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 children (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. Another estimate projects that 2 million or more children may be homeschooling.

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 school.

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.

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.

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