Study: 850,000 Kids Schooled at Home
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 3 -- In the first detailed profile of homeschooledchildren, a government report reveals that most live in cities andhave well-educated parents rearing a handful of children on oneincome.
About 850,000 of the nation's 50 million schoolchildren arebeing taught at home rather than in schools, according to a studyreleased this week by the Education Department. It calculates that1.7 percent of American children were homeschooled in 1999,resulting in a total estimate higher than in the past.
The new figures come from a telephone survey of 57,278households conducted from January through May 1999.
Previous attempts to count the number of homeschoolers, both bythe Education Department and the U.S. Census Bureau, have producedwidely different results. In 1994, the Census Bureau estimated that360,000 children were homeschooled, while in 1996 the EducationDepartment put the number at 640,000 homeschoolers.
The new report says the number of homeschoolers could be as highas 992,000 or as low as 709,000. The 850,000 takes the average ofthe two.
It also paints a clear portrait of the average homeschooler,finding that they are more likely than other students to live withtwo or more siblings in a two-parent family, with only one parentworking outside the home.
Parents of homeschoolers are, on average, better-educated thanother parents — a greater percentage have college degrees — thoughtheir incomes are about the same. Like most parents, the vastmajority of those who homeschool their children earn less than$50,000, and many earn less than $25,000.
"These are families that have one income, and have sacrificedto live on one income," said Laura Derrick, of Austin, Texas, theparent of two homeschoolers and president of the Home EducationNetwork.
Education, Not Religion Leading Reason
Homeschoolers have been in the news in recent years, taking tophonors at events such as the National Spelling Bee and NationalGeographic Bee. Most parents say they homeschool their children togive them a better education and not necessarily because ofreligious beliefs, although religion was second on a list ofreasons.
