In the first detailed profile of homeschooled children, a government report reveals that most live in cities and have well-educated parents rearing a handful of children on one income.
About 850,000 of the nation's 50 million schoolchildren are being taught at home rather than in schools, according to a study released last week by the Education Department. It calculates that 1.7 percent of American children were homeschooled in 1999, resulting in a total estimate higher than in the past.
The new figures come from a telephone survey of 57,278 households conducted from January 1999 through May 1999.
Debbie Lynch, spokesperson for the Aurora Public Schools, said that the last count taken during the 2000-2001 school year showed that there were about 300 home schooled students in the district.
"The majority of those homeschooled in Aurora are elementary students," Lynch said. "The most common scenario is for students to be homeschooled through elementary and join APS at the junior high level."
Lynch said that parents who want to homeschool their children must register the kids with a school, but that school doesn't have to be in the district in which they live.
Previous attempts to count the number of homeschoolers, both by the Education Department and the U.S. Census Bureau, have produced widely different results. In 1994, the Census Bureau estimated that 360,000 children were homeschooled, while in 1996 the Education Department put the number at 640,000 homeschoolers.
The new report says the number of homeschoolers could be as high as 992,000 or as low as 709,000. The 850,000 takes the average of the two.
The study also paints a clear portrait of the average homeschooler, finding that they are more likely than other students to live with two or more siblings in a two-parent family, with only one parent working outside the home.
Parents of homeschoolers are, on average, better-educated than other parents - a greater percentage have college degrees - though their incomes are about the same. Like most parents, the vast majority of those who homeschool their children earn less than $50,000, and many earn less than $25,000.
"These are families that have one income, and have sacrificed to live on one income," said Laura Derrick, of Austin, Texas, the parent of two homeschoolers and president of the Home Education Network.
Lynch said that most times its not that homeschooling parents have anything against the public schools system, it's more based on family values.
"Parents believe that values can be formed hands-on all day every day when they school their children at home," Lynch said. "We have highly qualified teachers and, of course, I would encourage parents to enroll their kids at APS, but that doesn't mean those that are very serious about homeschooling can't deliver a good education as well."
Lynch said homeschooling also offers the advantage of more one-on-one attention between the educator and the student.
Homeschoolers have been in the news in recent years, taking top honors at events such as the National Spelling Bee and National Geographic Bee. Most parents across the nation say they homeschool their children to give them a better education and not necessarily because of religious beliefs, although religion was second on a list of reasons.
"The primary reason is that it's a great way to raise kids," said Mark Hegener, publisher of Home Education Magazine. "Any way you slice the American pie, you're going to find homeschoolers sticking out of it."
Lynch said that homeschooled children are welcome at any time to join the APS district as long as they live in Aurora.
Though the number of homeschooled kids dwindles in the junior high and high school age range, those that are still taught by parents at that time can participate in certain APS activities.
"On an availability basis, homeschooled students can participate in fine arts classes that their parents may not be able to help them with," Lynch said. "More commonly, though, students take advantage of our offer to allow them to participate in sports."
Based in Tonasket, Wash., Hegener's bimonthly magazine has a circulation of about 12,000. He has published it for 18 years while homeschooling his five children.
"Collectively, they spent about six weeks in a conventional school system," he said.
Hegener's grandchildren are now being taught by their parents, with grandpa's help.
The survey found that about 18 percent of homeschoolers were enrolled in schools part time, with about 11 percent saying they used books or materials from public schools. About 8 percent said they used public school curriculums, and about 6 percent participated in extracurricular activities.
Derrick said relationships between homeschoolers and public schools vary widely, with some states and districts opening their arms wide while others ignore them. Most, she said, have begun accepting that homeschoolers are here to stay.
"Today, it's the rule, rather than the exception that there's a good relationship between the public school students and homeschoolers," she said.