1

July 2004

Until 1999, little empirical information existed about the

prevalence of homeschooling nationally (Bielick, Chandler,

and Broughman 2001). In 1999 and 2003, the National

Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) collected

nationally representative data that can be used to estimate

the number of homeschooled students in the United States.

Data from the 1999 NHES showed that there were an estimated 850,000 homeschoolers in the United States—about

1.7 percent of the school-age population (Bielick, Chandler,

and Broughman 2001).

This Issue Brief provides estimates of the number and percentage of homeschooled students in the United States in 2003,

and compares these estimates to those from 1999. In addition, parents’ primary reasons for homeschooling their children are described. Estimates of homeschooling in 2003 are

based on data from the Parent and Family Involvement in

Education Survey (PFI) of the 2003 NHES.

Students are defined as children ages 5 through 17 with a

grade equivalent of kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12).1

Interviews were conducted with the parents of 11,994 students (239 of whom were homeschooled). When weighted

properly, these data represent approximately 50 million stu1.1 Million Homeschooled Students in the

United States in 2003

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2004–115

IssueBrief

dents ages 5–17 with a grade equivalent of K–12 in the United

States in 2003.

Students are considered to be homeschooled if their parents

reported them as being schooled at home instead of at a public or private school for at least part of their education and if

their part-time enrollment in public or private schools did

not exceed 25 hours a week. Students who were schooled at

home only because of a temporary illness were not included

as homeschoolers. All differences discussed in this Brief are

statistically significant at the .05 level according to two-tailed

student’s t-tests.

Number and Percentage of Homeschooled

Students in the United States

About 1.1 million students (1,096,000) were being

homeschooled in the United States in the spring of 2003 (figure 1). This represents an increase from the estimated 850,000

students who were being homeschooled in the spring of 1999.

In addition, the estimated homeschooling rate—the percentage of the school-age population that was being

homeschooled—increased from 1.7 percent in 1999 to 2.2

percent in 2003 (not shown in tables or figures).

Figure 1. Estimated number and 95 percent confidence interval for number of homeschooled students, ages 5 through 17 in

kindergarten through 12th grade: 1999 and 2003

NOTE: Excludes students enrolled in public or private school for more than 25 hours a week and students who were homeschooled only because of temporary

illness. The numbers in bold are the estimated number of homeschooled students in the United States. The numbers above and below the bolded numbers are

the upper and lower boundaries of the 95 percent confidence interval around the estimates.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the 1999 National Household Education Surveys Program

(NHES); Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2003 NHES.

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1999 2003

709,000

1,277,000

1,096,000

915,000

992,000

850,000

Year

Number of homeschooled students
2

As with results from any sample survey, the numbers and percentages discussed in this Issue Brief are estimates of the actual numbers and percentages of homeschooled students in

the population. Although 1,096,000 is the best estimate available from the 2003 NHES, another similar sample survey might

produce a different estimate. A 95 percent confidence interval

defines a range of values around an estimate, within which 95

percent of the estimates from all possible similar sample surveys are expected to fall. The 95 percent confidence interval

for the number of students who were homeschooled in spring

2003 is 915,000 to 1,277,000 (figure 1).2 The best estimate

provided here—1,096,000—is the midpoint of that interval.

The estimates of homeschooling discussed in this Issue Brief

include students who were homeschooled only and students

who were homeschooled while also enrolled in school for 25

hours or less per week. As shown in table 1, in both 1999 and

2003, about 4 out of 5 homeschoolers were homeschooled

only (82 percent) while about 1 out of 5 homeschoolers were

enrolled in public or private schools part time (18 percent).

Figure 2. Percentage of homeschooled students, ages 5 through 17 in kindergarten through 12th grade, whose parents reported various

reasons as their most important reason for homeschooling: 2003

1

Other reasons reported by parents included family unity and individualized teaching, among others.

NOTE: Excludes students enrolled in public or private school for more than 25 hours per week and students who were homeschooled only because of

temporary illness. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/

pubinfo.asp?pubid=2004115.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2003 National

Household Education Surveys Program.

Percent

0 20 40 60 80 100

Child has other special needs

Child has a physical or mental 

health problem

Other reasons1

Dissatisfaction with academic 

instruction at other schools

To provide religious or moral instruction

Concern about environment 

of other schools

Reason

31

7

9

16

30

7

Parents’ Most Important Reasons for

Homeschooling Their Children

In the 2003 NHES, parents were asked whether particular

reasons for homeschooling their children applied to them.

Parents were then asked which one of those applicable reasons was their most important reason for homeschooling.

Thirty-one percent of homeschoolers had parents who said

the most important reason for homeschooling was concern

about the environment of other schools (figure 2). Thirty percent said the most important reason was to provide religious

or moral instruction. The next reason was given about half as

often; 16 percent of homeschooled students had parents who

said dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at

other schools was their most important reason for

homeschooling.

Table 1. Number and percentage distribution of homeschooled students, ages 5 through 17 in kindergarten through 12th grade, by

school enrollment status: 1999 and 2003

Number Percent Number Percent

 Total 850,000 100.0 1,096,000 100.0

Homeschooled only 697,000 82.0 898,000 82.0

Enrolled in school part time 153,000 18.0 198,000 18.0

 Enrolled in school for less than 9 hours a week 107,000 12.6 137,000 12.5

 Enrolled in school for 9 to 25 hours a week 46,000 5.4 61,000 5.6

School enrollment status

Homeschooled students

1999 2003

NOTE: Excludes students who were enrolled in public or private school for more than 25 hours per week and students who were homeschooled only because

of temporary illness. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/

pubinfo.asp?pubid=2004115. There were 50,188,000 5-17-year-old students in kindergarten through 12th grade in 1999, and 50,707,000 in 2003.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the 1999 National Household Education Surveys Program

(NHES); Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2003 NHES.
3

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling

variability. All differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics

(NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other

systematic error. For more information on the National Household Education Surveys Program, visit http://nces.ed.gov/nhes.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Daniel Princiotta and Stacey Bielick of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI) and Chris Chapman of the National

Center for Education Statistics. This Issue Brief was formatted by Carol Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. For further information, contact Chris

Chapman, NCES, at 202–502–7414 or Chris.Chapman@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1–877–4ED–Pubs or

visit http://www.edpubs.org. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

Conclusion

From 1999 to 2003, the number of homeschooled students in

the United States increased, as did the homeschooling rate.

The increase in the homeschooling rate (from 1.7 percent to

2.2 percent) represents about 0.5 percent of the 2002–03

school-age population and a 29 percent relative increase over

the 4-year period. While data from the NHES cannot explain

why homeschooling was more prevalent in 2003 than in 1999,

it can provide insight into why parents homeschooled their

children in 2003.3 Parents may have homeschooled their children for a variety of reasons, but certain factors appear to

have been more influential than others. Nearly two-thirds of

homeschooled students had parents who said that their primary reason for homeschooling was either concern about the

environment of other schools or a desire to provide religious

or moral instruction.

Data from NHES can also be used to examine the student,

family, and household characteristics of homeschoolers. Upcoming reports will use these data to study the characteristics

of homeschoolers, to compare the characteristics of

homeschooled students to those of public and private school

students, and to see how homeschooling rates may have

changed between 1999 and 2003 for different segments of the

student population.

Endnotes

1

Students who were homeschooled or enrolled in an ungraded

elementary/secondary school or special education program were

considered to have a grade equivalent of K–12 if their grade-level

equivalent was K–12 or if their grade-level equivalent was “ungraded”

and they were ages 5–17. Ages 5–17 represent the modal age range

for grades K–12.

2

Although the confidence intervals surrounding the estimated number

of homeschooled students in the United States in 1999 and 2003

overlap somewhat, the differences between the estimates are still

statistically significant. Differences between estimates with

overlapping confidence intervals can be statistically significant

(Schenker and Gentleman 2001).

3

Questions about reasons for homeschooling were asked differently

in 1999 and 2003, and thus are not comparable.

References

Bielick, S., Chandler, K., and Broughman, S.P. (2001). Homeschooling

in the United States: 1999 (NCES 2001–033). U.S. Department

of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education

Statistics.

Schenker, N., and Gentleman, J.F. (2001). On Judging the Significance

of Differences by Examining the Overlap Between Confidence

Intervals. The American Statistician, 55(3): 182–186.