Home School: A Growing Market

Abstract

The private home has long been the education center of school-aged children in the U.S., from the late 1700s until the early 1950s, when the government assumed responsibility for a child's education, obligating parents to enroll their children in public school systems. Parents generally opposed the government’s interdiction into family affairs by way of mandated public-school attendance for children grades K-12, contending that children educated by the state result in the socialization of children consistent with state interests and values, which may not include many of the values, needs, and interests sought by parents that had historically reared and educated their children. The 2.6 million homeschooled students in March 2020 grew to nearly 5 million in March 2021, and when combined with U.S. private school enrollment during these periods, non-public school K-12 enrollment in the U.S. in 2021 totals 15 million, or approximately 30% of public-school enrollment of 49.4 million students. This qualitative, phenomenological study aimed to discover why an increasing number of parents of K-12 students in the U.S. are removing their children from public school education and homeschooling them. Homeschool and public-school K-12 students may have similar and distinct interests, needs, and values from one another that need to be considered in any form of education.