Perspectives of Homeschoolers Motivated by Religious and Moral Reasons

Abstract

This study sought to highlight the association between motivation to homeschool and public school enrollment. Homeschooling parents (n = 1052) across the United States responded to questions from a survey administered online. Logistic regression analysis and the chi-square test showed that homeschooling parents who chose the religious/moral answer option on the survey as the reason to homeschool, were less likely to choose to enroll into a public school program. Qualitatively, the narrative data of religious/moral homeschoolers and their reasons not to enroll in public education provided a number of themes, including quality of the environment (n = 22) and reasons based on religion and faith (n = 18). These findings may prove useful for public school officials who desire to know more about how some families make educational decisions.