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Gray, TN, May 16, 2012, 1:25 pm -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC — With more than 2 million K–12 students in the U.S. currently being educated at home, the popularity of homeschooling continues to rise. Since 1999, the number of homeschooled students has increased by a staggering 75%, mostly in response to increasing dissatisfaction and frustration with the public school system.
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education recently documented less than a 1%
increase in enrollment of K–12 public school students nationwide, but the homeschool
population increased by a whopping 7%. Almost 4% (and growing) of our nation’s
school-age children are being educated at home.
Research has proven that parents are more than capable of successfully educating
their children at home. Surveys of homeschoolers’ academic successes consistently
reveal that they score, on average, at the 65th to 89th percentile on standardized
academic achievement tests, compared to a national school average at the 50th
percentile. Interestingly, according to a recent, nationwide survey of homeschoolers
commissioned by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), achievement gaps
that are “well-documented in public school between boys and girls, parents with
lower incomes, and parents with lower levels of education are not found among
homeschoolers.”
Recent studies laud homeschoolers’ academic success, noting their significantly
higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade point averages as
college students. Yet surprisingly, the average expenditure for the education of a
homeschooled child, per year, is $500 to $600, compared to an average expenditure of
$10,000 per child, per year, for public school students.
More than ever, homeschool grads are scoring points with college recruiters.
Compared to the overall population of college students, homeschool grads achieve a
higher retention rate and a higher graduation rate as they pursue education beyond
the training provided by their parents. Dori Staehle, in her February 2012 article,
notes that schools such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and Duke are actively
recruiting homeschoolers—and offering them scholarships. She cites the
characteristics of homeschoolers who have gotten their attention: “These students
tend to be exceptionally bright, motivated, and mature. Far from being sheltered and
shy (the typical stereotypes), homeschoolers’ applications reflect students who have
traveled, taken risks, and studied some pretty intense topics.”
National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) survey results confirm that
homeschoolers are “engaged, at least as much as are others, in activities that
predict leadership in adulthood” and are “satisfied that they were home educated.”
Homeschool graduates are more civically engaged than the general public and
demonstrate “healthy social, psychological, and emotional development, and success
into adulthood.” Apparently homeschoolers are getting excellent grades on their
report cards—both academically and socially!
Based on recent data, researchers such as Dr. Brian Ray (NHERI.org) “expect to
observe a notable surge in the number of children being homeschooled in the next 5
to 10 years. The rise would be in terms of both absolute numbers and percentage of
the K to 12 student population. This increase would be in part because . . . [1] a
large number of those individuals who were being home educated in the 1990s may
begin to homeschool their own school-age children and [2] the continued successes of
home-educated students.”
Dr. Gary Knowles, a professor at the University of Michigan, conducted a survey of
homeschool grads who are now successful adults. He found that “an amazing 96% said
if they could do it all over again they would want to be homeschooled. Not a single
one was unemployed or on welfare. That is pretty impressive.”
Homeschooling parents have chosen to educate their own kids at home for a myriad of reasons, and many say they are in it for the long haul. It’s a matter of conviction and dedication. And, judging from the current state of the public school system, the answer for thousands of parents in this country is clear and simple: homeschool them.
Are homeschoolers “making education history”? For sure. As did the homeschooling parents of individuals such as Abraham Lincoln, Booker T. Washington, Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Andrew Wyeth, equipped with parental insight and motivation to see their children succeed academically and socially, today’s homeschooling parents are making education history.
- Ends -
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (TOS), the trade magazine for homeschoolers, is making
education history in 2012 with the launch of its free apps for Apple, Android, and
Kindle Fire. TOS offers a host of ever-expanding tools and ideas to educators—those
who teach at home and those who teach in traditional classrooms—who are looking for
lesson plans, art and music instruction, and activities for preschoolers through
high schoolers—absolutely free. Apps (and everything inside them) can be accessed
without cost at www.TOSApps.com.
Contact Details: Gena Suarez, Publisher
publisher@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC
www.TOSMagazine.com
888-718-HOME
