About Homeschooling

While most Americans think homeschooling is a new phenomenon, it actually predates public education. In fact, public education was born as an idea to enable poor Americans equal opportunity to become educated. Even in the early discussions of “public” education, Adam Smith, author of Wealth of Nations, argued that parents were in the best position to decide how their children should be educated.

Today, homeschooling is on the rise as parents return to the heritage of early American education, centered on the Bible. It is estimated that there were 1.7 million to 2.1 million children being homeschooled in the 2002-2003 school year*.

Home-educated children tend to perform better on standardized tests, with their average scores well above the average scores of conventionally schooled children. Also, studies by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) have shown that homeschooled children are quite involved in activities such as field trips, scouting, 4-H, and community volunteer work. Parents of homeschooled children also tend to be more active in civic activities than public school parents, giving their children good role models.

Even with learning-disabled students, homeschooling shows greater academic gains. Studies show that these students spend more time on academics and basic skills than what is typically provided in public school special education programs, and their progress reflects the benefit of this additional quality time.

Who homeschools? Parents that decide to homeschool represent a true “melting pot” of today’s society. Parents have made their decision to homeschool for several important reasons. They want to teach the truth and enable their children to build character, which they don’t believe will be emphasized in public or even traditional private schools; they want their children to develop a love for learning and for education; and they want to enable their children to master the concepts they are taught. In addition, most homeschool families develop strong family bonds because of the quality time together that home educators enjoy.

*Research by National Home Education Research Institute