Top reason for homeschooling in 2007:
- desire to provide religious or moral instruction (36 percent of students)
- concern about the school environment (such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure) (21 percent)
- dissatisfaction with academic instruction (17 percent)
- "other reasons" including family time, finances, travel, and distance (14 percent).
- desire to provide their child with a nontraditional approach to education as the most important reason for homeschooling (7 percent)
- a child's health problems or special needs (6 percent)
In 2007, the number of homeschooled students was about 1.5 million, an increase from 850,000 in 1999 and 1.1 million in 2003.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Condition of Education 2009 (NCES 2009-081)Indicator 6 .
