A Few Statistics

In a letter to the editor in my local paper, someone criticized homeschooling and wrote that although she has met some "wonderfully polite, educated, social children... most of the time it does not turn out so well." So I started looking up some statistics and here are some of interest:

• Currently, there are somewhere between 2 million and 2.5 million home schoolers in the United States and they are growing in number by somewhere between 5% and 12% per year.
• Home schoolers score higher on average than public school students on both the ACT and SAT tests
• "On average, homeschool students, grades 1–4, perform one grade level above their public and private school counterparts... by 8th grade the average home school student performs four grades higher than the national average." (SADC)
• More than 74% of home schooled adults have taken college classes as opposed to 46% of the general population. (HSLDA) Many colleges are now actively recruiting home schoolers because they have a more well-rounded education, stronger work ethic, and better study habits.
• In a study of home educated adults, Dr. Gary Knowles of the University of Michigan found that "None were unemployed and none were on welfare..." (emphasis mine) The overwhelming majority said home education "prepared them to be independent persons", that it "helped them interact with individuals on different levels of society", and that they were glad they were home educated and planned to home school their own children.

So I would argue with the writer in my local paper that, "most of the time it does not turn out so well" might be a statement that more accurately applies to public school instead.