Statistics the enemies of homeschooling don’t want you to know

Psst … here are some stats that homeschooling haters would rather you didn’t know. Between 1999 and 2003, the number of homeschooled students in the United States increased from 850,000 to 1.1 million, according to a study by the US Department of Education. This is not good news for those who believe that public schools should be the only place where our children are taught. But it’s great news for the growing number of believers in the power of homeschooling.

So why do so many people choose the homeschool option? One good reason is that many parents feel they know their children better than the public schools. As a result, they better understand what methods and programs will work with their children. In other words, for a large group of Americans, choosing homeschooling does not mean turning down the public school teacher; is destined to select the best for the children of the family.

Violence is another reason why many parents prefer the homeschooling option. It’s true that the statistics don’t show a recent spike in violence in public schools, but it’s hard to ignore those few school shootings and not be afraid to send your kids out to face it possibly.

There are other factors in parents’ decision to home school as well. For example, according to a few more statistics, the enemies of homeschooling don’t like it: 31.2 percent of homeschooling families say they are concerned about the environment in public schools. In addition, 16.5 percent say they are dissatisfied with the academic instruction in the schools. 28.8 percent said they would like to include some religious instruction, prohibited, of course, in public schools. 8 percent gave “other” reasons.

Because these are concerns for parents of all backgrounds, homeschooling parents now also cover a wide range of backgrounds. There was a time when the homeschooling family consisted primarily of middle-class religious (evangelical) white families. That group is still a healthy part of the homeschooling movement in America today, but it has spread far beyond that core group. The number of African American homeschoolers has grown faster than the general homeschooling population.

Consider another set of statistics: those that measure the performance of homeschoolers. According to a 1997 study, “Home Schoolers Across America,” home schoolers on average performed higher than public school students by 30 to 37 percent in all subjects.

It’s no wonder, then, that so many colleges go out of their way to recruit homeschoolers. Other considerations also contribute to this. For example, unlike high school, homeschoolers can graduate at age 16, which means colleges can get their precious students even faster. In addition, the homeschool environment more closely reflects university study situations.

All of these facts together paint a compelling picture: Homeschooling is a growing phenomenon, and homeschoolers themselves are a sought-after commodity. Everything is born from statistics. They may be statistics that homeschool opponents dislike, but they are numbers you deserve to know when considering whether to take the homeschooling step.