Hello, , from NHERI.

We released a new study today! It is entitled, 2.04 Million Homeschool Students in the United States in 2010.

Many have wondered for the past few years, Is homeschooling still growing or has it leveled off, or even fallen in its numbers? So, I, with the encouragement and support of many, decided to try to find out.

Basically, the study tells us that the number of home-educated children and youth in America has continued to grow over the past three or so years. It appears to have grown in both absolute numbers and in terms of the percentage of the total school-age population nationwide.

Here is the big quote:

Data collected for this study, previous research findings, and the experience of the researcher show that there were an estimated 2.040 million (2,040,000) K to 12 homeschool students in the United States in the spring of 2010. The author is highly confident that the true number lies between 1,734,000 and 2,346,000 homeschool students in grades K to 12 in the United States during the spring of 2010.

This research news may strike some as exciting or tantalizing; for others it may seem humdrum. That is the nature of research! One perspective follows: "'The growth of the modern homeschool movement has been remarkable,' said Michael Smith, president of HSLDA. 'Just 30 years ago there were only an estimated 20,000 homeschooled children,' he added." [Note 1]

Either way, the claim that homeschooling is now a passing fad has no support. Behind-the-scenes data collecting showed that homeschooling grew by as much as about 18% from spring 2007 to spring 2011 in North Carolina. In other states, it was less. (The report includes an appendix to lead the interested person to more detailed information.)

Thank you so much to those who concretely support the work of NHERI so we can continue doing research, like this study and more.

If you are interested in tangibly supporting our work reporting on professors at university schools of education, court decisions, doing research, collecting research, disseminating research, and helping homeschool families around the world, please see "Two ways to help" below.

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

P.S. Please feel free to send us your questions about homeschooling and we will try to answer them in upcoming messages.

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

Notes:

1. Home School Legal Defense Association. (2011, January 4). Over two million children are homeschooled. Retrieved 1/4/2011 from http://www.hslda.org/docs/media/2011/201101140.asp.