They will not gulp down a Pop Tart or grab a Lunchable as they race out the door to meet the school bus. These children are homeschooled. That makes homeschooling the fastest growing educational alternative in the country today.
Families homeschool their children for a variety of reasons.
Many have basic educational philosophies or religious beliefs that are inconsistent with public and private schooling. Families also choose homeschooling to achieve academic excellence by custom-tailoring a curriculum suited to their child's interests, learning styles, and needs. Indeed, the latest nationwide study of religious and secular homeschooled students support the claim of homeschooling proponents that home education is more successful than public education. Dr. Brian Ray, president of The National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Oregon, reports in his recent study that homeschooled students scored, on the average, in the 80th to 87th percentiles on standardized academic achievement tests. The national average for public schooled children is the 50th percentile.