Who Homeschools? (It’s Not Who You Think.)

Homeschooling is growing.

Since the COVID pandemic, our best estimates suggest that homeschoolers grew from 3% of the American K-12 student population to 6%. When we consider that 7% of students are enrolled in charter schools and 9-10% of students are enrolled in private schools, we can recognize the size of the homeschooling population. And the homeschooling sector isn’t just large. It is also incredibly diverse, especially when compared to longstanding—and often misleading—stereotypes.

Generally speaking, little is known about homeschooling. Homeschools don’t participate in data collection in the same way that traditional public schools do. Some federal data that offer insights into homeschooling are being discontinued. Data that can provide nationally-representative insights into educational sectors like homeschooling were already scarce and are getting scarcer.

We set out to fix this problem.

We surveyed a nationally representative sample of parents of school-aged children, providing rich insights into who homeschools.

Who they are will surprise you.

We also asked each parent respondent how many school-aged children they have in their household as well as the educational sector for each child, providing us with unique insights into how families homeschool and which other educational sectors they use.

In many ways, the diversity of homeschooling mirrors the diversity of the American population. While true that a greater proportion of White families choose homeschooling (69% in our sample vs. 57% of the American population, according to the U.S. Census), like the American population, a substantial proportion of homeschooling parents are Hispanic (15% vs. 20%), Black (10% vs. 14%), or Asian (5% vs. 7%). Like the American population, homeschooling parents represent a wide range of religious practices, with 44% attending religious services weekly or more frequently, 25% attending less frequently, and 31% never attending religious services. Like the American population, homeschooling parents represent a wide range of political ideologies, from Left (29% are Democrats and 25% are liberal) to Center (27% are Independents and 32% are moderate) to Right (44% are Republicans and 43% are conservative).

That’s right. Among homeschooling parents, one in four identifies as a liberal Democrat.

But homeschooling is also diverse in ways that mainstream American education is not—and perhaps cannot be.

For example, families that homeschool at least one child often make different educational choices for other children, demonstrating considerable sector “mixing.” Among students in households with at least one homeschooled child, almost half report that someone in their household uses some other educational sector, including traditional public schools (35%), public charter schools (9%), and private schools (13%).

Homeschooling is diversifying by modality as well.

Among homeschool students, 71% are homeschooled full-time, but 29% homeschool in some other fashion, including co-op (18%), hybrid school (8%), or something else (3%). Universal school choice programs, which have been passed in many states and often include homeschoolers, may help remove barriers to entry and create incentives for new ways to learn.

Of course, it’s too early to tell if universal inclusion is driving innovation. However, it’s worth noting that not all states with “universal” choice programs extend full funding to homeschooling families. As policymakers consider crafting such choice legislation, they should carefully consider the evidence—not the stereotypes—about homeschooling.

Common homeschooling stereotypes of the past must be examined alongside accurate information and data. This study is a step toward a better understanding of who today’s homeschooling population is and why they choose to homeschool.

Our evidence on homeschooling modalities and sector mixing provide evidence of the dynamism of the homeschooling movement. Paired with continued innovation in what is defined as homeschooling and the removal of financial barriers through increased access to public funding such as education savings accounts and other programs, homeschooling is likely to continue to diversify and diffuse. As more choices become available, parents are likely to increasingly choose from year to year and child to child the sector that best meets the needs of their families.

Read the working paper.