This article by Terence P. Jeffrey | was posted May 19, 2015 on CNSNews.com.
“(CNSNews.com) – In the ten-year period from 2003 to 2012, the number of American children 5 through 17 years old who were being homeschooled by their parents climbed by 61.8 percent, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Education.
At the same time, the percentage of all U.S. students in the 5-through-17 age group who were homeschooled increased from 2.2 percent to 3.4 percent.
Homeschooling is most prevalent in two-parent families where one parent works and the other does not, according to the DOE data. Among this type of family, 5.3 percent of all students are homeschooled.
There are also patterns in the data: The more educated the parents, the more likely they are to homeschool their children and middle-income parents are more likely to homeschool than poorer or wealthier parents.
In 2003, according to the DOE estimate, there were 1,096,000 homeschooled children in the 5-through-17 age group in the United States. That equaled 2.2 percent of the 50,707,000 students in that age bracket the United States that year.
In 2007, there were 1,520,000 homeschooled children in the 5-through-17 age group, according to the DOE estimate. That equaled 3.0 percent of the 51,135,000 students in the 5-through-17 age group that year.” End.
While the demographic information is not news to homeschoolers, the rise in homeschooling children might be. Many families are opting to exercise their freedom to homeschool rather than tolerate the same-sex bathroom policy of the Obama administration or the improper leveling of academics in Common Core and/or because of bullying issues and the inability of classroom teachers to deal with disruptive and incorrigible students. No one blames the teachers – no adult should have to tolerate the negative – even violent — behavior that is reported among public school children.
One word of caution to prospective homeschooling parents: Do not be enticed into government oversight with promises of “free” computers and other materials in exchange for your autonomy. Sometimes “free” is too expensive!
