Each of the following studies of homeschoolers or home education was conducted or ongoing in 2011.
Homeschool Population Report
According to Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, the U.S. homeschool population numbers an estimated 2.04 million as of the end of last year. The project used a variety of data sources to estimate the number of K-12 homeschool students in 2010.
Homeschooling Methods, Materials, and Curricula
Linda Hanna of West Chester University conducted a comprehensive ten-year study of 250 urban and suburban homeschooling families in Pennsylvania. Over the course of the study, the researcher found that "In their pooling of resources, sharing of expertise, and communicating with other homeschooling families, the homeschoolers had upgraded and diversified their choices of pedagogy and their modalities for delivering instruction."
Homeschooling and Reading Difficulties
Kathleen Bouchard conducted a multiple case study to discover how homeschooling parents respond to reading challenges. Bouchard examined and analyzed the beliefs, emotions, decisions, and behaviors of the mothers. She stated: "Although it is possible for parents and teachers to recognize a reading difficulty in preschool or kindergarten children, knowledge of what to do next is often lacking." In each case, the mothers all had to educate themselves before knowing how to respond to their child's reading difficulties.
Finding: "Homeschooling allows for the customization of the educational process with respect to content, duration, and pace, and can lead to steady reading and learning progress for the child with reading difficulties, including dyslexia."
Parental Involvement and Student Achievement
In response to the increase in U.S. families choosing to homeschool in recent years, Christa Ice of West Virginia University and Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey of Vanderbilt University have undertaken to develop more systematic knowledge about home education, specifically any link between parental motivations and student achievement in homeschool and school children.
The study took into consideration the parental involvement and the family's social networks for both homeschool and school children's families. The findings suggested that homeschool and public school parents "recorded significantly different perceptions of personal self-efficacy, role activity beliefs, social networks, and child proximal achievement outcomes." The study is ongoing.
Several other studies concerning homeschooling have been conducted in 2011. These four give a sampling of the subjects and issues of interest to scholarly researchers.
Sources:
Ice, Christa and Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey. "Linking Parental Motivations for Involvement and Student Proximal Achievement Outcomes in Homeschooling and Public Schooling Settings." Education and Urban Society, 2011.
Hanna, Lina G. "Homeschooling Education: Longitudinal Study of Methods, Materials, and Curricula." Education and Urban Society, 2011.
Bouchard, Kimberly, Ph.D. "Homeschooling and Reading Difficulties: Parents Learning How to Teach their Child Who Struggles with Reading." Capella University, 2011.
Ray, Brian Ph.D. "2.04 Million Homeschool Students in the United States in 2010." National Home Education Research Institute, January 2011.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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