Public schools or school districts sometimes offer support for homeschoolers by providing parents with a curriculum, books and materials, places to meet, and the opportunity for homeschooled children to attend classes and participate in extracurricular activities at the school. Previous research found only a small percentage of homeschoolers enrolled in classes, used textbooks, or used libraries when they were made available by public schools and that many homeschoolers express antipathy toward using public school support (Lines 2000b, Yeager 1999, Mayberry et al. 1995).

Table 5 shows the different types of public school support for homeschoolers asked about in the Parent-NHES:1999. Parents of homeschoolers were asked whether their child's assigned school or district offered any of the nine pre-specified types of support shown in table 5. The estimates are based on parents' reports of public school support and use, not what schools or districts may actually offer. Between 15 and 38 percent of homeschoolers' parents did not know whether various types of support were offered.

The first two columns of estimates in table 5 show that, altogether, 28 percent of homeschoolers' parents reported that public schools or districts offered extracurricular activities, 21 percent reported curriculum support, and 23 percent reported books and materials. Between about 3 and 11 percent of homeschoolers' parents said that support was available and that they used the support, and between about 5 and 22 percent said that the support was available but they did not use it. For example, as table 5 shows, about 6 percent of homeschoolers' parents reported the chance to attend extracurricular activities and used the support, and 11 percent reported that schools offered books and materials and that they had used this type of public school support.