 26% of the 35 homeschoolers who applied--nearly double its overall acceptance rate.

23 of 572 freshmen at Wheaton College in Illinois were homeschooled, and their SAT scores average 58 points higher than those of the overall class.

Homeschooling students can achieve and do exceptionally well!