2017
Van Pelt, Deani. (2003). Home education in Canada: A report on the pan-Canadian study on home education 2003. Medicine Hat, Alberta: Canadian Centre for Home Education. (Presents demographics of homeschool community, academic achievement and life satisfaction of currently home-educated students, and correlations between academic achievement and sundry variables, and finding on select variables regarding adults who were home educated. Some of the findings follow: 96.4% are two-parent families; average number of children per family is 3.6 with average of 2.4 being home educated at any one time; 83.9% of mothers and 79.8% of fathers have at least some college or university education; 11.2% of mothers and 5.2% of fathers are certified teachers; both parents are generating income in 31.4% of the families, with the mother generating, on average, 26.3% of the household income; average annual household income of home-educating families is less than Can$35,000 in 26.1% of families and above Can$65,000 in 30.4% of families; the religious preference of 83.6% of mothers and 83.1% of fathers is Protestant Christian, while about 9.5% of parents were Roman Catholic, 1.6% agnostic, 1.5% atheist, and other such as Buddhist, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, and “other.” Homeschool students’ average scores on standardized academic achievement tests were as follows: for grades 1 to 8, 81st percentile in reading, 76th percentile in language, and 74th percentile in mathematics; for grades 9 to 12, 85th percentile in reading, 84th percentile in language, and 67th percentile in mathematics. Among several correlations noted, the following were included: (a) “If elementary students had been entirely home-educated, their reading, language and mathematics scores were higher than those who had experienced a mix of school and homeschool over the years” [p. 7]; (b) “For elementary students, the unschooling approach gives some indication of resulting in higher reading and mathematics scores than the traditional textbook approach to education” [p. 7]; (c) “As mothers’ and fathers’ education increased, elementary students’ mathematics scores improved” [p. 8].) (Descriptors: home education, research, demographics, academic achievement, adults who were home educated, Canada)
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