Homeschooling in the United States:Trends and Characteristics
The Impact of Home Schooling 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). Compared with other recent
changes in the educational system, such as the growth of charter
schools, home schooling has received relatively little
attention.1 It could be argued, however, that home schooling may
have a much larger impact on educational system, both in the
short and long run. This is because home schooling seems to be
taking place on a larger scale than other educational
innovations, because home schooling may have a greater immediate
impact on educational practices in existing schools, and because
home schooling has brought new institutional forms into being
that have the potential to grow over the longer term. Although
other institutional innovations in the educational system have
grown in recent years, home school