Homeschoolers more likely to be motivated by shootings, bullying than religion: poll
Homeschooling has seen a shift in motivation as the practice is becoming less religious and more motivated by avoiding situations such as bullying and school shootings, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.
The survey reported that the top three reasons families chose homeschooling were concerns about school environment at 74 percent, “to provide moral instruction” at 68 percent and unhappiness with academic instruction in public schools at 64 percent.
Next on the list included school shootings at 62 percent and concerns about bullying at 58 percent. Only 34 percent chose “to provide religious instruction” as one of their motivations.
Homeschooling families have traditionally been thought of as more religious and conservative, but that trend could be changing, particularly after the pandemic when thousands of families tried homeschooling after they were either dissatisfied with their school’s policies or did not like the instruction their child was receiving.
A 2012 federal survey showed 2 out of 3 homeschooling families picked religion as their reason for ditching public schools.
And in 2019, a survey found 70 percent of homeschoolers were white. But now, the Post-Schar School poll showed a little less than half of homeschoolers are white, with Hispanic families in particular seeing a jump in numbers.
Before the pandemic, homeschooling was more conservative, with three Republican families to every one Democratic one. Families who started after the pandemic were split down the middle between the two parties, according to the poll.
The Post-Schar School poll found 7 in 10 homeschool families after the pandemic said they would think about sending their children back to public schools, while 37 percent of parents said their students take some classes at either a private or public school.
The poll was conducted Aug. 1-10 among 1,027 U.S. parents with children ages 5 to 20. The margin of error is plus or minus 6 percentage points.
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