Homeschooling goes boom in America

74 percent increase in number of families teaching own children
By Chelsea Schilling
A homeschooling movement is sweeping the nation – with 1.5 million children now learning at home, an increase of 75 percent since 1999.
The Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics reported homeschooling has risen by 36 percent in just the last five years.
“There's no reason to believe it would not keep going up,” NCES statistician Gail Mulligan told USA Today.
A 2007 survey asked parents why they choose to homeschool and allowed them to provide several reasons. The following are the most popular responses:
Concern about the school environment, including reasons such as safety, drugs or negative peer pressure – 88 percent
A desire to provide religious or moral instruction – 83 percent
A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools – 73 percent
Nontraditional approach to children's education – or “unschoolers” who consider typical curriculums and standardized testing as counterproductive to quality education – 65 percent
Other reasons, such as family time, finances, travel and distance – 32 percent
Child has special needs (other than physical or mental health problems) that schools cannot or will not meet – 21 percent
Child has a physical or mental health problem – 11 percent
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