N.C. home-school enrollment up 4 percent

By T. Keung Hui, Staff WriterComment on this story
RALEIGH — Home-school enrollment increased by about 4 percent this past school year, according to figures released today by the state Division of Non-Public Education.

State officials are estimating that 71,566 students were home-schooled for the 2007-08 school year, up from 68,707 students the prior year. The number of children being schooled at home is likely higher because parents don’t have to register with the state unless their children are at least 7-year-old.

There were 38,367 registered home-schools in 2007-08, a 6 percent increase from the prior school year.

The number of families choosing to educate their students at home has been steadily increasing since the state Supreme Court legalized homeschooling in 1985. North Carolina has generally been regarded nationally as having one of the easier homeschooling requirements for families.

In contrast, a California appellate court made national headlines in February by ruling that parents must have teaching credentials to home-school their children. North Carolina only requires parents to have a high school diploma.
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