Life After Home School
by Teri Spray
I know that home schooling is good now, but what about when my kids grow up? Will they be wierd?
Over 7,500 home educated adults were sampled. The general U.S. population answers came from the National Opinon Research Center and the United States Census Bureau. Here's how home schoolers compare:
Happy and contented adults:
Happiness Quotient: "Taken all together, how would ou say things are these days, would you say that you are..."
Perspective on Life: "In general, do you find life exciting, pretty routine or dull?"
Job Satisfaction: "On the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do?"
Political Activists:
Home schoolers are 14 times as likely to work for a candidate or political cause than their counterparts. (14% of 18-24 year-olds compared with 1% of typical Americans.)
Home schoolers are nearly 3 times more likely to vote in an election. (76% to 29% of the general U.S. population of 18-24 year olds. They are also over twice as likely to vote if they are between the ages 25-39, 95% compared to only 40% of the general U.S. population)
Only 6.2% of the home educated adults feel they have no say in their government compared with a whopping 44% in the general U.S. sample. This means that nearly 8 times as many home schoolers believe they have ability to affect their government as the national average poplulaiton.
Lifetime Learners:
99.6% of home educated adults know how to use the internet compared to only 37% of the General U.S. adult population. That is almost 3 times the national average!
About twice as many home educated adults have used the library as the national average, both in the past month as well as in the past year. (68.5% compared to 32%, and 90% compared to 56% respectively.
Homeschool gradutes are active and involved in thier communities. Seventy-one percent are participating in an ongoing community service activity (Coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school or working with a church or neightborhood association) compared to only 37 % of U.S. adults of similar ages. Eighty-eight percent of the homeschool graduates surveyed were members of an organization compared to 50% of U.S. adults.
The full report is available from the National Home Education Research Institute
P.O. Box 13939, Salem Oregon 97309 503-364-1490, www.nheri.org