Do Homeschooled Students Perform Better? 8 Statistics

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Homeschooling is a practice that is becoming more popular by the day and not only among those who’ve always preferred untraditional learning approaches. The pandemic and its subsequent closures have made many parents who are die-hard public or private school advocates begin to question the order of things. Therefore, if you’ve been wondering how homeschooling your child can affect their academic achievements, this article is for you.

Here are 8 statistics related to the performance quality of homeschooled students:

Homeschool students are more likely to graduate college.
A quarter of homeschool students skip a grade.
Most homeschool students take part in outside activities.
50% of parents homeschool for safety reasons.
Parent engagement is an indicator of student success.
Homeschooled students score higher on academic tests.
Homeschooled students score highly in social skills.
Homeschooled students score better on emotional tests.

In the following sections, I’ll dive into these statistical findings and provide the source of their respective research. I’ll further discuss the implications of each finding and any additional considerations you might need to keep in mind when looking at the research and the take-home message: parent engagement positively affects our students’ academic performance. However, you don’t have to take my word for it; the numbers speak for themselves!

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1. Homeschool Students Are More Likely To Graduate College

Research has found that 67% of homeschooled students will graduate college, while only 59% of traditionally schooled students will graduate college. Homeschooled students are statistically more likely to graduate college than students educated in a traditional academic setting.

I know that this statistic might seem shocking to some, as many parents are driven by judgment and an unfair bias when considering homeschooling as an option for their children’s education. When thinking about homeschooling, many envision a tiny whiteboard filled with parent-driven philosophies and kids running amuck, spending the rest of the day on their iPads.

In reality, the truth couldn’t be further from this image. It makes perfect sense that a homeschooled student would be highly likely to graduate from the perspective of a homeschooling mom.

I could preach any number of theories: homeschooling helps students become self-sufficient and motivated in their studies which is necessary to achieve college-level success; an increase in parent engagement in the primary years of education makes parents more involved down the line; or that homeschooling supports students in their self-esteem journey which is another huge indicator of academic success. But the numbers speak for themselves on this one, right?

Yes, your traditionally schooled student is still very likely to graduate college. However, if your fear that taking the homeschooling leap may negatively affect the chances of a post-secondary education, fear not! The numbers are in your favor.

2. A Quarter of Homeschooled Students Skip a Grade

Most homeschooled students are on track with their peers in the curriculum they follow, but there’s a good percentage of students who are also above their suggested grade in one or more subjects. 25% of homeschooled students are above their grades in testing and education. Only 1% of traditionally schooled students end up skipping a grade.

While this may be surprising to outsiders, this makes perfect sense to a homeschooling mom. I can assess my children daily and see what’s sticking and what’s not. We continue moving forward and spend extra time on a lesson that might be difficult to grasp. There’s no need for a child to conform to anyone else’s learning trajectory but their own.

We have the opportunity to take our time learning concepts they don’t seem to understand without the pressures of another unit’s standards looming over us.

Additionally, I know my kids will not be overlooked because I can ensure they’re getting the necessary attention. Many gifted, intelligent, and highly motivated students are overlooked because they do their best to blend in and avoid standing out.

Test scores are one thing, but a student who has cultivated a desire to imagine, create, build, and go above and beyond concepts might not pop out to a teacher as “gifted” or “skip-a-grade” worthy.

Well, luckily, my class size at home is tiny. I get to notice everything! And why keep teaching the same things if my kids have advanced past it? We celebrate new knowledge and then push forward to something else, which is why homeschooled students often being above their grade comes as no surprise to me.

3. Most Students Take Part in Outside Activities

Another argument against homeschooling I hear pretty often is the fear that four walls will become children’s entire life. This idea could trigger some not-so pleasant-feelings in all of us–when our homes became our whole world during the 2020 pandemic, many of us had a hard time coping.

But rest assured that homeschooled students are not under house arrest. In fact, 98% of home-educated students are involved in activities outside of their schooling, and some are involved in as many as five activities.

Your community is likely more welcoming of homeschooling than you think, and you may not even know it until you take the leap. Many community places host special homeschool days; facilities have specific hours for homeschoolers and even discounts for homeschool students.

Even museums and places you would likely send your student on a field trip have “homeschool” days, where your children can join in and meet other homeschooled students. There’s also the opportunity to join homeschooling FB groups and plan field trips and academic research with other parents.

In any case, homeschooled students get more social interaction than most people think. Homeschooling parents also enroll their students in sports teams, art classes, and other activities depending on their children’s hobbies and talents.

4. 50% of Parents Choose Homeschooling for Safety Reasons

You probably won’t be surprised upon hearing this statistic, as it will likely validate any feelings you have around the subject. Nearly 50% of parents cite safety as their main reason for homeschooling their students.

It is an uncomfortable subject to discuss, but school safety has plunged in more ways than one in recent years. School shootings, bullying, and COVID concerns would make any sane parent feel like they were going insane, sending their student to school each day. While, twenty years ago, this might have indicated a helicopter parent too worried to let go–it makes perfect sense in today’s world.

If you had previously thought that most parents who homeschool their students are sitting high up on a pedestal and believe they can teach their kids more than a teacher could, I suggest you challenge your point of view by looking at the stats. Half of the parents who homeschool their students do so because of their instinct to keep their children safe. And in today’s society, can you blame them?

5. Parent Engagement Is an Indicator of Student Success

Halfway through the list of statistics and right after a particularly depressing stat, let’s talk about a positive protective factor for students regardless of their schooling structure: you! Parent engagement is one of the most important indicators of student success.

Parents who are involved, interested, and engaged in their children’s learning help build their student’s confidence, motivation, and pride. This is true regardless of whether your child studies in a traditional classroom or your kitchen.

If parent engagement is an indicator of success, imagine how much this principle plays out during a homeschooling session. Not only are you, as the caregiver, engaged in the students’ learning, but you are actively involved in it.

You walk with them, work with them, and remain curious together through their personal endeavors. Homeschooling makes it nearly impossible to be disengaged or uninvolved in your child’s academic performance–ensuring your role in their success.

It is possible to be an engaged and involved stakeholder in your students’ learning, whether they are in a traditional school or not; this is true. If homeschool is not accessible or available to you and your family, you’ll want to figure out how you can become more involved in your child’s academics.

6. Homeschooled Students Score Higher on Academic Tests

Now, back to your regularly programmed stats. Did you know that homeschoolers test, on average, 15% to 30% higher than traditionally schooled students? Keep in mind that this is average and that some students go above and beyond this level of performance.

This stat stands out on its own. The implications are obvious and pretty significant: homeschool students are likely to do better on tests than traditionally schooled students. But guess what else? This stat remains the same regardless of a parent’s income or educational background. This is a foundational stat!

When parents consider homeschooling, they focus a lot on themselves a lot of the time. It is essential to assess your bandwidth and capacity for homeschooling. You need to assess your patience, flexibility, and ability to motivate yourself and your children.

Luckily, most things can be taught or practiced. This stat gives us even more hope for people struggling with social inequalities. Even if you do not have a master’s degree or a bachelor’s in education, and your income levels have been a risk factor for you and your family, your child is still likely to score higher than their traditional school-educated-peers.

7. Homeschooled Students Score Highly in Social Skills

Another common and understandable worry of parents considering homeschooling is its effect on their kid’s social life. Will they know how to interact with other kids in the real world and function on their own as adults? Again, the numbers are pretty positive.

Homeschooled students scored in the 84th percentile for daily living skills, socialization, and social maturity. Traditionally schooled students? They typically scored in the 23rd percentile.

Daily living skills indicate how well your child can dress, wash, and take care of themselves. These skills include putting away laundry, picking out a coat and buttoning it, and following reasonable hygiene procedures like toothbrushing and handwashing. To score highly in daily living skills indicates your child is doing well on their independence.

Socialization and social maturity are also huge pluses and indicate a high empathy and emotional regulation level. These are skills seldom taught in traditional schools, though some schools are getting better at implementing social-emotional lessons into their regular task list.

This statistic should tell you that homeschooled students often thrive socially, despite what many neigh-sayers will say to you. They may say homeschooled students are awkward, anti-social, and so smothered by their parents, that they can not care for themselves. However, the research-based numbers don’t lie.

8. Homeschooled Students Score Better on Emotional Tests

Most parents would agree that mental health is a huge indicator of success, especially in today’s fast-paced and chaotic world. We have grown with and become adapted to the idea of the overachieving parents who want their kids to be A+ students, captains of all their extracurriculars, and the highest-performers in any other area of life.

Instead, many of us would be satisfied if our children were happy and mentally stable. Students do much better academically when they aren’t struggling with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

87% of peer-reviewed studies indicate that homeschooled students perform significantly better on social, emotional, and psychological development tests. This means that they are not only in a developmentally appropriate place psychologically but that they are excelling in the social and emotional aspects of their growth.

Homeschoolers can identify and regulate their emotions, deal with them accordingly, and socialize with peers. These findings are enormous if a child’s mental health is a priority to you and your family.

Do Homeschool Students Perform Better?

So what’s the consensus? Do homeschool students perform better than their traditionally-educated peers? If you need some support interpreting the above statistics, I’ve summarized their findings.

Homeschool students score higher on standardized tests, emotional and psychological tests, and are more likely to skip a grade. The statistics indicate that homeschool students are likely to do the same or better than their traditionally schooled counterparts.

Below, I’ll take you through some additional considerations to keep in mind regarding the previously-mentioned statistics. It’s important to remember that homeschooling isn’t innately better than traditional schooling. Taking your kids out of school and saying, “Okay, we will homeschool now!” won’t automatically increase their test scores or social living skills.

Other factors should also be considered when making a decision of this nature.

Additional Considerations

As with all research, it’s essential to acknowledge and consider some additional factors. It would help if you always kept in mind who these research studies were conducted on, whether it was a self-selected crowd or the entirety of a homeschooling population, and whether all demographics are equally considered.

In most of the above research, we could assume that the parents who answered questions were parents who homeschool based on their own preferences, rather than having no other choice like many parents during the pandemic.

These statistics should not discredit the hard work, dedication, and importance of parents’ work in their homeschooling setting. As you can imagine, an important factor in teaching your students at home is the connections you can build and the patience you can extend (to yourself and your kids).

These statistics would likely look different if the research were done during the pandemic. Many parents were thrown into homeschooling without any prior experience, knowledge, or desire to do so.

Additionally, homeschooling is not accessible to everybody, which we need to acknowledge. This is mainly true for families where risk factors include low incomes and poverty.

Homeschooling is a full-time job, and there are sometimes government incentives and benefits, but it might be a financial burden to some. It’s also draining; some parents cannot perform typical homeschool duties.

Having the resources and ability to work with your children positively is also a prerequisite to an effective homeschooling environment. These statistics wouldn’t be the same if each parent at home were shaming, guilting, and punishing their children for academic struggles in the way some schools do.

It is essential to recognize that while you are likely interested in positive ways to connect with your child, some parents might struggle with homeschooling duties because they aren’t in the place to do so mentally. There’s hope for everyone, though. Knowledge and practice can go a long way.

It is also important to remember that homeschooling is not just a rogue mission. The experience is not nearly as isolating as you may worry it is. Depending on your state, you might even have to abide by a set of regulations regarding what you are doing at home.

Final Thoughts

When considering whether homeschooling is the best academic path for your child, relying on fact-based statistics is crucial. You can then take these findings and interpret them yourself, making meaning for you and your family.

Above all, you should walk away from this article knowing that homeschooling, statistically, is not worse for your kids than traditional schooling. The numbers show that homeschooled students tend to do better.