A Research Note: Number of Adults Who Homeschool Children Growing Rapidly

ABSTRACT

Following the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, the US Census Bureau (USCB) conducted regularly scheduled surveys to assess the impact that the virus had on American families. These showed that the number of adults/parents with children who were taught entirely in their homes doubled between the spring and fall 2020. Though millions of these individuals are now teaching their children at home for the first time, it is difficult knowing how many of them will continue doing so after the pandemic wanes and schools reopen on a large scale. In the following, a brief description of the USCB surveys and their results will be provided, as well as suggestions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Number of homeschool parents
• household pulse survey
• homeschooling during Covid
• homeschool
• homeschooling
• US Census Bureau

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Numerous NCES and USCB tables and reports that are cited in this article use the term “traditional” to mean public, parochial, and private secular schools but not homeschools. The author uses the word “traditional” in a similar fashion to ensure continuity in meaning across materials and audiences but, at the same time, acknowledges that homeschooling is also a traditional form of schooling that has existed for centuries (e.g., Raley, 2017).