Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us

Experience and anecdotes have led many people to believe that homeschool parents were either move-to-the-country anarchist goat-herders, or right-wing Bible-thumpers, and their children were either mathematically-limited, due to Mama's fear of math, or child prodigies in rocket-science who were unthinkably socially hindered. Although one can find statistical deviants in every group, homeschooling research tells a different story from the experience-based stereotypes and biases concerning those involved in home education.

Quick History and Demographics

Most people know that parent-led, home-based education is neither a new concept nor a new educational practice; it is millennia old. By the late 1970s, however, it was estimated that only 13,000 grades K-12 students were being homeschooled in the United States (Lines, 1991). The practice of homeschooling was specially rekindled during the 1980s, promoted by individualist parents and educational thinkers with a variety of backgrounds in pedagogical philosophies and religious worldviews. With 1.7- 2.1 million K-12 students home educated during the 2002-2003 institutional school year, home-based education is now arguably the fastest-growing form of education, compared to public and private institutional schooling (Ray, 2003).

Although measures of central tendency mask the variety of people involved in homeschooling, the following descriptions give a glimpse of the current homeschool population (c.f., Ray, 2004b for a more comprehensive list):

1. Both parents are actively involved in home-based education, with the mother/homemaker usually as the main academic teacher. Fathers do some of the formal academic teaching of the children and are engaged in other ways in their lives.

2. The learning program is flexible and highly individualized, involving both homemade and purchased curriculum materials.

3. Some families purchase complete curriculum packages for their children, while others approach homeschooling with only a small degree of preplanned structure: this is often called "lifestyle of learning" or "unschooling."

4. As a rule, home-educated students have relatively little interaction with state schools or their services. A minority participate in public-school interscholastic activities such as sports and music ensembles, and some occasionally take an academic course in local schools.

5. Children study a wide range of conventional subjects, with an emphasis on reading, writing, math, and science.

6. Many students take advantage of the flexibility provided by home education to participate in special studies and events, such as volunteer community work, political internships, travel, missionary excursions, animal husbandry, gardening, and national competitions.

7. Most homeschool children are taught at home for at least four to five years. Most parents intend to homeeducate their youths through the high school years.

8. They have larger-than-average families.

9. Male and female students are equally represented.

10. A married couple head at least 95 percent of homeschooling families.

11. The typical homeschooling parent has attended or graduated from college. About half of home educators have earned a bachelor's degree or higher. However, significant numbers have only a high school education.

12. The total annual household income is under $25,000 for about 18 percent of the families; $25,000-$49,000 for about 44 percent; $50,000-$74,000 for about 25 percent, and $75,000 or more for about 13 percent. This is close to the median (typical) income for American families.

13. In terms of faith, a wide variety of parents and families homeschool. More than 75 percent regularly attend religious services. The majority are of the Christian faith and place a strong emphasis on orthodox and conservative biblical doctrine. However, an increasing proportion of agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, and New Agers are homeschooling their children.

14. In terms of racial/ethnic background, about 85 percent are white/non-Hispanic, but a rapidly increasing portion of minorities also are engaging in home-based education.

Homeschool Students'Academic Performance

One of the first questions researchers ask is, "Does homeschooling work, academically?" Many policy makers, educators, school administrators, and parents wonder whether ordinary mothers and fathers, who are not governmentcertified teachers, are capable of teaching their children after age five. Is it possible for adults without specialized, university-level training in teaching to help their children learn what they need to learn?

Many studies have been completed during the past 20 years that examine the academic achievement of the homeeducated (Ray, 2004b). Dozens of researchers have executed these studies. Examples of these studies ranged from a multiyear study in Washington state, three nationwide studies across the United States, and a nationwide study in Canada (Ray, 1994, 1997, 2001c; Rudner, 1999; Wartes, 1991). In study after study, the homeschooled scored, on average, at the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic achievement tests in the United States and Canada, compared to the public school average of the 50th percentile.