When you are deciding on homeschooling your children there is a lot of research to do. There is no more important information than the numbers from the children that have been homeschooled in the past. How did they do? Here are a few homeschool statistics that can help in your decision-making process.

1. In the school year 2007-2008 there were 2-2.5 million children being homeschooled and it is growing by a rate of 5-12% every year This is according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, (NCES)

2. The most important reason that parents homeschool their children is they do not like the environment in public or private schools. A very close second reason is religious and moral beliefs. (NCES)

3. Also according to the NCES More families are choosing to homeschool that have three or more children, where there are two parents and one of the parents stay home.

4. The national average income of families that choose to homeschool is $52,000.00 this is according to the National Legal Defense Association. (NLDA)

5. Children that are homeschooled may be more socially mature and have better leadership skills than children that attend public schools. This is from the National Home Education Research Institute. (NHERI)

6. 98% of home taught children are involved in two or more community activities each week like 4-H, Qur’aan Classes, sports, music lessons, ballet, and field trips. This is according to Yahoo Answers.

7. Here are some test scores to show how homeschool children compare with other children. ACT scores the average for homeschool children for the 2002-2003 school years were 22.5 the national average was 20.8. The SAT scores for 2002 showed the average of homeschoolers was 1092 and the national average was 1020. This was according to the (NCSDA)

8. On Average homeschool students that are in Elementary school perform one grade above their public school peers by the time they are in eighth grade the gap is four grade levels. This is according to the Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students. (SADC)

Homeschooling can cost as little or as much as you want it to. If you choose one of the free online schools then it will cost you nothing. If you prefer to choose what you teach your children and decide to purchase each subject separately then it can get to cost around $500 per year which is far cheaper than private schools and even public schools where you have to purchase uniforms and pay for field trips. You can also decide to use a free online school but add additional subjects you want your child to learn.