What percentage of home schooling in The United States is done for religious reasons?

Question

Of those that do teach their children at home for religious reasons, what are the particular religious concerns of the parents?

Answer 1

Most Important Reasons for Homeschooling in 2003

(as reported by parents of homeschooled students in the National Household Education Survey,)



Concern about environment of other schools                   31%

To provide religious or moral instruction                    30%

Dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools   16%

Other reasons                                                 9%

Child has a physical or mental health problem                 7%

Child has other special needs                                 7%



Also see this article from _Practical Homeschooling_

This is the real reason why I homeschool my children--to give them a firm moral and spiritual foundation on which to build a responsible adult character, and to spare them the pressure that will be brought to bear on them in public school to conform to the relativism of the world. I will continue to train them at home until they have the maturity and understanding to make truly autonomous decisions.

Yet, it has been reported recently that when people are polled about their reasons for homeschooling, most respondents no longer give "religious conviction" as their #1 reason. In the interest of not "mixing causes," I also find myself listing other reasons ahead of my religious convictions when talking to people about my reasons for homeschooling. As society becomes less Christian-friendly and more Christian-hostile, it becomes easy to strategize that people will tolerate reasons such as violence in the schools and declining academic quality more readily than religious reasons. We want to keep homeschooling separate from the stereotype lots of people have of Christians as wild-eyed fanatics. But we may no longer have the time for this tactic.

Ken Connor, president of Family Research Council, wrote in FRC's Washington Update email newsletter:

   Another FRC supporter reports that he attended a conference at Harvard

   University last week [late May 2002] on "Undermining Terrorism." The

   University hosted a session in which the panel spent half the time talking

   about Evangelicals and Fundamentalist Christians with clear implications

   that religious conservatives were part of the problem. Dr. Jessica Stern

   tried to associate pro-lifers with the 9-11 terrorists.

These Harvard folks set national policy, migrating back and forth continuously between Washington, DC, and Cambridge, MA. We should take them seriously. They are trying:

1. to marginalize Christian and other religious homeschoolers as no longer significant in number, and

2. perhaps to make a play to limit or abolish freedom of religion in homeschooling. Christian homeschoolers need to stand up and be literally counted.

If the schools were guaranteed 100 percent safe I would still homeschool. If the schools were 100 percent effective at teaching academics I would still homeschool. Raising my children as Christians is my primary responsibility as a parent before God and my ultimate reason for homeschooling.

If you agree with me, please agree also on this. From now on, when someone asks why you homeschool, if your real reason is religious conviction, just say so.

********

Lesley W., Evanston Public Library

Answer 2

I'd say a vast majority, maybe 66-75%

It's done for morning prayer, Bible studies, Bible based Science.

This does not necessarily mean they don't teach traditional science, but they either show it from a spiritual aspect or present another point of view.

As for the results, college studies show the typical student in homeschool programs is 2-3 grades ahead of typical public school students and 1-2 grades ahead of typical private and religious school students.

The typical homeschooler is college ready before they are 17.

Answer 3

I'm new to Yahoo and am actually trying to comment on Bubba's comment about fundamentalists keeping children out of school in order to teach them creationism rather than science.  I know a good amount of homeschooling parents, and all of us agree that we keep our kids out of school more to temper or reduce the non-Christian views of the social and governmental affects of the public school system, which only seems to reflect the values of the leftist and extremists (the squeaky wheels) the past 20 years.  While there are still many teachers and administrators who are not involved in the liberal movements, most legislative changes that have anything to do with culture, value, and rights of Christians are not considered in school legislation anymore, but the leftist, liberal faction is making a huge impact on that scene.  That is why I homeschool, and that is why my acquaintances and friends homeschool.   Whether these parents teach their children evolution or not has nothing to do with proven scientific theories or other scientific facts.  Smart homeschoolers will familiarize their students with the theory of evolution, but explain it for what it truly is, a theory, not a proven scientific fact.  The big bang theory is just as supported, but also not proven.  The only way that creation is "proven" is if you trust the Bible to be your guide for living, and believe what you read in it (the fundamental basis of Christianity).   So...your fears of parents not covering all scientific theories can just as well be translated to classroom public school teachers who might or might not stress certain areas of a curriculum based on their personal beliefs or feelings.  I was taught both theories and came to the understanding that while science is fascinating, man's known theories and "proven" scientific data cover only a mere fraction of the beauty of the universe.  This does in no way limit my ability to discuss or comprehend the logical conclusions to a theory or proven hypothesis drawn by other schools of thoughts or cultures.  Whether the big bang or a type of evolution had anything at all to do with God's special plan of creation remains to be seen, but the issue is often used by special interest groups and politicians to cloud the real issues in the public school system, which are mainly the government deciding how and when we should educate our children, and instill "mainstream" (which usually converts to non-Christian) beliefs in them.  That is still the parents' business, no matter what the law says.  It doesn't take a village to raise a child if the village denies that child's right to freedom of religion and unique personal values.  teaching homeschoolers how to think for themselves, research, read, and comprehend the world around them from a Christian perspective is an American right and is the main reason I homeschool.  Children who are in the system are, many of them, neglected by their hardworking parents (I also work at home and it's not easy most days), and are letting administrators from Washington tell them how to feel about and judge others, and what their values should be.  that used to be a conducive environment for raising Christians, but now when a government not only no longer embraces a Christian viewpoint, but scarcely allows it, is calling the shots, alternatives are needed.  When it's okay to provide a Muslim bible to all attendees(Florida) but deny any existence of the biblical God or Christianity in what kids are allowed to say or use as a guide for their judgments at a public school facility, it's time to withdraw our children from the environment that not only fosters that, but demands it.  Another reason I homeschool is they are  surrounded by children who have parents with little or no Christian values themselves.  Sorry,  I'll get off my soapox now.

Answer 4

That's a tough one to answer; most homeschooling families have more than one reason for homeschooling.  It's not really something that you can just peg down to one or two specific things.

We homeschool for a number of reasons - primarily for academic and health reasons.  My son will tell you however, that he feels lucky to have the freedom to study both his own beliefs and those of others in the freedom of his own home - he can research them as deeply as he wants, and compare/contrast/analyze, without the confines of a lesson plan or agenda.  He is free to compare different worldviews and choose which one makes the most sense to him...and he is free to filter what he learns through his chosen worldview.

He will also tell you that he feels lucky to be able to study what interests him at his own level, at his own pace, and on his own time.

(He's 9, by the way.)

He has both health issues and learning differences (he tests in the range of highly to profoundly gifted) that our local schools are both unwilling and unable to accomodate.  Religious freedoms are something that we value highly, but they are placed on the same emphasis with the academic and health reasons.

It's really more of a multi-faceted lifestyle than a "that's my one reason" choice.  I hope that made sense?

Answer 5

As homeschooling covers a wide range of people we can only use surveys to determine approximately.  According to the most recent survey:

The reason for homeschooling that was most frequently cited as being applicable was concern about the environment of other schools including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. 85% of homeschooled students were being homeschooled, in part, because of their parents’ concern about the environment of other schools.

The next two reasons for homeschooling most frequently cited as applicable were to provide religious or moral instruction (72 %) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68 %).

I am sure the specific 'religious concerns' would vary greatly.

Answer 6

There are really no accurate figures for the reasons that people homeschool (just as there are no accurate figures for the number of people homeschooling). Because laws vary state by state, in some areas people are not required to register with their state and few (if any) states require that parents give a 'reason' for choosing homeschooling.

There have been a few published percentage figures regarding the reasons parents homeschool, but these could easily be wildly offbase (much like any sort of survey) due to the areas they poll, etc.

I know this isn't really an answer to your question, but I'm not sure you'll be able to get a 'correct' answer, mostly due to the lack of information and nature of surveys.

Answer 7

I don't know the stats, but I know plenty of atheist, agnostic, buddhist, pagan and other non-Christian home schoolers.

Answer 8

actually the reason I am homeschooling my son, is not for religious reasons, it's because his teachers couldn't teach him and didn't teach him anything last year.