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Digest of Education Statistics
2011 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 40. Number and percentage of homeschooled students ages 5 through 17 with a grade equivalent of kindergarten through 12th grade, by selected child, parent, and household characteristics: 1999, 2003, and 2007
Selected characteristic 1999 2003 2007
Number of students1 (in thousands) Number home-schooled (in thousands) Percent
home-schooled
Number of students1 (in thousands) Number home-schooled (in thousands) Percent
home-schooled
Number of students1 (in thousands) Number home-schooled (in thousands) Percent home-schooled
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Total 50,188 (72.7) 850   (71.1) 1.7   (0.14) 50,707 (89.3) 1,096   (92.3) 2.2   (0.18) 51,135 (155.3) 1,508   (117.9) 2.9   (0.23)
Sex of child                                                
Male 25,515 (233.9) 417   (43.9) 1.6   (0.17) 25,819 (286.8) 569   (61.9) 2.2   (0.24) 26,286 (355.6) 633   (75.2) 2.4   (0.28)
Female 24,673 (238.7) 434   (46.1) 1.8   (0.19) 24,888 (277.7) 527   (58.2) 2.1   (0.23) 24,849 (386.9) 875   (97.7) 3.5   (0.39)
                                                 
Race/ethnicity of child                                                
White 32,474 (168.2) 640   (62.3) 2.0   (0.19) 31,584 (187.2) 843   (77.5) 2.7   (0.25) 29,815 (197.9) 1159   (101.6) 3.9   (0.34)
Black 8,047 (102.3) 84   (24.8) 1.0   (0.31) 7,985 (45.7) 103 ! (33.9) 1.3 ! (0.42) 7,523 (114.0) 61 ! (21.2) 0.8 ! (0.28)
Hispanic 7,043 (85.5) 77   (17.7) 1.1   (0.25) 8,075 (35.1) 59 ! (21.1) 0.7 ! (0.26) 9,589 (84.8) 147   (27.5) 1.5   (0.29)
Other 2,623 (114.2) 49 ! (17.2) 1.9 ! (0.65) 3,063 (161.1) 91 ! (31.5) 3.0 ! (1.02) 4,208 (170.6) 141   (36.1) 3.3   (0.86)
                                                 
Grade equivalent2                                                
Kindergarten through 5th grade 24,428 (20.5) 428   (48.1) 1.8   (0.20) 24,269 (24.7) 472   (55.3) 1.9   (0.23) 23,529 (68.1) 717   (83.8) 3.0   (0.36)
Kindergarten 3,790 (20.0) 92   (19.7) 2.4   (0.52) 3,643 (24.7) 98   (23.5) 2.7   (0.64) 3,669 (67.9) 114 ! (35.4) 3.1 ! (0.96)
Grades 1 through 3 12,692 (6.2) 199   (36.7) 1.6   (0.29) 12,098 (#) 214   (33.3) 1.8   (0.28) 11,965 (2.4) 406   (64.5) 3.4   (0.54)
Grades 4 through 5 7,946 (1.3) 136   (22.5) 1.7   (0.28) 8,528 (#) 160   (30.1) 1.9   (0.35) 7,895 (2.1) 197   (41.4) 2.5   (0.52)
Grades 6 through 8 11,788 (3.4) 186   (28.0) 1.6   (0.24) 12,472 (6.5) 302   (44.9) 2.4   (0.36) 12,435 (0.7) 359   (64.9) 2.9   (0.52)
Grades 9 through 12 13,954 (70.5) 235   (33.2) 1.7   (0.24) 13,958 (81.8) 315   (47.0) 2.3   (0.33) 15,161 (129.3) 422   (58.2) 2.8   (0.38)
                                                 
Number of children in the household                                                
One child 8,226 (153.8) 120   (20.3) 1.5   (0.24) 8,033 (218.1) 110   (22.3) 1.4   (0.27) 8,463 (227.1) 187   (31.4) 2.2   (0.37)
Two children 19,883 (211.4) 207   (27.1) 1.0   (0.14) 20,530 (319.4) 306   (45.1) 1.5   (0.22) 20,694 (295.3) 412   (67.3) 2.0   (0.33)
Three or more children 22,078 (241.2) 523   (65.2) 2.4   (0.30) 22,144 (362.8) 679   (80.2) 3.1   (0.36) 21,979 (331.0) 909   (102.4) 4.1   (0.46)
                                                 
Number of parents in the household                                                
Two parents 33,007 (203.8) 683   (68.3) 2.1   (0.21) 35,936 (315.1) 886   (82.7) 2.5   (0.23) 37,262 (302.1) 1348   (111.5) 3.6   (0.30)
One parent 15,454 (209.4) 142   (25.0) 0.9   (0.16) 13,260 (319.2) 196   (42.6) 1.5   (0.32) 11,734 (299.2) 115   (28.4) 1.0   (0.24)
Nonparental guardians 1,727 (86.0)   (†)   (†) 1,511 (100.1)   (†)   (†) 2,139 (203.2) 45 ! (17.3) 2.1 ! (0.81)
                                                 
Parent participation in the labor force                                                
Two parents—both in labor force 22,880 (241.5) 237   (39.8) 1.0   (0.17) 25,108 (373.1) 274   (44.1) 1.1   (0.18) 26,075 (318.9) 509   (76.8) 2.0   (0.30)
Two parents—one in labor force 9,628 (194.4) 444   (53.8) 4.6   (0.55) 10,545 (297.2) 594   (73.7) 5.6   (0.67) 10,776 (284.8) 808   (94.3) 7.5   (0.82)
One parent—in labor force 13,907 (220.0) 98   (21.8) 0.7   (0.16) 12,045 (267.9) 174   (39.8) 1.4   (0.33) 9,989 (277.2) 127   (29.5) 1.3   (0.30)
No parent participation in labor force 3,773 (162.3) 71   (18.8) 1.9   (0.48) 3,008 (171.4) 54 ! (23.7) 1.8 ! (0.78) 4,296 (228.0) 64 ! (20.6) 1.5 ! (0.48)
                                                 
Highest education level of parents                                                
High school diploma or less 18,334 (217.3) 160   (26.5) 0.9   (0.15) 16,106 (272.3) 269   (51.6) 1.7   (0.32) 14,303 (292.6) 206   (35.6) 1.4   (0.24)
Vocational/technical or some college 15,177 (215.2) 287   (37.3) 1.9   (0.24) 16,068 (323.4) 338   (57.7) 2.1   (0.36) 14,584 (326.3) 549   (77.3) 3.8   (0.52)
Bachelor's degree/some graduate school 9,412 (179.0) 230   (36.3) 2.4   (0.37) 10,849 (275.0) 309   (48.5) 2.8   (0.45) 12,321 (281.6) 502   (70.1) 4.1   (0.57)
Graduate/professional degree 7,264 (179.9) 173   (39.9) 2.4   (0.54) 7,683 (239.5) 180   (41.6) 2.3   (0.55) 9,927 (242.9) 251   (41.0) 2.5   (0.41)
                                                 
Household income                                                
$25,000 or less 16,776 (116.9) 262   (45.0) 1.6   (0.27) 12,375 (53.6) 283   (56.0) 2.3   (0.45) 11,544 (123.8) 239   (49.9) 2.1   (0.43)
$25,001 to $50,000 15,220 (232.7) 278   (36.7) 1.8   (0.24) 13,220 (270.2) 311   (49.9) 2.4   (0.37) 10,592 (236.4) 364   (56.9) 3.4   (0.52)
$50,001 to $75,000 8,576 (189.3) 162   (25.5) 1.9   (0.30) 10,961 (282.2) 264   (51.1) 2.4   (0.46) 10,289 (232.9) 405   (57.9) 3.9   (0.56)
Over $75,000 9,615 (211.2) 148   (26.5) 1.5   (0.28) 14,150 (261.7) 238   (45.8) 1.7   (0.33) 18,710 (232.6) 501   (74.9) 2.7   (0.40)
                                                 
Urbanicity                                                
City (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†) 15,998 (292.3) 327   (40.4) 2.0   (0.26)
Suburb (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†) 18,988 (291.3) 503   (78.8) 2.6   (0.41)
Town (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†) 5,574 (209.4) 165   (37.2) 3.0   (0.66)
Rural (†)   (†)   (†) (†)   (†)   (†) 10,576 (110.9) 513   (75.5) 4.9   (0.71)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is 30 percent or greater.
‡Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is 50 percent or greater.
1Refers to all students in public and private schools and homeschooled students.
2Students whose grade equivalent was "ungraded" were excluded from the grade analysis. The percentage of students with an "ungraded" grade equivalent was 0.03 percent in 1999 and 0.02 percent in 2003 and 2007.
NOTE: The number and percentage of homeschoolers exclude students who were enrolled in school for more than 25 hours a week; also excluded in 1999 and 2003 are students who were homeschooled only due to a temporary illness and, in 2007, students who were homeschooled primarily due to a temporary illness. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Homeschooling in the United States: 2003; and Parent Survey (Parent:1999) and Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI:2003 and PFI:2007) of the National Household Education Surveys Program. (This table was prepared July 2010.)

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