People always ask me if homeschoolers can get into university and actually be successful there. In fact, a lot of people I know think that if you’re homeschooled you won’t get a good job or get into university, but I can definitely say that’s not true.
Many studies show that homeschooled students do better than the general public school student in post secondary schools. Stats have proven that homeschoolers score higher on standardized tests and their graduation rates are also higher.
There have been so many studies about homeschoolers’ success. To find out more about what proof there is that homeschoolers have more success in life keep reading.
Detailed academic-success studies
Most of the studies that have been done about homeschooling vs traditional schooling success is academic. There are so many stats out there, here are just a few of the stats.
An American study from 2009 showed that the section of homeschoolers that graduated from college was 66.7% whereas for the public school students it was 58.6%. College graduation rates (for 4 years in college) from private and catholic school students was even lower being 51.5% and 54.2%. The same study also showed that homeschoolers do better on most standardized tests.
| College Graduation Rates | |
| Homeschool | 66.7% |
| Public school | 58.6% |
| Catholic school | 54.2% |
| Private school | 51.5% |
In 2014, NHERI (National Home Education Research Institute) tracked the SAT scores of 13,549 college bound homeschoolers. The results were higher than the national average. The homeschoolers’ average score was 567 in critical reading, 521 in math, and 535 in writing. Whereas the average for all college bound students was 497 in critical reading, 513 in math, and 487 in writing. Similar results have appeared on ACT test result stats.
In 2016, NHERI did another study about how homeschooled and non-homeschooled students compared on their GPA (grade point average) after their first year in a private university, in the United States. In this study, they followed 22 homeschoolers, and 22 traditional schoolers who they had matched by gender. The GPA here is the students’ overall average from all the courses that they’re taking.
| School Type | Average GPA | Standard Deviation |
| Homeschooled | 3.45 | 0.52 |
| Traditional schooled | 2.69 | 0.73 |
The average GPA was significantly higher for the 22 homeschoolers being 3.45 which is higher than the national GPA average which is 3. For American homeschooled students, 3.45 is the average GPA throughout the US.
NHERI did a study including almost 12,000 homeschooled students where five areas of academic pursuit were measured. The average homeschooler scored at the 89th percentile in reading, the 84th percentile in language, 84th percentile in math, 86th percentile in science, and 84th percentile in social studies. The average public school student scored in the 50th percentile.
| Homeschooler | Public schooler | |
| Reading | 89th percentile | 50th percentile |
| Language | 84th percentile | 50th percentile |
| Math | 84th percentile | 50th percentile |
| Science | 86th percentile | 50th percentile |
| Social Studies | 84th percentile | 50th percentile |
| Core Studies* | 88th percentile | 50th percentile |
*Core studies: Reading, language and math
Some of these stats do depend on the type of parents too. Homeschoolers with both parents who got college degrees were in the 90th percentile (meaning they scored better than 90% of their peers doing the test). But if just one got a degree they’re in the 86th percentile, and with neither parents who have got a college degree they’re in the 83rd percentile.
Since homeschoolers are commonly more successful in post-secondary school, it’s no wonder why the homeschooling rates have more than doubled since 2003. There are around 2.5 million homeschool students in the US with a growth rate of 2% to 8% per annum.
Are homeschoolers more successful non academically?
It depends how you define non academic success but there are plenty of other ways Homeschoolers are successful besides from school. Not only do they do better in post secondary school, but as adults they also participate in local community service and attend public meetings more than the general population. Studies nowadays are finding that the best way to be happy is through community connection and compassion.
In 2003 the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) did a big research survey. It was conducted by Dr. Brian D. Ray who got a group of 7,300 adults who were homeschooled growing up to do a survey. The majority of them were homeschooled for over 7 years.
Around 71% of the homeschoolers as adults now, participate in ongoing community activities like coaching a team, volunteering at a school or working with a church or neighbour association but only 37% of regularly schooled adults do. The same study also shows that 99.6% of the homeschoolers that did the survey know how to use the internet, and 37% of regular schooled students do. (But then again this was from 2003, I’m sure most people know how to use the internet throughout the U.S. now.)
In other parts of the study it shows that homeschooled adults have a much higher rate of civic involvement. Their voting rate was more than double regularly schooled adults’ voting rate.
The final section of the study was enjoyment of life, where they asked how much the homeschooled and regular schooled adult are enjoying life. The majority of the homeschooled adults surveyed found it exciting, which is more than the regularly schooled adults.
| How do you find life? | Homeschooled | Regularly schooled |
| Exciting | 73.2% | 47.3% |
| Routine | 26% | 49% |
| Dull | 0.8% | 3.7% |
On the same page they ask the question, “How satisfied do you feel with the work you do?” 61% of the homeschoolers said very satisfied, whereas for the general U.S. it was 39.7%. And 0.6% of homeschoolers said very dissatisfied but for the general U.S. 3.1% said very dissatisfied.
| How satisfied do you feel with the work you do? | Homeschooled | Regular schooled |
| Very satisfied | 61% | 39.7% |
| Moderately satisfied | 34.5% | 47.1% |
| A little dissatisfied | 3.5% | 10.1% |
| Very dissatisfied | 0.6% | 3.1% |
Growing up homeschooled, kids and teens normally have more time to be creative and nurture their talents. Homeschoolers tend to see the world differently and they can carry that on throughout their life.
Why are they more successful?
There isn’t a simple answer to this, but people believe that a lot of it has to do with their personalized learning. Having the freedom to learn what they’re interested in gives them the ability togo through different career options. They don’t have as much peer pressure so they learn to think for themselves, and have their own opinions rather than getting all into the latest trends.
Homeschoolers’ success in academic subjects might be because of the new environment of university campuses and attending daily classes. They might be more motivated because they want to prove that they are just as smart as traditional schoolers. Homeschoolers are generally very motivated and passionate. Plus kids don’t hate learning as much as public schooled kids do, because they don’t have as much competition or stress to have to understand subjects in the little amount of time teachers give you.
A lot of their success is most likely thanks to the parent (and/or teacher), making a sacrifice to stay at home with their kid and teaching them in a safe and loving environment. Having that one on one education with their parent or teacher helps learning be more about the best interests of the homeschooled kid.
Growing up the kids are taught and trained to learn throughout their life, instead of memorize something from a textbook. They are taught how to learn independently and from everyday life things. Homeschoolers have the ability to adapt to new situations or topics, and ask and answer their own questions which makes them smarter in a different type of way.
This is just what I found while researching whether homeschoolers are more successful. There might be some studies unaccounted for where homeschoolers are not as successful. How is success defined anyways? It’s not supposed to be just about doing well in school and getting a high paying job like a lot of people think. Success is also about wellbeing and happiness. But it can be defined in so many different ways.
The researches that have been done about homeschoolers’ success are mostly on their academic success and most of them have just been done in the U.S. There are not many studies about homeschoolers being noticeably healthier or happier after their years of school. Plus these studies are only showing a small percentage of homeschoolers out there. But they have debunked the theories and myths about wether homeschoolers’ can still get a good education and be content even though they did things a little bit differently growing up.