Sandra Dodd

Sorry for another U.S. kind of question.
Rachael Profilosky had researched unschooling, and found this figure: 150,000 families unschool

I asked where the number came from. She said it was out there somewhere, but had been based on the idea that 10% of homeschoolers are unschoolers.

She asked me if the number seemed high or low. I said it wasn't that, it was that there's no real way to come up with a number, because of the way California and Texas registrations are (and aren't).

Does it seem high or low to people here who are wiser in the ways of estimating or thinking about big numbers?

And for people in other places with other terminology, if we include other terms for non-structured, without-curriculum homeschooling, do you think it's 10%?

I'm thinking it's probably more in places like the U.K. and India, and less in the U.S., but I could be wrong.

Sandra

aldq75

Based on my knowledge of homeschooling/unschooling in my state, my first reaction was that 10 percent is high.

The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) currently estimates that there are 2.04 million homeschooled students in the US; using 10 percent would bump the number of unschoolers up to 200,000. I don't believe there are that many.

Andrea Q



--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> Sorry for another U.S. kind of question.
> Rachael Profilosky had researched unschooling, and found this figure: 150,000 families unschool
>
> I asked where the number came from. She said it was out there somewhere, but had been based on the idea that 10% of homeschoolers are unschoolers.
>
> She asked me if the number seemed high or low. I said it wasn't that, it was that there's no real way to come up with a number, because of the way California and Texas registrations are (and aren't).
>
> Does it seem high or low to people here who are wiser in the ways of estimating or thinking about big numbers?
>
> And for people in other places with other terminology, if we include other terms for non-structured, without-curriculum homeschooling, do you think it's 10%?
>
> I'm thinking it's probably more in places like the U.K. and India, and less in the U.S., but I could be wrong.
>
> Sandra
>

Jenny Cyphers

***...there are 2.04 million homeschooled students in the US; using 10 percent
would bump the number of unschoolers up to 200,000. I don't believe there are
that many.***

I'm sure that there is a significantly larger number if we include those that
don't radically unschool. There are a LOT of people that do "eclectic"
homeschooling and call it unschooling. Even where I live that rings true and we
have very relaxed homeschooling laws. It's probably even more true in highly
regulated places.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

aldq75

It's a difficult thing to pin down, that's for sure. If a significant portion of eclectic learners are included in unschooling, then 10 percent probably is an underestimate. I'm in a highly regulated state and a lot of people identify themselves as "relaxed".

Pat Farenga uses the 10 percent estimate.

Andrea Q

--- In [email protected], Jenny Cyphers <jenstarc4@...> wrote:
>
> ***...there are 2.04 million homeschooled students in the US; using 10 percent
> would bump the number of unschoolers up to 200,000. I don't believe there are
> that many.***
>
> I'm sure that there is a significantly larger number if we include those that
> don't radically unschool. There are a LOT of people that do "eclectic"
> homeschooling and call it unschooling. Even where I live that rings true and we
> have very relaxed homeschooling laws. It's probably even more true in highly
> regulated places.
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>