Table 4: Number and percentage of homeschooled students whose parents reported particular reasons for homeschooling as being applicable to their situation and as being their most important reason for homeschooling: 2003

Table 4. Number and percentage of homeschooled students whose parents reported particular reasons for homeschooling as being applicable to their situation and as being their most important reason for homeschooling: 2003
Reasons for homeschooling	Applicable¹		Most important
Reasons for homeschooling	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Concern about environment of other schools²	935,000	85.4	341,000	31.2
Dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools	748,000	68.2	180,000	16.5
To provide religious or moral instruction	793,000	72.3	327,000	29.8
Child has a physical or mental health problem	174,000	15.9	71,000	6.5
Child has other special needs	316,000	28.9	79,000	7.2
Other reasons³	221,000	20.1	97,000	8.8
¹Percentages do not sum to 100 percent because respondents could choose more than one reason.
²These include safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure.
³Parents homeschool their children for many reasons that are often unique to their family situation. “Other reasons” parents gave for home schooling include: It was the child’s choice; to allow parents more control over what child was learning; and flexibility.
NOTE: Excludes students who were enrolled in school for more than 25 hours a week and students who were homeschooled only because of a temporary illness.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2003 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES).