Dear , from NHERI:

 

News from the State of North Carolina shows that the homeschool population more than doubled from the spring of 2000 to the spring of 2010. There were a reported 2.6 times as many "homeschools" during the 2009-2010 institutional school year than a decade ago. That is very notable growth.

 

News reporters and others often ask me, Why do you think the homeschool population is still growing?

 

I think the answer is fairly simple. Many researchers have investigated why parents (and youth) choose to home-based education rather than institutional public/state schooling and private schooling. The reasons parents give are fairly consistent. And these reasons go to the foundation of education, broadly defined, and what people think is important to the raising of children to be solid adults and for robust family life to develop.

 

The most common reasons given for homeschooling are the following:

1.     customize or individualize the curriculum and learning environment for each child,

2.     accomplish more academically than in conventional schools,

3.     use pedagogical approaches other than those typical in institutional schools,

4.     enhance family relationships between children and parents and among siblings,

5.     provide guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults,

6.     provide a safer environment for children and youth, because of physical violence, drugs and alcohol, psychological abuse, and improper and unhealthy sexuality associated with institutional schools, and

7.     teach and impart a particular set of values, beliefs, and worldview to children and youth rather than send children away to allow other adults and systems to do this.

 

These reasons are not related to ephemeral or faddish notions. They are philosophically and pedagogically rooted and not likely to fade fast. Parents and the public's perspectives on and understanding of state/public schools are not likely to improve very soon and many parents think that private schooling is too similar to public schooling.

 

One should not be surprised if the ranks of home-based education continue to grow - nationwide - into the foreseeable future.

 

Brian D. Ray, Ph. D.

National Home Education Research Institute

http://nheri2010.org/

http://nheri.org/

 

P.S. Please feel free to send us your questions about homeschooling and we will try to answer them in upcoming messages. And if you see any research on home education, help us keep track research by telling us about it.

 

 

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

 

Sources of Information:

1.     North Carolina Department of Education, retrieved 8/5/2010 from http://www.ncdnpe.org/homeschool2.aspx.

2.     Ray, Brian D. (2009). Research facts on homeschooling, retrieved 8/5/2010 from http://www.nheri.org/Research-Facts-on-Homeschooling.html.