The number of homeschooled students has nearly doubled in the last eight years, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Education. An estimated 1.5 million students—nearly three percent of the country’s school-age population—were homeschooled in the spring of 2007. In 1999, about 850,000 children were homeschooled. That number was 1.1 million in 2003. More than 80 percent of parents said they homeschool their children to provide religious or moral instruction, up from 72 percent in 2003. About 36 percent said that was the most important reason they homeschool their children, followed by concern about the school environment (21 percent) and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools (17 percent).
