America is arguing about homeschooling. The data tells a different story.

Opinion>Opinions - Education The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill America is arguing about homeschooling. The data tells a different story. Comments: by Angela R. Watson, opinion contributor - 08/05/26 1:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Angela R. Watson, opinion contributor - 08/05/26 1:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied

Title: Homeschooling Surge Image ID: 21202821008100 Article: Lily Osgood, 7, corrects a math problem while studying at her family's home, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in Fairfax, Vt. Lily and her brother, Noah, 12, will continue to be homeschool this upcoming school year. For some families, the switch to homeschooling was influenced by their children’s special needs. Having observed Lily’s progress with reading and arithmetic while at home during the pandemic, her mother, Jennifer, is convinced homeschooling is the best option for her going forward. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Lily Osgood, 7, corrects a math problem while studying at her family’s home, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in Fairfax, Vt. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Last month, a viral podcast rant declared homeschooling a “huge problem” — the product of one kind of family, one kind of politics, one kind of faith. Backlash arrived within hours and has been just as heated.

As a researcher who has spent nearly a decade studying who actually homeschools in America, I’ve been watching all of this unfold with a familiar feeling: everyone is so certain, and almost no one is citing data.

Here’s what the data says.

Homeschooling is no longer a fringe practice. According to U.S. Census Bureau survey data, roughly 6 percent of American K-12 students — about 3 million children — were reported as homeschooled in the 2023-24 school year, nearly double what it was before the pandemic. And this is not a pandemic hangover that is fading. Our lab’s analysis of state records found homeschooling growing at an average of 4.9 percent across reporting states in 2024-25 — more than double the pre-pandemic growth rate — with several states hitting all-time enrollment highs.

A population that large is unlikely to be a monolith, and the evidence shows exactly that.

Homeschooling families are more racially and ethnically diverse than the stereotype suggests and growing more so over time.

In Delaware, one of the few states that reports these figures, Black students make up 12 percent of the homeschool population. Researchers have documented thriving homeschool communities among Black, Hispanic, rural, military and secular families — each homeschooling for their own reasons, from academic fit to school safety to flexibility. Our research has also found that homeschooling parents look a lot like other parents. They value many of the same things and reflect the diversity of the broader population.

These families also don’t fit the typical image of isolation. In a nationally representative survey our lab conducted with RAND’s American Life Panel, 88 percent of homeschooling parents reported using supplemental educational supports like co-ops, online classes and tutors, compared with 44 percent of parents overall. Many families also move in and out of homeschooling as their children’s needs change, mixing it with public and private schooling over time. So, the line between “homeschoolers” and everyone else is blurrier than the discourse suggests.

The evidence on long-term outcomes tells a similar story. In a study I co-authored with Albert Cheng for the think tank Cardus, we examined a nationally representative sample of American adults who were homeschooled as children.

The title gives away the finding: “Diverse Outcomes for a Diverse Population.” Across economic, civic, mental-health and religious measures, no single profile describes homeschooled adults. Outcomes vary — by how long someone was homeschooled, by family circumstance and more — just as they do for graduates of any other kind of school. The one-dimensional homeschooler simply does not exist in the data.

I share this research neither to defend nor to condemn homeschooling but to describe it. We are researchers, after all — not cheerleaders or critics. Some homeschooled students thrive; some struggle; most land somewhere in between — which is also true of students in every other educational setting. Reasonable people can and should debate how homeschooling ought to be supported and regulated. But that debate is only useful if it starts from an accurate picture of who is actually doing it.

And that picture matters beyond the news cycle. Homeschooling now involves millions of students, touches state budgets and enrollment planning, and intersects with some of the most consequential policy questions in American education. Lawmakers in every state are making decisions about these families right now. Caricature is a poor basis for policy — in any direction.

So, the next time a viral moment invites you to picture “a homeschooler,” resist the urge. The honest answer to who homeschools in America is a lot of different people, for a lot of different reasons, with a lot of different results.

The data is free and public for anyone who wants to look. It is messier than the stereotype — and far more interesting.

Angela R. Watson, Ph.D., is an associate research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education and director of the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab, where created the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Hub — the first comprehensive online repository of U.S. homeschooling data.