Homeschooling numbers growing as learning at home gains popularit

By Terry Lewis at The Albany Herald

One option which is quietly gaining popularity among families nationwide is homeschooling, which has actually been around for centuries but is rarely discussed outside of the homeschool community.

According to the latest numbers available from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there are about 2.3 million home-educated students in the United States. This is up from one estimate that there are about 2 million children (in grades K to 12) with that number growing at an estimated 2 to 8 percent over the past few years.

Precise homeschool numbers are difficult, if not impossible, to find and are always estimates, but numbers are out there and they cut across the entire spectrum of America.

According to information on the NHERI website, www.nheri.org, “a demographically wide variety of people homeschool – these are atheists, Christians, and Mormons; conservatives, libertarians, and liberals; low-, middle-, and high-income families; black, Hispanic, and white; parents with Ph.D.s, GEDs, and no high-school diplomas.

“One study shows that 32 percent of homeschool students are Black, Asian, Hispanic, and others (i.e., not White/non-Hispanic) (Noel, Stark, & Redford, 2013).”

In southwest Georgia, the Southwest Georgia Homeschool Association, which extends south from Columbus to the Florida line and west from I-75 to Alabama, is estimated to encompass more than 100 families which average three to four children.

When Lisa and Jeff DeMott, who sat for a recent interview with the Herald, moved to Albany from Maryland the couple brought four children with them. The family later expanded to eight kids and the family has been homeschooling them since 1996.

“When we moved to Georgia there was a disparity between where the kids were academically in Maryland,” Lisa DeMott said. “We had moved into Lee County because we heard it was such a good academic area but what our kids were doing in public schools in Maryland was different from down here. We decided to homeschool then.”

In addition to homeschooling their children the DeMotts also hold full time jobs. Lisa DeMott is deputy clerk of court in Terrell County and Jeff DeMott is a corrections officer. Because of those time constraints they split shifts with the four children they have at home…. read more here