The
Informed
Homeschooler
Dr. Brian Ray
The Context
Has the growth in the home- school movement tapered off or flattened? Or, is it growing? Is it rising or not? One recent
study found that the growth of the homeschool population lessened off for the four
years ending in 2016.1 But what do other
current sources of data say?
Movements come and movements go.
Policymakers, educators, parents, and the
general public have wondered for 30 years
whether homeschooling would be a quickly
passing fad or trend. It has not been so.
Does empirical evidence suggest that the
population size is, however, experiencing
a flattening or leveling of growth? People
want to know: how many homeschoolers
are there in United States?
One Recent Study
U.S. Department of Education researchers
recently reported on data gathered from
the National Household Education Surveys
program of 2016.1 It is another careful and
thoughtful attempt by the federal depart-
ment to understand some things about the
homeschool population. The investigators
mailed printed questionnaires to most of
the 206,000 households that they selec-
ted and ended up with a sample of 13,523
school-enrolled and 552 homeschooled
children. From data on these students,
the investigators estimated the U.S. home-
school population size and its demographic
characteristics and reasons that parents
gave for homeschooling.
McQuiggan and her fellow researchers
estimated that there were 1,689,726 students of ages 5–17 being homeschooled
during the spring of 2016. That is, they estimated 1. 69 million. 2 They also reported
Homeschooling Growth Nationwide
Multiple Data Points Indicate a Continued
Increase the Last Half Decade
People want to know: how many homeschoolers are there in the United States?
