Is Homeschooling on the Rise?



This graph is showing the projected number of homeschooled students to the year 2015.



Homeschooling has always been a popular option.  From the founding of our country to present day families have chosen homeschooling for their children’s education.  Some of our greatest thinkers were homeschooled John Adams, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, The Wright Brothers and the list goes on.  I think that homeschooling lost some popularity when both parents started working outside the home.  When our family dynamic started changing so did our way of thinking.  It has come to the point now that both parents are forced to work in most families just to make ends meet which leaves no time for homeschooling.  Even if you are lucky enough to be able to stay home it may not be right for your child.  It is difficult to transition from parent to teacher.  I wanted to do some research to find out what the trends in homeschooling are.  I wanted to see if homeschooling is on the rise.

An article in USA Today reported that the number of homeschoolers has risen as much as 74% in 2007 from 1999, bringing the number to 1.5 million homeschoolers in the U.S.  However, home school advocates estimate the number is much higher than that (Lloyd, 2009).  Gail Mulligan, who is a statistician, said “[t]here’s no reason to believe it would not keep going up.” (Lloyd, 2009).  The article also reported that the reasons parents gave for homeschooling their children is also changing.  Religious and moral reasons were still number one but the number of “other reasons” rose to 32% in 2007 from 20% in 2003 (Lloyd, 2009).

In a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, it was reported that 36% of the persons asked cited religious and moral instruction as the reason for homeschooling.  While 21% said the most important reason was concern about the school environment, 17% said is was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools (1.5 Million, 2008).

It seems that there are an increasing number of families who are dissatisfied with the education in this country and they are choosing a different option.  Gone are the days when you could group all homeschoolers together as Christian fundamentalists who wanted to shelter their children at home.  I believe that more people are recognizing that homeschooling is the right option if it fits with your family.  I believe that there is no one better to teach your child than you.  If the numbers keep rising as much as they have been soon public education will have to change.  They will be forced to hear the millions of people asking for a change.  I personally hope that more people will stand up and fight for our children’s education so that it will be the best that it can be.

1.5 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2007. (2008). Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf .

Lloyd J. (2009, January 5). Homeschooling Grows. USA Today. Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-04-homeschooling_N.htm .


Picture taken from http://www.classicalhomeschooling.com/ .