Abstract: Various scholars and policymakers have claimed that homeschooling must be regulated or controlled by the civil government to make sure that life goes well for homeschool students. Others have argued that political philosophy and empirical evidence show that private homeschool education should be left alone. This study examined whether there is a relationship between the degree of state control of homeschooling and the rate of abuse or neglect by the parents (or other legally responsible caregivers) of homeschooled children ages 6 through 17. The investigation considered the homeschool laws by state and whether they had a relationship to homeschool child abuse. Regression analysis of 18 years of data from all the U.S. states found no relationship between the degree of state control or regulation of homeschooling and the frequency of homeschool.

       Keywords: Homeschool abuse, homeschool child abuse, child abuse, homeschooling, home schooling, regulation, homeschool laws, legal, policy, public school child abuse, private school child abuse

The modern homeschool movement is about 40 years old in the United States. Numerous debates have surrounded the issue regarding to what extent the civil government should control or regulate parents and children who are involved in private home-based homeschool education.

The deliberations have addressed various topics such as whether (a) parents should have to be state-certified teachers in order to home educate their children, (b) parents should have to have achieved a particular level of formal education in order to homeschool their children, (c) parents should have to pass teacher qualification examinations that states use for public school teachers, (d) homeschool students should be subjected to mandatory standardized achievement tests, (e) state officials should oversee the social activities of home-educated students (or homeschool socialization), and (f) parents should have to get approval from the state government in order to engage in home-based education with their children (see, e.g., Farris 2013; Yuracko, 2008). Often these issues arise because people want to know whether there are any problems with homeschooling. From time to time, other topics related to regulation arise. One is whether more state control of private homeschooling would have any impact on the rate of child abuse or neglect of homeschool students.

​​​​​​​The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between the degree of state control of homeschooling and the rate of abuse or neglect by the parents (or other legally responsible caregivers) of homeschooled children ages 6 through 17.

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Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

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