Getting an Education - Home Schooling

A number of parents, unhappy with public schools, teach their children at home. In 1990 the Home School Legal Defense Association (which provides legal assistance to home-school families) estimated that about

TABLE 6.8

Number of children with disabilities who were served by federal programs, as a percentage of total public K–12 enrollment, by type of disability, 1976–77 to 2000–01
Type of disability	1976–77	1980–81	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
—Not available.
1Includes preschool children 3–5 years served under Chapter I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), Part B. Prior to 1987–88, these students were included in the counts by disability condition. Beginning in 1987–88, states were no longer required to report preschool children (0–5 years) by disability condition.
2Based on the enrollment in public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, including a relatively small number of prekindergarten students.
3Less than 0.005 percent.
Note: Counts are based on reports from the 50 states and District of Columbia only (i.e., figures from outlying areas are not included). Increases since 1987–88 are due in part to new legislation enacted fall 1986, which mandates public school special education services for all disabled children ages 3 through 5. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table 52. Children 3 to 21 Years Old Served in Federally Supported Programs for the Disabled, by Type of Disability: 1976–77 to 2000–01," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/tables/PDF/table52.pdf (accessed September 16, 2004)
	Number served as a percent of total enrollment2
All disabilities	8.32	10.14	11.27	11.42	11.55	11.75	11.94	12.21	12.19	12.43	12.56	12.80	13.01	13.21	13.33
Specific learning disabilities	1.80	3.58	4.94	5.05	5.17	5.31	5.49	5.54	5.64	5.75	5.81	5.91	5.99	6.04	6.02
Speech or language impairments	2.94	2.86	2.40	2.40	2.39	2.37	2.32	2.33	2.30	2.28	2.29	2.29	2.29	2.30	2.30
Mental retardation	2.17	2.03	1.39	1.35	1.30	1.28	1.21	1.23	1.26	1.27	1.27	1.28	1.28	1.28	1.27
Emotional disturbance	0.64	0.85	0.93	0.94	0.95	0.95	0.95	0.97	0.98	0.98	0.98	0.99	1.00	1.00
Hearing impairments	0.20	0.19	0.14	0.14	0.14	0.14	0.14	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Orthopedic impairments	0.20	0.14	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.13	0.14	0.14	0.14	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Other health impairments	0.32	0.24	0.12	0.13	0.13	0.14	0.15	0.19	0.24	0.30	0.35	0.41	0.47	0.54	0.62
Visual impairments	0.09	0.08	0.05	0.05	0.06	0.06	0.05	0.06	0.05	0.06	0.05	0.05	0.06	0.06	0.05
Multiple disabilities	—	0.17	0.21	0.21	0.23	0.23	0.24	0.25	0.20	0.21	0.21	0.23	0.23	0.24	0.26
Deaf-blindness	—	0.01	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5
Autism and traumatic brain injury	—	—	—	—	—	0.01	0.04	0.06	0.07	0.09	0.10	0.12	0.14	0.17	0.20
Developmental delay	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.01	0.03	0.04	0.06
Preschool disabled1	—	—	0.97	1.03	1.07	1.15	1.23	1.33	1.18	1.21	1.21	1.22	1.22	1.24	1.25

474,000 children were being taught at home. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 850,000, or 1.7% of school-age children, were being home schooled in the spring of 1999. By 2003 that number had risen to 1.1 million students, or 2.2% of school-age children (National Center for Education Statistics, "1.1 Million Home schooled Students in the United States in 2003," Issue Brief NCES 2004-115, July 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004115.pdf [accessed August 3, 2004]).

Parents choose to homeschool their children for a variety of reasons. Almost a third (31%) of the home-schooling parents surveyed in the National Household Education Survey said the most important reason they chose to homeschool was concern about the environment of the other schools. Another 30% said they chose to homeschool to provide religious or moral instruction. The third most common reason parents gave for home schooling was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools (16%). (See Figure 6.7.)

States have differing requirements for parents who teach their children at home ("FAQ about Home Education Regulation," March 2002). Some states, such as Colorado and New Jersey, give parents the right to educate their children as they see fit, and impose only minor controls or none at all. Other states have more strict regulations. Opponents of home schooling argue that parents may not be qualified to be teachers, but proponents believe that parents can gain teaching skills through experience, just as other teachers do.