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by billswift 5080 days ago
I've heard this said often enough, but most of the homeschoolers I actually know or know of indirectly are pretty lefty or libertarian. Most Christian extremists go to little private schools which are scattered all over the place.
2 comments
jasonrr 5080 days ago
There is actual data to look at here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf

Desire to provide religious or moral instruction is at the TOP of the list of reasons people homeschool.

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Gormo 5079 days ago
...among those who answered the survey.
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r00fus 5079 days ago
This is a survey by the NHES, a government organization - do you think there is some reason for selection bias?

Here is the survey's remark on their estimation methodology:

"When applied to survey data, weights allow for the generation of national estimates from a sample of respondents. They also adjust for characteristics of the survey design, nonresponse, and noncoverage. However, biases may exist in the data if weighting procedures have not adequately adjusted for these issues. A large-scale bias study was conducted in conjunction with the 2007 data collection. Readers interested in the findings of the bias study, as well as detailed information on NHES survey methods, weighting, and response rates, can refer to the Data File User’s Manuals published online at http://nces.ed.gov/nhes ."

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Gormo 5078 days ago
I think that the fact that the survey was conducted by a government organization and that the targets of the survey were families who had decided not to participate in government-run education, for one reason or another, makes a certain selection bias seem likely.

I'd expect a measure of homeschooling families to want nothing to do with the federal department of education.

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vitno 5080 days ago
I was homeschooled in 7th and 8th grade. It was totally because my parents thought I wasn't getting a good enough education. I still had hebrew school on sunday(jewish), but religion never entered my curriculum at home. I had a much greater focus on science & tech. (I had a programming "class" taught by my dad where I programmed micro-controllers)

edit: (actually... It wasn't a heavier focus on science & tech... it was just more intense in general... I had a hefty literature portion (I read many Dickens books...) and some sweet art history books)

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