The decision to homeschool: potential factors influencing reactive homeschooling practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT While a controversial practice internationally, homeschooling is not uncommon in the United States’ educational system. Although myriad reasons exist for choosing to homeschool one’s children, a framework highlighting reactive versus proactive motivations has emerged to explain why some families choose to homeschool. Using prospective, longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten: 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:11), reports were gathered from 187 homeschooled children, their parents, and their teachers. Aspects of the ECLS-K:11 homeschoolers appear consistent with a reactive model of homeschooling. All ECLS-K:11 children initially began kindergarten in the traditional school system, but subsequently left that system prior to fifth grade to be homeschooled. When assessed shortly before leaving, these children were more likely to be absent and to have parents who did not endorse being very satisfied with their child’s school compared to those who remained in the school system. Moreover, these issues appeared uniquely exacerbated just prior to departure from the school system. Additionally, although children who would go on to homeschool within the next year did not score differently on academic achievement tests than their traditionally schooled peers, they were more likely to experience bullying in the year before they began to homeschool. The ECSL-K:11’s homeschooling sample is described, and conclusions drawn between it and literature descriptions of homeschoolers. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed, particularly given recent changes in the educational landscape.