How Many Special Needs Children are Homeschooled in the U.S.?

Homeschooling can be an ideal choice to educate a child successfully, thoroughly with special needs because it offers parents the flexibility to establish a learning environment and educational goals that are tailored to their child’s needs and style of learning.

Information about assistive technology and adaptive equipment, in addition to curricula, books, online forums, and instructional materials that equip parents to teach students with special needs, is highly sought by both new and veteran homeschooling parents, who are always on the lookout for resources to make their children’s lives happier and more successful.

Based upon the estimates of the U.S. Department of Education (2019–20), approximately 7.3 million public school students (14% of all school-aged children in the United States) received special education services under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

With no central reporting, one can only estimate the number of homeschooled special- needs students because no study or report that addresses this subject is available. One could assume that the same proportion of special-needs students exists within the homeschool population as has been documented among public school students (14%). In most homeschool circles, that estimate is considered low simply because formal reporting and IEPs are not required. The number of homeschooled special-needs students could easily be above 25% of the entire U.S. homeschooling population.

View the full 2021 Homeschool Demographic Report.