The Kitchen Table Classroom

Homeschooling is the fastest growing segment of K–12 education in the United States today, say the editors at www.teach-at-home.com. According to the 2003 National Household Surveys Education Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, there were 1.1 million homeschooled students in the United States in spring 2003. This number is up from an estimated 850,000 students being homeschooled in spring 1999.

Why the increase, and why do families choose to homeschool? Thirty-one percent of families polled in the survey cited school environment concerns as their reason to homeschool, 30 percent stated religious reasons, and 16 percent acknowledged dissatisfaction with academic instruction in schools. The tests also reveal that the average homeschooling family has an annual income between $25,000 and $49,000, and one or both parents has a higher education than the national norm.