What the Research Says About Homeschooling and the Socialization of Children
The key findings are as follow:
- Research findings on homeschooling show that the home-educated are doing well, typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development. Research measures include peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.
- 64% of peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and psychological development show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in conventional schools (Ray, 2017, 2023).
- Long-term homeschoolers had the lowest “depression and anxiety score” and the highest “satisfaction with life score” of all four groups (Cheng & Watson, 2025).
- Homeschool students are regularly engaged in social and educational activities outside their homes and with people other than their nuclear-family members. They are commonly involved in activities such as field trips to museums, learning co-operatives, boy and girl scouting, 4-H, political drives, church ministry, sports teams, and community volunteer work (Hamlin, 2019).
- The balance of research to date suggests that homeschool students may suffer less harm (e.g., abuse, neglect, fatalities) than conventional school students (Ray, 2024).
- Adults who were home educated are more politically tolerant than the public schooled in the limited research done so far (Cheng, 2014).
General Interpretation of Research On Homeschool Learner Outcomes
It is possible that homeschooling causes the positive traits reported above. However, the research designs to date do not conclusively “prove” or substantiate that homeschooling causes these things. One hypothesis is that the positive findings might be due to the demographics of the homeschool students and families in the studies. The “sources” (articles) below explain limitations and caveats regarding the studies. More methodologically stronger research needs to be done to find whether homeschooling is what leads to or causes better outcomes. At the same time, there is no empirical evidence that homeschooling overall causes negative things compared to institutional schooling. Future research may better answer the question of causation.
References
Cheng, Albert. (2014). Does homeschooling or private schooling promote political intolerance? Evidence from a Christian university. Journal of School Choice: International Research and Reform, 8(1), 49-68.
Cheng, Albert; & Watson, Angela. (2025). Diverse outcomes for a diverse population: Findings about homeschooled adults from the Cardus Education Survey, https://www.cardus.ca/research/education/reports/diverse-outcomes-for-a-diverse-population/
Hamlin, Daniel. (2019). Do Homeschooled students lack opportunities to acquire cultural capital? Evidence from a nationally representative survey of American households. Peabody Journal of Education, 94:3, 312-327,
Ray, Brian D. (2017). A systematic review of the empirical research on selected aspects of homeschooling as a school choice. Journal of School Choice: International Research and Reform, 11(4), 604-621.
Ray, Brian D. (2023). A systematic review of 35 years of empirical research on the learner outcomes of homeschooling: Any evidence to ban home education? A presentation at the annual International School Choice and Reform Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, January 14, 2023.
Ray, Brian D. (2024). Homeschool abuse and neglect research: How many homeschooled kids are abused? https://www.nheri.org/homeschool-abuse-and-neglect-research/
Copyright © 2025 Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. National Home Education Research Institute