Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab

08/13/2026

Half of U.S. homeschooling households also rely on conventional schooling to educate their children.

That's the central finding of new research from Albert Cheng, Angela R. Watson, and Matthew Lee, published in the Cambridge Journal of Education this week. Using three waves of the National Household Education Survey, the study estimates how often families practice "sector mixing" - which is relying on both homeschooling and conventional schooling - and proposes a new conceptual framework for why they do. Family size, parents' employment status, and motivations to homeschool help explain the likelihood.

The takeaway for policymakers and researchers: an all-or-nothing model of homeschooling doesn't describe how a substantial share of families actually operate. Accurate data on how households combine sectors will lead to better-informed policy and practice.

Read the article (free access): https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JHTWHM93AWNXE4SUFFJF/full?target=10.1080/0305764X.2026.2695073

08/05/2026

Roughly 6 percent of American K-12 students - about 3 million children - were reported as homeschooled in the 2023-24 school year, nearly double pre-pandemic numbers, according to U.S. Census Bureau survey data.

As homeschooling dominates the national conversation, Angela R. Watson,, director of the Homeschool Research Lab at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, writes in The Hill that the argument is missing the evidence. Homeschooling families are more racially and ethnically diverse than stereotypes suggest, overwhelmingly use supplemental supports like co-ops and tutors, and often move in and out of homeschooling as their children's needs change.

As she writes: there is no one "typical" homeschooler - and an accurate picture of who actually homeschools matters for policymakers in every state.

The piece draws on the Lab's research with RAND Corporation's American Life Panel and a study co-authored with Cardus examining outcomes for homeschooled adults.

Read the full op-ed in The Hill here:

The honest answer to who homeschools in America is a lot of different people, for a lot of different reasons, with a lot of different results.

07/20/2026

Dr. Angela Watson, founder of the Johns Hopkins University Homeschool Research Lab, is pioneering scholarly research on across the US. To reflect today’s eclectic homeschooling realities on the ground, she's had to invent whole new data categories - starting with letting parents self-identify if and how they're homeschooling.

For more from Dr. Watson, see SCHOOL'S OUT, on bookstore shelves August 4 - but available for pre-order now via https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54028/schools-out

06/24/2026

Our Summer issue of Homeschool Connections goes out tomorrow — subscribe today and it'll land right in your inbox.

Inside this issue: new nationally representative data on how families homeschool (88% use supplemental supports like co-ops, tutors, and online classes), our new two-volume research collection, recent podcast episodes, and a roundup of homeschooling media coverage from The Economist, The 74, and The Washington Post.

Homeschool Connections is a free quarterly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab — featuring U.S. homeschooling news, data, and events.

Subscribe here: https://jhu.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5d15d7f860128a35431f5cdbb&id=cb319bdd9e

06/05/2026

In America, 3.2 million children — about 6% of the school-age population — were homeschooled in 2024, more than double the number recorded in 2019.

That sustained growth is the subject of a new feature in The Economist, "Home-schooling is taking off," which draws on data and analysis from the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Research Lab. As Lab Director Angela Watson observes in the piece, today's homeschooling families increasingly resemble the broader population — a notable departure from longstanding stereotypes about who chooses to homeschool and why.

The research points to a sector that is both expanding and diversifying: for instance, growth is rising fastest among families of color, many families blend educational settings rather than committing to a single approach, and about half of homeschooled children in the United States are taught at home for only one to three years.

As homeschooling continues to grow across the United States and around the world, rigorous, unbiased data is essential to understanding how this evolving segment fits within the broader education landscape — and how policymakers, educators, and families can respond.

Read the full article here: https://www.economist.com/international/2026/05/21/home-schooling-is-taking-off

05/27/2026

Home-schooling has long been associated with oddball parents, awkward children and shaky pedagogy. But it is growing swiftly https://econ.st/4wKbKua

Illustration: Anna Parini

05/22/2026

05/20/2026

Congratulations class of 2026! 🎇

05/12/2026

What does the data actually say about who homeschools — and what's next for homeschool research? Lab Director Angela R. Watson separates fact from myth in this The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now (50CAN) Education Talk.