College Degrees And Income Aren’t Only Measures Of Success

Homeschooling has always looked a little different from traditional education. That’s sort of the point. No two children are alike, so why should their education be? However, this freedom for the student has meant frustration for the scholar, as homeschooling’s multifaceted nature makes rigorous academic study challenging. 

The difficulties are too manifold to detail here, but one refrain echoes through the bulk of scholarship: Homeschooling is not a monolith. This is truer now than it has ever been, as homeschooling has become more diverse racially, religiously, and politically. Simply put, what one homeschooling family values, another may not.

With such diversity, it is difficult to measure success using a single metric. 

This is clearly illustrated in the most recent survey report from the Cardus group, a non-partisan think tank that regularly reports on educational outcomes across all school sectors. In a survey specifically focused on homeschooling, researchers disaggregated the homeschooled cohort according to how long they had been homeschooled. In doing so, the authors were able to show the breadth and diversity of outcomes within homeschooling. Across the board, the findings are fascinating, but I want to focus on one specific cohort: long-term homeschoolers (those who were homeschooled for 8 or more years).

According to their findings, long-term homeschoolers were less likely than non-homeschoolers to have a bachelor’s degree or higher, full-time employment, and a household income above the 2023 national median of $80,000. 

One could easily look at these numbers and claim that they reflect poorly on homeschooling. Even though the researchers made no such claims in their report, these are some of the most common metrics when examining success, and long-term homeschoolers seem to fall behind in every category. But this isn’t the whole story.

The data also shows long-term homeschoolers were more likely to be married, less likely to be separated or divorced, more likely to have kids, and have more kids than their counterparts in other cohorts. They were also the most likely to have done volunteer work within the last year and to have donated their own money to a nonprofit. 

When looking at mental health outcomes, long-term homeschoolers are also less likely to “feel helpless dealing with life’s problems” and more likely to be positive about the future and have “much” to be thankful for. They also had the lowest scores for depression and anxiety and the highest scores for life satisfaction and close social relationships. 

In terms of values, more than half of long-term homeschoolers said that hard work was “very important,” the superlative response on a six-point scale. Only 20 percent said the same about money. The long-term cohort also valued marriage and children higher than any other cohort and had some of the highest scores across the board on religiosity.

Though the data presented does not allow for causal inference, it does give us some clues to investigate further. Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) reached out to one of the authors, who graciously ran some more specific numbers for us. He found that, among women without children, unemployment rates were nearly identical between long-term homeschoolers and other groups. Among women with children, 53 percent of long-term homeschoolers were not employed, while only 33 percent of other respondents with children were not employed. 

Household income was similar. Overall, the survey found that only 35 percent of long-term homeschoolers were above the median income. However, the author said that among respondents without kids, this result climbed to 40 percent, closer to the overall average. Among those with children, it dropped to 28 percent.

This seems to indicate that the lower incomes and employment rates among long-term homeschool graduates could very well be driven by parents, particularly mothers, choosing to give up the comfort of a second income in order to care for their children. The data available does not really allow for a way to examine if these findings are directly influenced by personal values of faith and family, but there is at the very least a correlation. And theories about the influence of faith and values on such outcomes abound. Anecdotally, as a homeschool graduate, dad, and a lawyer for HSLDA, I hear many homeschoolers speak of how much they treasured, valued, and fondly remembered their educational journey and the closeness it fostered within their families.

Different values give rise to different outcomes. Based on the data, it seems that long-term homeschoolers do not value high pay and further education nearly as much as they value faith and family. It is entirely possible that the lower income, employment rates, and educational attainment reflect choice, not capacity. Employment and income could be lower for long-term homeschool graduates because they choose to forego a second income and have one parent stay home with their kids.

But as the Cardus survey shows, there are many ways to measure the success of education, and while money and education are often good metrics, they cannot be the only metrics we use. Amid a mental health crisis, an education that produces happier, less anxious graduates is welcome balm. And as thousands are drowning beneath college debt, forgoing higher education may provide a level of financial freedom, despite the trade-off in pay.

These things should be studied carefully and thoughtfully. The outcomes for homeschool graduates are as myriad as the methods of and reasons for homeschooling. It would be the peak of foolishness to claim that someone’s education was not successful because they do not meet arbitrary metrics, particularly when they may not hold those metrics in high esteem. Rather, we must determine if an individual is meeting their own values and goals, not those set for them by statisticians. High pay cannot fix depression, and college degrees do not equate to community. 

Education should benefit the whole person, and the metrics we use to measure it should be similarly robust. 

Will Estrada is a husband, homeschool dad, attorney, and serves as senior counsel at Home School Legal Defense Association, a nonprofit organization that advocates for homeschool freedom across the nation in our laws, courtrooms, and local school districts.