| | In the United States, as of 2003, an estimated 1.1 million students - about 2.2% of children in grades K-12 - were homeschooled. <ref>[http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/estimated.asp] Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 Statistical Analysis Report, National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES 2006-042, Feb 2006</ref> | | In the United States, as of 2003, an estimated 1.1 million students - about 2.2% of children in grades K-12 - were homeschooled. <ref>[http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/estimated.asp] Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 Statistical Analysis Report, National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES 2006-042, Feb 2006</ref> |
| − | Families who homeschool do so for a number of reasons. Most homeschool to protect the [[Christian]] faith of their children, and to preserve their family values. Other frequently mentioned reasons include concern about safety, drugs, and peer pressure at other schools, dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools, the ability to provide religious or [[moral instruction]] along with academics, the ability to control what the child is being taught, flexibility in meeting the needs of a child with special needs (such as a physical or mental health problem, a temporary illness, or giftedness), and flexibility in scheduling family life. <ref>[http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/TableDisplay.asp?TablePath=TablesHTML/table_4.asp ] Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 Statistical Analysis Report, National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES 2006-042, Feb 2006</ref> | + | Families who homeschool do so for a number of reasons. The single largest reason that parents homeschool is to protect the [[Christian]] faith of their children and to preserve their family values.<ref>In this government study, the question was in a politically correct form about "religion", but the religion was almost entirely Christianity.[http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0053.html]</ref> Other frequently mentioned reasons include concern about safety, drugs, and peer pressure at other schools, dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools, the ability to provide religious or [[moral instruction]] along with academics, the ability to control what the child is being taught, flexibility in meeting the needs of a child with special needs (such as a physical or mental health problem, a temporary illness, or giftedness), and flexibility in scheduling family life. <ref>[http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/TableDisplay.asp?TablePath=TablesHTML/table_4.asp ] Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 Statistical Analysis Report, National Center for Educational Statistics, NCES 2006-042, Feb 2006</ref> |
| | In the United States, opting out of public schools is not new. When Thomas Edison's public school teacher said he was "addled," Edison's mother took him out of public school and taught him at home. | | In the United States, opting out of public schools is not new. When Thomas Edison's public school teacher said he was "addled," Edison's mother took him out of public school and taught him at home. |