NOT EXTRA AT ALL
This reporter really hasn’t done any research at all.
Kellie Gunner homeschools Michael, her 6-year old son.
That may not be unusual in Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) where officials estimate as many as 300 students are homeschooled.
And according to the U.S. Census website, as many as 2 million children nationwide are taught at home––and it’s growing by about 20 percent each year.
What’s extraordinary is that Gunner is a state-credentialed schoolteacher.
First, the Census Bureau really didn’t report that there were 2 million HEKs (in 2001, no less). It reported that there were estimates that high.
According to widely-repeated estimates, as many as two million American children are schooled at home, with the number growing at 15 to 20 percent per year (McDowell & Ray 2000, Lines 2000).
And the 15 to 20 percent figure is absolutely dated info. As Tim noted earlier today, in some parts of the country homeschooling numbers are flat to slightly down over the last half-decade.
And then there’s that “extraordinary” claim. There are quite a few g-school teachers who end up home educating. Just like the huge number who send their kids to private schools.
One Response to “NOT EXTRA AT ALL”
 Comment by Henry Cate February 17th, 2006 at 11:16 am |
Daryl have you seen a really good recent national survey on the number of homeschoolers? The most recent one I’ve found is a 2003 survey done by the government: which had homeschoolers growing at around 5% to 6% a year. But the sample size was really small, only 239 children, out of the 12,000 surveyed. But the kicker for me was only 54% of those who were asked to participate in the survey responded. The assumption seems to be that those who responded were representative of those invited to be in the survey. But if all families who homeschooled responded then the percentage who really were homeschooling would be about half of the estimate. On the other hand, if there were a thousand families who homeschooled who choose not to respond, then it would be closer to 9% who were homeschooling in the survey. It really seems that we don’t know just how many people are homeschooling today. Oh, and the Doyle report about how many school teachers send their children to private schools is here: |