Homeschooling Saves Taxpayers Tens of Millions Every Year

in homeschooling •  7 years ago 

In the U.S., it's estimated that there are between 1.8 to 3.5 million kids being homeschooled at the moment, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

And there is more to come as that rate is expected to grow by at least 3 to 8 percent every year. Homeschooling continues to experience a surge and it even has education experts now suggesting that this learning method could be superior to charter schools and public schools.


You will still be able to find many people out there today who aren't in favor of the homeschooling method though. And because they aren't in favor of it, you'll see that they also want to stop others from exercising this freedom and choosing their own educational method.

In some countries, it's virtually impossible for parents to homeschool their children. Homeschooling is currently listed as being illegal in many places like Greenland, Cuba, El Salvador, Turkey, Albania, Lithuania, Netherlands, Malta, Croatia, Greece, and many other areas.

Despite the fears surrounding homeschooling that still exist for many, those concerns appear to be unfounded myths when you take a look at the performance of homeschoolers in the nation.

Research demonstrates that home-schooled children aren't at any more of a risk than those who attend public schools or other educational venues. They've also demonstrated outstanding academic results when it comes to national tests and frequently outperformed their public school peers.

Roughly 20 percent of public school children report being bullied every year. And you are thousands of times more likely to be victimized attending public school than you are if being homeschooled.

There is still a very common misconception out there today that the average homeschooler isn't very bright or socialized and that just isn't the case any longer; if it ever was. There are countless ways nowadays for children to become socialized and they certainly don't need to attend a public school in order to do it. You will find a variety of homeschool-themed events that take place in areas all around the U.S.


One such event is that being held at the North Carolina Aquarium, which will be its 5th annual Homeschool Day event. At this event, a number of homeschool families will bring their loved ones and enjoy crafts, activities, live animal programs, and more. This way, the families get an opportunity to provide specialized education to their children and they also get to socialize and have fun while doing it.

Homeschooling has changed drastically over the years and that is thanks in large part to the internet because it offers parents the chance to find an abundance of learning opportunities for their children. It helps them to connect with other homeschoolers in their area and makes it easier for them to find options when it comes to teaching and training their children in different areas.

Parents have offered a number of reasons for why they would want to opt for homeschooling their children.

We hear reasons such as wanting to spend more time with the kids, dislike for government regulation, wanting to encourage the child's own individual passions and interests, concern over the public school environment, dissatisfaction with public school instruction materials, and more. You will find that the reasons are very different but there seems to be a common theme among them all; parents just want the best for their child and they want to foster and encourage their individual development.

Saving Money...

And when it comes to all of those kids who are being homeschooled right now around the United States, their education isn't dependent on tax-funded resources and so they are saving their state money by not contributing to the public school cost/demand. It's estimated that the average homeschooling parent spends about $600 a pear on related costs, while the average cost for those attending public school is a lot higher.

On average, it's estimated that taxpayers spend at least $11,000 per student in public schools. When it comes to annual education costs for the entire country, it's estimated that homeschooled children are saving taxpayers over $22 billion. Each state is saving tens of millions of dollars; some of them billions.


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Sources:
http://www.dothaneagle.com/news/education/homeschool-families-tout-freedom-to-instruct-controlled-environment/article_ffba41a8-8da8-11e7-9f6e-b7b679a85631.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/homeschooing-more-popular-than-ever-2017-1
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2017/09/08/iowa-attacks-homeschooling-dhs/644345001/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_status_and_statistics
https://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/30/home-schooling-outstanding-results-national-tests/
https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/homeschoolers-save-fellow-taxpayers-billions-of-dollars-analysis-shows
https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/08/14/how-homeschooling-parents-can-give-their-kids-athletic-training-without-the-public-school/#13b4ca0d72c6
http://www.jdnews.com/news/20170904/fifth-annual-homeschool-day-to-be-held-at-north-carolina-aquarium-at-pine-knoll-shores

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I am pro homeschooling. I think the resurgence comes from the desire to take back the responsibility for our own children. I don't like giving someone else license to teach things decreed by gov't agencies, things deemed to be 'necessary' or beneficial. Take back your kids, dammit! And teach them, lead them, help them for goodness sake.

There is a lot of GOOFY state sponsored nonsense going on and even the less politically aware people are questioning things finally.

Yes, it's been a long time coming, too. People should absolutely question things..especially concerning their children.

Wow! I had no idea it saved so much money! I've always been pro homeschooling to the parents who can handle it. But I'm even more for it now.

I was not exactly sure either actually!!

To be honest, i'd prefer home schooling my daughter.

The reasons:

  1. She'll learn well because the teacher is focus just on her and save money.
  2. No other kids that have a bad attitude to bad influence my daughter.
  3. She will be a smart and good personality little girl.

Much better option than the government internment camps.

Great works, I wish you success

In a way, another mindset misconception is that the success of homeschooling really depends on the educational know-how of the parents or their ability to create all these socializing opportunities for their kids. While this is ideal (and I recognise the benefits of being blessed with such prepared and skilled parents), it is hardly the case in many real-life stories I've seen of my homeschooling peers, siblings, and myself.

In a big way, homeschoolers create their own education for themselves. How much success they derive depend on their individual character/personality and the force of support that parents and circumstances bestow upon them. The freedom to make their own decisions regarding schedule, further learning, activities, etc. is also crucial.

Ideally, the parents or the circumstances should encourage and instil a mentality in the kids of being able and actively solving problems on their own and seeking to build and utilise their own networks and community offerings. Many times, that is not the case.

I was homeschooled from nursery age to the end of high school. My parents only had an 'O Levels' cert (equivalent to Grade 10). They didn't even complete formal high school! Their relationship was also rocky many times, and the family was in a situation of disappointment and dejection from being excommunicated from a cult-like church that my parents attended since their teen days. In addition, the government was not supportive of us homeschoolers because it's difficult to maintain control over us when we bypass most of the state exams. hurhur Homeschoolers were unable to enter the public universities of Singapore for a time. As far as we know, my second sister was the first to enter the National University of Singapore. And I was the first to enter the Singapore Management University. Since then, our homeschooling juniors have been able to enter both universities as well as the third remaining popular university in SG - Nanyang Technological University.

Given all these suboptimal conditions, my five siblings and I all did pretty well, if not thrived, under homeschooling. My sister went on to attend law school at the best university in the country. My brothers went on to become a self-made broker and a businessman. I believe it the circumstances we were in and our great imagination worked hand in hand to push us towards 'success' as defined by the general society. That being said, 'success' is a very loose term and fluctuates according to what each individual values.

There were various reasons for us being homeschooled, many of them listed by @doitvoluntarily in this article. While I wasn't always satisfied with being a homeschooler growing up, I wouldn't trade that part of me for anything now. Nice to know that even for the government, homeschooling saves educational funds =)

interesting post!!

Excellent Post and good hard work and always be Happy and upvote..!!

On the upside homeschooling can produce self-confident young men like this....

//
On the downside homeschooling is only really viable for the middle classes who use it to reproduce irritating precocious beanie-wearing smug brats like this...

Homeschoolers come from a variety of economic backgrounds, some families homeschool with incomes less than $10,000 per year👍
and we also get folks like this :)

Oh I'm definitely for it BTW, if I had kids I'd absolutely look into doing some kind of collective home schooling - maybe it's different in the states, here in the UK though homeschooling just wouldn't work for a huge proportion of people because too many parents lack the basic math and English skills to really develop their kids.

That's assuming of course that you want all kids to have basic skills like reading and maths.

That's not supposed to be a sarcastic comment btw, I'm just saying that the whole purpose of education is ultimately open to debate and what homeschooling can do is expand the concept out from the state's idea of it, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

For it to be expandable to the masses here, it would still need some kind of state support for parents I think.

whether the parents are competent enough hasn't shown to play much of a part, i mean quite frequently home schooled children academically outperform their parents.. so even if a parent isn't good in math or science for example they could outsource that learning to someone else and the internet makes that extremely easy to do today! There are some amazing teachers on Youtube teaching everything from math and statistics to guitar lessons and earth science and a lot more. Also free lessons being offered from teachers in dozens of different universities in the US :)

Let's also keep in mind that many of the kids graduating high school in the US today are illiterate and under perform homeschooled kids academically.. that's after they were educated from those "smart teachers" with those fancy degrees lol

It sounds like government schools are failing, if parents lack those skills. DoingItVoluntarily said it best, all the tools are there, even if the parents are not skilled.

I can tell you we weren't, but are now.

LOL, well played DIV.

(:

Both homeschooling and community schooling has their benefits.

I've met some great kids that were home schooled. I like how it is common for home schoolers to create a group so there kids are able to interact with one another to help with the social aspect.

Nevermind about "saving" money! I've heard so much good about it that the benefits for the children are sufficient to justify it.

In Quebec, it's "permitted", but severely frowned upon

Having so many activities for homeschoolers is such a great thing. In my country, homeschooling is only tolerated at the moment, so the only option to have the kid attending educational activities is paying for whatever private classes we can find...it is expensive, but my kid's freedom is worth it.

Homeschooling is currently listed as being illegal in many places like Greenland, Cuba, El Salvador, Turkey, Albania, Lithuania, Netherlands, Malta, Croatia, Greece, and many other areas.

Did not know this but figured as much, nice to see a list of some of the places.

Thanks man, that is actually very useful....and the list does not surprise me either LOL

The smartest young people that I know today are home schooled. They are also well adjusted and have less behavioral problems. Thanks for another good post. 🐓🐓

Great information. I agree that a lot of the reasons for parents to homeschool are different. I hear the reasons from bullying to school bomb or gun threats or the children are not learning, around our area. Also, call me old schooled but when I was in school I had real books and homework every night. Thanks for sharing the links as well. Too many people judge without even understanding.

Home School is the worst decision I have ever made, The person is treated no different than dropping out. I feel the guilt every time I see how much harder it is for my daughter.

The rich don't home school because they understand Capitalism is a psychotic competition.
Home Schooling leaves children at a disadvantage in the future while private school gives them an advantage.

The Billionaire's push for homeschooling for everyone but them. This puts the entire cost of the child's education on the Family, and it puts the "unschooled children"
In competition with the privately schooled children for the top degrees and colleges that will set them up for life.