{"id":1732,"date":"2025-09-15T20:22:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education.jhu.edu\/edpolicy\/?page_id=1732"},"modified":"2026-02-05T22:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:03:50","slug":"dynamic-homeschooling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/education.jhu.edu\/edpolicy\/policy-research-initiatives\/homeschool-hub\/dynamic-homeschooling\/","title":{"rendered":"Dynamic Homeschooling"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Albert Cheng and Matthew H. Lee, September 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Homeschooling families are often stereotyped as exclusively choosing homeschooling. The \u201conce homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d generalization suggests that homeschooled students will only ever be homeschooled for every year of their school-age years. In addition, the \u201chomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d generalization suggests that homeschooling families will choose to homeschool all their children. But neither of these stereotypes are supported by evidence.<\/p>\n

So if these stereotypes are not entirely accurate, how have they ossified in the collective mind since the beginning of the modern homeschooling movement in the 1970s? In her seminal research of homeschooling families conducted in the 1980s, sociologist Jane Van Galen divided homeschooling families into ideologues (those who desired to instruct children according to a religious, often Christian, tradition) and pedagogues (those who implemented certain teaching practices, like unschooling, that better accorded with their beliefs about the nature of the child).<\/p>\n

Though the two groups differed in motivations to homeschool, both shared the strong view that homeschooling was the best way to educate their children. The strength of their convictions paired with Van Galen\u2019s labels then fed both the \u201conce homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d and \u201chomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d beliefs. In short, if parents felt so strongly about homeschooling, why would they not homeschool all their children and for all the years of their schooling?<\/p>\n

As other studies of homeschooling conducted up through the first decade of the 21st century indicate, those popular beliefs have some empirical support. But there are exceptions. Moreover, those exceptions appear to be more the rule, especially in the face of recent trends such as the growing interest in homeschooling<\/a>, the diversification of the homeschooling population<\/a>, the increasing availability of educational resources<\/a>, and the enactment of homeschool-friendly policies<\/a> that have legitimized the practice and made it more accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d?<\/h2>\n

Based on our analysis of the 2023 Cardus Education Survey data<\/a>, about 36 percent of U.S. adults who were homeschooled at some point only did so for one or two years. Those adults, on average, also spent over 8 and 3 years in traditional public and charter or private schools, respectively, for the remainder of their schooling. In contrast, less than 20 percent of adults who were homeschooled did so for the entirety of their primary and secondary schooling.<\/p>\n

Figure 1 displays sector \u201cswitching\u201d for adults who were homeschooled at any point in their schooling. That is, in addition to showing the proportion of those adults who were homeschooled and not homeschooled for any given grade level, Figure 1 shows the proportion of adults who switched settings between grade levels. At any given grade level, about 40 percent of adults who were ever homeschooled were educated in that setting (the pink bars). The other approximately 60 percent of adults who were ever homeschooled were in a different educational setting for that grade level (the blue bars). However, these percentages mask the dynamic switching that occurs as students move in and out of homeschooling from one grade to the next. For instance, 9.9 percent of adults who were ever homeschooled did it for kindergarten but not for first grade. Conversely, 8.8 percent of ever-homeschooled adults were not homeschooled in kindergarten but switched to homeschooling in the first grade.<\/p>\n

Figure 1:<\/strong> Switching In and Out of Homeschooling across Grade Levels<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note: Authors\u2019 calculations based on data from the 2023 Cardus Education Survey.<\/p>\n

This analysis of the 2023 CES data demonstrates that the \u201conce homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d belief is not true. In fact, the findings from the 2023 CES are the same as ones of an analysis of the Understanding America Study<\/a>, another representative sample of U.S. adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d?<\/h2>\n

In another study<\/a>, we found that homeschooling households engage in a significant amount of sector “mixing,” which challenges the notion that a child who was homeschooled also has siblings who were homeschooled. Another recent study asked a nationally-representative sample of over 3,000 parents of school-age children about the educational sector of each child. Of these, 1,435 parents had at least two school-age children in their household. The vast majority of these parents (79 percent) reported having at least one child enrolled in a traditional public school (TPS \u2013 see column 1 of Figure 2). Other households had at least one child enrolled in a public charter school (6.9 percent), enrolled in a private school (17.7 percent), or homeschooled at least one child (8.3 percent).<\/p>\n

Because the survey asked about each child within the household, the data provide insights into sector mixing\u2014 that is, the degree to which a household may choose different educational settings for different siblings. Households with at least one child enrolled in a charter school, enrolled in a private school, or homeschooled often had at least one sibling enrolled in some other educational sector. Specifically, 42% of charter school households exclusively used charter schools, 49% of private school households exclusively used private schools, and 41% of homeschool households exclusively used homeschooling. Many of these households enrolled at least one child in a TPS\u201433% of charter school households, 35% of private school households, and 44% of homeschool households had at least one TPS child.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the data show that TPS households are the most likely to be sector exclusive and the least likely to engage in sector mixing. Eighty-two percent of TPS households exclusively used traditional public schools for their children. Only 3% enrolled at least one child in a charter school, 6% used a private school, and 5% homeschooled. The data clearly show that \u201chomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d is a misconception of homeschooling families, who are more similar to charter schools and private schools in terms of sector mixing. In fact, if such a claim of exclusivity could be made about any educational sector, it should be made about TPS.<\/p>\n

Figure 2:<\/strong> Sector Mixing within Household<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note: Author\u2019s calculations based on data from Watson and Lee\u2019s homeschooling study.<\/em><\/p>\n

What We Can Conclude<\/h2>\n

Since the rise of modern homeschooling, two stereotypes have proliferated. One stereotype\u2014\u201conce homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d\u2014suggests that those who choose to homeschool a child will make the same decision about that child\u2019s education every year. Another stereotype\u2014\u201chomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d\u2014suggests that families that homeschool, whether ideologues or pedagogues, do so for reasons that would extend to all children in that household. Both stereotypes should rightly be considered misconceptions as our different analyses show.<\/p>\n

This evidence about the ways families rely on different sectors to educate their children amplifies the importance of longitudinal data when considering the influence of homeschooling on American students. Since many homeschoolers switch in and out of homeschooling, data collected at a single point in time likely underestimates how many U.S. families choose to homeschool. Classifying the sector in which someone was educated based on a single point in time similarly may be inaccurate.<\/p>\n

Policymakers should also restrain themselves from making homeschooling policy based on a specific segment of the homeschooling population. For instance, the rationale behind proposals for significant state oversight of homeschooling assumes that the\u201d once homeschooled, always homeschooled\u201d and \u201chomeschool one, homeschool all\u201d generalizations are true. But for the many families who only homeschool their child for one to two years or avail themselves of charter, private, or traditional public schools for some of their children, it is less clear that such oversight is needed or desirable.<\/p>\n

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Data collection is ongoing and we will publish new results as they become available; last updated February 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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