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Homeschooling Is Growing Rapidly in the United States, New Studies Reveal

  • Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
  • Updated Sep 18, 2024
Homeschooling Is Growing Rapidly in the United States, New Studies Reveal

Homeschooling is rising in the United States, according to a pair of new studies. The studies reveal that many families shifted their perspective on education during the pandemic and have maintained that new approach. A National Center for Education Statistics survey released this month from the Department of Education found that 5.2 percent of children (5-17) in the United States received instruction at home in the 2022-23 school year, compared to 3.7 percent who fit in that category in 2018-19. 

The data includes homeschooling and full-time virtual education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics survey, in 2022-23, 3.4 percent of children were homeschooled, and 2.5 percent were enrolled in full-time virtual education.

Among the reasons homeschooling parents listed as important were a “concern about environment of other schools” (83 percent), a “desire to provide moral instruction” (75 percent), a “desire to emphasize family life together” (72 percent), a “dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools” (72 percent) and a “desire to provide religious instruction” (53 percent). 

A separate survey released this summer by the U.S. Census Bureau found that nearly 6 percent of U.S. children were homeschooled in 2022-23, compared to an estimated 2.8 percent in 2019, prior to the pandemic, Education Next reported. The same 2022-23 Census data revealed that 10 percent of U.S. students are in private schools and 84 percent in public schools. 

“Alaska leads with 12.6 percent of children homeschooled, followed by Tennessee (9 percent) and West Virginia (8.9 percent),” Education Next reported. “... Conversely, Rhode Island (2.9 percent), Massachusetts (3.1 percent), and New York (3.2 percent) report the lowest homeschooling rates in the country.”

Keri D. Ingraham, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and director of the Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education, says many parents want their children to “escape the far-left political indoctrination that dominates today’s K-12 public education classrooms.”

“The transition to homeschooling is not without its challenges, of course,” Ingraham wrote in a Discovery Institute column examining the growth in homeschooling. “But the benefits of parents exercising their right to decide what their children learn are profound. Parents are witnessing firsthand their children newly motivated, curious, and excited about learning. The recovery of family time is an additional advantage.

“The bottom line is this: Pushed out of public schools, more and more families are reaping the benefits of homeschooling,” Ingraham added. “While homeschooling is not for everybody, more families than ever before are finding homeschooling a game-changer for their children and teenagers. There is no doubt that the increase of this attractive education option is here to stay.”

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/AleksandarNakic

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.