Sunday, March 6, 2011

Homeschooling USA: Some Statistics

I just stumbled upon Ann Zeise's interesting number crunching on how many kids in America are homeschooled.  According to Ann's stat estimates, California topped the nation with an estimated 173,199 homeschoolers in 2010-2011 and Texas came second with 124,798. I like how Tammy Takahashi summarizes the info here.

Source: GoMilpitas.com
Estimated total number of homeschoolers for said years: 1,376,804. (LOL...couldn't resist using large font). We're talking about kids aged 5 to 17 years old.

And as Ann mentions, it is unclear how "homeschooling" is defined.

For instance, I only recently realized that those of us who are signed up with a homeschool charter or a public school independent study program are not always considered homeschoolers in the true definition of the word. So Ann's estimates may not include the entire population of families who learn at home and do not file the private school affidavit.

What do you think? Is homeschooling a growing trend? Should families who register with charters and ISPs be considered homeschoolers? It would be a fantastic debate I think because I certainly consider my family as homeschoolers and have been for the past 4+ years.

More FunSchooling posts on homeschooling statistics here and here.

2 comments:

  1. You know, I've always thought of those who homeschool through a charter as sort of a hybrid of homeschooling and traditional education. It seems to me that completely independent homeschoolers have more freedom. Because I choose to go through a charter, I have to meet state requirements, receive oversight from a credentialed teacher, and permit my children to undergo whatever testing requirements are in place. Still, I can't say my boys experience in any way resembles the daily experience of children in a traditional classroom setting.

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  2. Ditto Annie...we do have requirements to fulfill too and I must admit to being curious about how it feels not having to take those tests or submit inane writing assignments!

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