points higher than public school students
on;standardized;achievement;tests. 7 A report compiled by the National Governors
Association and its partners states: “Four
decades ago America had the best high
school graduation rate in the world, but
by;2006;it;had;slipped;to;18th;out;of;24
industrialized;countries.” 8
Another factor that leads parents to
choose homeschooling is a desire to
share their worldviews with their children, rather than subjecting them to constant exposure to worldviews and values
that;may;run;contrary;to;their;own.;Par-ents have recently raised their voices concerning such things as evolution and climate change being taught as undisputed
science instead of contested theories9 or
teaching about world religions in an unbalanced way. 10
Concern over parents losing their
right to be involved in their child’s
education is a growing one. At Deer-field;High;School,;in;Deerfield,;Illinois,
14-year-old freshmen were ordered to
attend;a;seminar;after;signing;“a;confi-dentiality agreement promising not to
tell their parents.” 11 A lawsuit brought
by parents in Massachusetts concerning
controversial material being taught to
their elementary-aged students resulted
in;a;ruling;by;U.S.;District;Judge;Mark
L. Wolf that “essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief . . . who said, ‘the rights
of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children . . .
would undermine teaching and learning.’” 12 The judge went on to say that the
parents “may send their children to a
private school . . . [or] may also educate
their;children;at;home.” 13
Every family has their own unique
combination of reasons to homeschool.
Other reasons include a safer learning
environment with respect to bullying,
substance abuse, and inappropriate
sexual situations; the strengthening
of family relationships through more
shared experiences; and the freedom
to tailor instruction to best serve their
children’s;needs.
Homeschoolers Share Why They
Homeschool
Two homeschooling families have graciously given us permission to share their
personal stories of homeschooling with
you.;I;would;like;you;to;meet;Tia;Strasser
of Maple Valley, WA, and Jennifer Hold-en;of;Spokane,;WA.
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Australia approximately 30,000 families (includes home school
and distance education)
Austria over 2,000
Brazil 700 families
Bulgaria less than 100 families
Canada1 100,000 students
China2 2,000-18,000 students
Czech Republic 500 families
Denmark about 250 families
Estonia less than 100
Finland 250
France 2,000-3,000;
10,000-20,000 homeschoolers enrolled
in correspondence schools
Germany about 400 families
Guatemala 1,000
Hong Kong 50-100 families
India 500-1,000
Indonesia 2,000 families
Ireland 750
Israel several hundred families
Japan 1,000-5,000 families
Kenya more than 400 families
Malaysia hundreds of families
Mexico 5,000 families
Netherlands 100 families
New Zealand 6,473
Norway 400
Philippines 4,000
Poland 1500
Russia 70,000
Slovakia under 50
South Africa 50,000-75,000
South Korea 600-1,000 families
Spain 2,000 families
Switzerland over 200 families
Taiwan over 1,000 families
Ukraine less than 100 families
United Kingdom 20,000-100,000
United States3 2,000,000
All the above numbers, except for those indicated below, are from http://www.hslda.org/hs
/international/, accessed December 19, 2013
1. Canada data from www.hslda.ca/assets/pdf/summary-final.pdf and correspondence with Member Services, HSLDA Canada, September 6, 2013
2. China data from blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/08/27/homeschooling-becomes-more-pop-
ular-in-china/?mod=WSJBlog and www.globaltimes.cn/content/806299.shtml#.UikuDuXD-M-,
both accessed December 19, 2013
3. United States data from http://www.nheri.org/, accessed December 19, 2013
