05/29/2026
In America, 3.2 million children — about 6% of the school-age population — were homeschooled in 2024, more than double the number recorded in 2019.
That sustained growth is the subject of a new feature in The Economist, "Home-schooling is taking off," which draws on data and analysis from the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab. As Lab Director Angela Watson observes in the piece, today's homeschooling families increasingly resemble the broader population — a notable departure from longstanding stereotypes about who chooses to homeschool and why.
The research points to a sector that is both expanding and diversifying: for instance, growth is rising fastest among families of color, many families blend educational settings rather than committing to a single approach, and about half of homeschooled children in the United States are taught at home for only one to three years.
As homeschooling continues to grow across the United States and around the world, rigorous, unbiased data is essential to understanding how this evolving segment fits within the broader education landscape — and how policymakers, educators, and families can respond.
Read the full article here: https://www.economist.com/international/2026/05/21/home-schooling-is-taking-off
