Article: Homeschooling: A Growing Option in American Education

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Homeschooling: A Growing Option in American Education
A growing number of American families are choos­ing to homeschool
their children. The U.S. Depart­ment of Education's National Center
for Education Statistics reports that approximately 1.1 million chil­
dren (2.2 percent of school-age children) were being educated at home
as of 2003—29 percent more than the 850,000 students who were being
homeschooled in 1998.[1] Another estimate projects that 2 million or
more children may be homeschooling. [2]
Families cite common reasons for choosing to homeschool their
children, such as concern about the environment at other schools,
dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools, and a
prefer­ence for providing religious and moral instruction not provided
in traditional schools.

The decentralized nature of the homeschooling population limits
researchers' ability to draw conclu­sions about the specific effect of
homeschooling on var­ious outcome measures such as academic
achievement. However, evaluations of homeschooled students have
reported that homeschool students perform well in that academic
environment. Moreover, a survey of adults who were homeschooled
suggests that home­schooling leads to positive life outcomes, such as
higher college attendance and enrollment.[ 4]

The growing number of students being educated at home is also
influencing the American education sys­tem and saving taxpayers
between $4.4 billion and $9.9 billion in instructional costs each
year.

The percentage of homeschooled students will likely continue to grow.
Technological and societal trends may make homeschooling a viable
option for a growing number of American families. Federal and state
policymakers and the private sector have an opportunity to safeguard
homeschooling and improve the opportunities for families to give
their children the best possible education at home.

Complete story at Heritage Foundation:
http://www.heritage .org/Research/ Education/ bg2122.cfm