Research Summaries

What Is Homeschooling?

Homeschooling allows parents to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school. Parents make use of a wide range of resources; children’s experiences vary.

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Homeschooling by the Numbers

After a long period of growth, the number of children being homeschooled has stopped increasing. Roughly 3.3% of students, nearly two million children, are being homeschooled.

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Homeschool Demographics

Homeschooled children today are less likely to be white, more likely to have a parent who has not completed high school, and more likely to live below the poverty line than in the past.

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Motivations for Homeschooling

Parents homeschool for many reasons: to provide religious instruction, creative learning, or a better education; to meet a child’s special needs; or to escape bullying.

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Academic Achievement

Homeschooling appears to depress students’ math performance, but may increase reading scores for some children. Few studies using random samples have been conducted.

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What about Socialization?

The socialization a homeschooled child receives depends on their parents. Some students have active social calendars; others may not receive the interaction they need.

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Homeschool Outcomes

Homeschool graduates who attend college tend to do well; however, there are indications that homeschooling depresses both college attendance and achievement in STEM fields.

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What Scholars Say

Scholars have long divided homeschoolers into groups—closed communion or open communion; believers or inclusives; first choice or second choice.

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A History of Homeschooling

The movement began in the 1970s when educator John Holt began urging parents to foster their children’s learning at home. In the 1980s, evangelicals entered the scene.

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