A new federal report documents dramatic growth from 1999 to 2007 in the number of children who were taught at home.
The analysis, released last month by the National Center for Education Statistics, found that the percentage of school-age children who were home-schooled grew from 1.7 percent—or 850,000 children—in 1999 to 2.9 percent—or 1.5 million students—in 2007.
In the survey, parents said they opted for home schooling out of a desire to provide religious and moral instruction, concern over the quality of the school environment, or dissatisfaction with academic instruction elsewhere.
