Homeschooling

ERIC Educational Reports by Patricia M. Lines

Homeschooling -- educating children under the supervision of parents instead of school teachers -- has grown steadily over the past several decades. In an earlier era, many children studied at home. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, schools had become commonplace and states had adopted compulsory school attendance laws. Only a few states allowed homeschooling as an exception to the attendance requirement. A few more required parents only to educate their children, without specifying the means.

As a result, homeschoolers risked fines or jail sentences in most states. A lucky few lived in jurisdictions that would not prosecute homes schoolers. Other families found protection in public or private schools that allowed children to enroll in "independent study" and then sent them home. Most families just hoped to avoid notice. Gradually, state by state, the legislature, a state court, an attorney general, or a state board made homeschooling legal.

This Digest discusses the extent of contemporary homeschooling and its legal status, describes available resources, presents evidence on the performance of homeschoolers, and notes how public opinion regarding the practice has changed over time. HOW MANY CHILDREN ARE HOMESCHOOLED?The homeschooling population has grown from some 10,000 to 15,000 children in the late 1960s to perhaps one million children by 2001 (roughly 2 percent of the school-aged population). The National Center for Education Statistics, based on a spring 1999 household survey, estimated that from 709,000 to 992,000 children in grades K-12 were in full- or part-time homeschooling (Bielick and others 2001).

The rate of growth may be slowing. Examination of reports from eighteen states (Bunday 2001) suggests 11 percent growth per year from fall 1995 through spring 1998. That's a sharp drop from an annual growth rate of 24 percent for the same states in the preceding three years. Assuming annual growth of 10 percent, from 923,700 to 1,275,098 children would be homeschooled by the school year 2001-02.

Families that elect to educate their children at home come from all major ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, and all income levels. However, homeschoolers are more likely to be religious, conservative, white, better educated, and part of a two-parent family, compared with the average American family. Homeschooling families tend to have more children and be middle-class (Bielick and others 2001; Henke and others 2000; Rudner 1999).

Parents who homeschool their children are more likely to vote, contribute money to political causes, contact elected officials about their views, attend public meetings or rallies, or join community and volunteer associations (Smith and Sikkink 1999). This holds true even when researchers compare only families with similar characteristics, including education, income, age, race, family structure, geographic region, and number of hours worked per week. WHAT IS THE LEGAL STATUS OF HOMESCHOOLING?Today homeschooling is legal in all states. State law generally requires homeschooling parents to file basic information with either the state or local education agency. Over half the states require some kind of evaluation under some or all of the homeschooling options available under state law. Usually, this evaluation involves testing of students, but some states accept portfolio evaluations or a teacher evaluation. Much less frequently, states have education or testing requirements for parents. Some states require submission of a curricular plan. Parents do not need teaching certificates.

The United States Supreme Court has not explicitly ruled on homeschooling, though it is clear that reasonable regulations will be allowed. The Court has found constitutional problems with compulsory school requirements in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), a limited decision involving the Amish. Yoder has led some lower courts to extend more protection to homeschooling families with a religious orientation, compared with those with a secular orientation.

A new source of legal tension has emerged over requests for part-time access to public school curricular or extracurricular programs. Much depends on the state's legal and policy environment. Some state statutes mandate that local districts provide access for homeschoolers desiring to utilize curricular and extracurricular programs. Maine, for example, broadly mandates such access. Iowa mandates access to special-education programs for eligible homeschooling children. WHAT RESOURCES DO HOMESCHOOLING FAMILIES USE?Parents are, of course, the primary resource. Typically, the mother takes the lead, though fathers usually pitch in. Perhaps as many as one out of ten fathers takes the primary responsibility.

Local and state support groups offer advice and assistance. Sometimes, several families will share instructional duties. Local support groups form readily if there are a sufficient number of homeschooling families in an area. There is at least one state-level homeschooling association in every state, and in some states there are a dozen or more regional associations. Often, parents may examine instructional materials at a book fair or association meeting.