Choice in education means not only the right to select the best school for each child but also the right to select no school at all��choosing instead to educate a child at home.

Home-schooling�the practice by which parents serve as their children's teachers and the home serves as the school�is an educational choice made today by the parents of an estimated 1.6 million to 2 million children, a number which continues to grow significantly each year.

Parents who prefer the home school option are motivated by a variety of goals. Some seek the chance to teach specific philosophical or religious values. Others see home schooling as a means of developing close family relationships, encouraging high level academics, supporting specific learning needs of children or using alternative approaches to teaching and learning. Other parents choose home education based on concerns they have about the safety and discipline of children in some traditional public schools.

Interest in home schooling is growing. There are three times as many home schoolers now as in 1990, and nine times the number in 1978. These families come from several different backgrounds. Large numbers of home schoolers are Christian or Mormon, but many other religions are represented as well. There are active home schooling organizations serving Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews. In Washington, Oregon, and California, many of the growing number of new urban home schoolers are not active members of any church.

For all their differences, parents who home school tend to agree on one key benefit: the value of tailoring the curriculum and teaching approach to the needs of an individual child. Research findings consistently report that, on average, home-schooled students equal or exceed conventionally schooled students on achievement tests.

© 2004 Black Alliance for Educational Options
1710 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, D.C. 20036 | phone: (202) 429-2236 | fax: (202) 429-2237