One article can’t possibly capture all the benefits of homeschooling, since every family is different and they all experience unique benefits as a result of their decision to homeschool.

By far, one of the best advantages of homeschooling is freedom:

  1. Freedom to teach your child the way you want to teach them and let your child learn at their own pace.
  2. Freedom to live by your own rules and go by your own schedule, and…
  3. Freedom to soar ahead academically!

Homeschool parents also love the freedom of spending more time with their children.

There are so many benefits of homeschooling your child that it is difficult to decide where to start!

Did you know that a national poll showed that 40% of families polled across party lines are considering homeschooling when they weren’t before?

More families than ever are finding all the aspects of homeschooling to be appealing.

Homeschooling is a rapidly growing movement across the country—for a collection of very diverse reasons—and you are definitely not alone in looking into homeschooling for your own family.

Benefits of Homeschooling (5 Reasons + More)

What exactly is homeschooling?

Glad you asked! THSC has a very specific definition of a homeschooled student:

“A homeschooled student predominantly receives instruction in a general, elementary or secondary education program that is provided by the parent—or a person standing in parental authority—in or through the child’s home [Texas Education Code 29.916 (a)].

“The parent or person standing in parental authority might contract with outside sources in order that the student receives additional instruction. For example, a private tutor, co-op class or a college class.

“However, this source or these sources do not circumvent the parent’s role in determining the overall success or failure of the student.”

Simply put, homeschooling is simply the process of teaching a student who learns at home.

There are many different learning styles and types of homeschooling, but the homeschool community is unified in their goal for better educational opportunities for their children.

Why homeschool?

  • Here are the results:
    • When asked to select the reasons parents decided to homeschool their child, the highest percentage of homeschooled children had parents who said that a concern about the environment of other schools, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure was one reason to homeschool (80%).
    • The highest percentage of parents reported that among all reasons, a concern about the environment of other schools was the most important reason for homeschooling (34%).
    • Seventeen percent of homeschooled students had parents who reported dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools as the most important reason for homeschooling.
    • Sixteen percent reported a desire to provide religious instruction as the most important reason for homeschooling.

5 Benefits of Homeschooling

Benefit 1: Lack of Peer Pressure

Homeschooling substantially limits and has the potential to even completely cut off the chance of negative peer pressure.

As we mentioned above, eighty percent of parents reported that they wanted to homeschool to avoid negative peer pressure, drugs, and other safety issues.

Peer pressure is more stereotypically aligned with high school students, but, scientifically, peer pressure begins in toddlerhood.

“Peer pressure affects children’s attitudes and behaviours profoundly. And, where toddlers attend preschool or daycare, peer dependency forms early.”

–Rebbecca Devitt, Why on Earth Homeschool

Facts About Peer Pressure

  • There are many types of peer pressure (verbal, direct, indirect, self-directed peer pressure).
  • Peer pressure has a stronger influence on students than what their teachers may try to teach.
  • Peer pressure can damage family relationships and friend relationships for years to come and have lasting effects on the child, physically and emotional.
  • Stereotyping, teasing related to one’s appearance, and racially-motivated peer pressure can deteriorate self-esteem and create barriers to rebuilding it back up completely.
  • Studies show that peer pressure is the number one reason that adolescents begin habits such as smoking.
  • See this article to learn more about the negative effects of peer pressure and how homeschooling eradicates them.

Benefit 2: Lack of Substance Abuse

Avoiding opportunities for drug and alcohol abuse is another top reason parents choose to homeschool.

This is related to general peer pressure, but a more specific issue that many parents wish to avoid.

  • This study indicates that homeschooled adolescents were significantly more likely to strongly disapprove of their peers drinking alcohol and trying or routinely using marijuana.
  • Homeschooled adolescents were significantly less likely to report using tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs.
  • Homeschooled students are significantly less likely to be diagnosed with an alcohol or marijuana use disorder.
  • Finally, homeschooled adolescents were also less likely to report easier access to illicit drugs or to be approached by someone trying to sell drugs compared to non-homeschooled peers.
  • Homeschoolers in religious homes are 50% less likely to have substance abuse-related problems.

Benefit 3: No Risk of School Violence

The last top reason that parents in this study chose homeschooling was wanting a safer environment for their children.

It’s no secret that school shootings have been steadily increasing, along with other forms of violence.

  • Science Daily reports, “More people have died or been injured in mass school shootings in the United States in the past 18 years than in the entire 20th century. In a new study, researchers have reviewed the history of mass school shootings in the U.S. and found some alarming trends.”
  • It goes without saying that there is no risk of a student being a victim of school gun violence if they are not in an institutional school environment.
  • In addition, the most robust studies available show that legally homeschooled students have a 40% lower child abuse rate than the national average of public school attending students. (Source)

What about non-fatal violence in public schools?

  • “In 2016, [public] students ages 12-18 experienced 749,400 victimizations (theft and nonfatal violent victimization) at school,” as shown in the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (source)
  • “The total victimization rates were 29 victimizations per 1,000 students at school and 24 per 1,000 number of students away from school.” (source)
  • “Nearly 9.6 percent of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.” (source)
  • “Relying on state education records, supplemented by federal crime data, a yearlong investigation by The Associated Press uncovered roughly 17,000 official reports of sex assaults by students over a four-year period, from fall 2011 to spring 2015.” (source)

Benefit 4: Higher Academic Achievement

In this particular study, seventeen percent of homeschooled students had parents who reported dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools as the most important reason for homeschooling.

Homeschooling is associated with higher rates of academic achievement as well as higher career achievement after graduation.

  • Homeschooled students have a 10% higher rate of finishing a four-year college degree than their public school counterparts. (source)
  • The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized tests for academic achievement.
  • A 2015 study found African-American homeschool students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above African-American public school students (Ray, 2015).
  • In another study, achievement test scores of homeschooled students were exceptionally high. The median scores were typically in the 70th to 80th percentile. (source)
  • Twenty-five percent of homeschool students are enrolled one or more grades above their age-level public and private school peers. (source)
  • Another study showed that homeschooled students who are taught with organized lesson plans at home scored higher than their public school counterparts on standardized tests. (source)
  • Homeschooled students are being accepted at higher and higher rates to prestigious universities due to their academically rigorous education. (source)

Benefit 5: Homeschooled Students Turn Into Successful Adults

Homeschooling as a child is associated with a more well-adjusted and successful adulthood in the realms of career and personal relationships.

Homeschooled adults are more likely to:

  • Volunteer or participate in community service. (source)
  • Vote, relative to the general population. (source)
  • Succeed in higher education at a more substantial rate than public schooled students. (source)
  • Have much higher measurable communication and social skills and better quality social interactions. (source)
  • Score higher than traditionally schooled adults on the personal security, academic competence, and family acceptance subscales of the Self-Esteem Index (source)
  • Have lower rates of clinical anxiety. (source)

And there’s more!

  • In one study, “traditionally schooled students exuded eight times as many antisocial traits [as compared to] their homeschooled counterparts.” (source)
  • Homeschooled students also tend to have higher quality relationships. (source)
  • Homeschoolers tend to have better relationships with a variety of age groups. (source)

Want to Experience These Homeschooling Benefits for Yourself?

We believe homeschooling is one of the best models for educating children, which is why we support parents choosing to homeschool with encouragement and practical resources.

It’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons and discover what’s best for your child’s educational experience.

There are so many more benefits to homeschooling that you can experience and discover for yourself… like really getting to know your child, being more free to travel and go on field trips, going deeper on subjects that they are passionate about, pursuing all sorts of extracurricular activities and not being limited to the common, everyday ones, and much more!

Check out our guide on homeschool curriculum to see where to go next.

Contact us if you need any help along your homeschooling journey! No question is too large or too small. We have homeschool mentors standing by to help you any step of the way.