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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

Has homeschooling become more popular over the past 50 years?

By Brian A. Gross
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YES

The decision to educate one's children at home has become much more popular since the 1970s.

The National Home Education Research Institute, which publishes the peer-reviewed journal Home School Researcher, stated that "before 1970 there were almost no homeschoolers." In 1973, NHERI estimated that 13,000 children were homeschooled. That number grew to 93,000 in 1983 and 275,000 in 1990. By 2003, 1.4 million children were homeschooled, and by 2016, 2.3 million were. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic adding additional momentum to the existing upward trend, the homeschooling population increased to more than 3.7 million in the 2020-2021 school year, according to NHERI. 

In a survey conducted by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, more than a third of parents (33.8%) cited "concern about school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure" as the most important reason for homeschooling. Dissatisfaction with acedemics (17%) and a desire to provide religious instruction (15.9%) followed.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
National Home Education Research Institute Explaining the Change in Homeschooling, 1970-2010
National Home Education Research Institute Number of Homeschoolers in U.S. 2017-2018 Home School Growing
National Home Education Research Institute How Many Homeschool Students Are There in the United States? Pre-Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19: New Data
National Center for Education Statistics School Choice in the United States: 2019
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Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.