Twenty-nine percent more Rowan County families chose home schooling last year than in 1999-2000, according to estimates published last week by the N.C. Division of Non-public Education. In North Carolina the number of home-schooled students climbed 21 percent.

“What I attribute it to is home schools being more accepted,” said Jeff Townsend, president of North Carolinians for Home Education. “People can do the research and see the data and know it works.”

In Rowan County, an estimated 660 students participated in home schools, up from 511 the year before.

Statewide, an estimated 33,860 students participated in registered home schools in the 2000-01 school year, an increase of 5,882 from the previous year. Actual home school enrollment could be higher because the state doesn’t require parents to register unless a child is at least 7 years old.

“It’s becoming more popular, more well known,” said Renee Gray, president of the Rowan County Home School Association. “With the support group that we have, people are running into each other at sports games and on field trips.

“It’s getting more acceptable. In the past, you always heard, ‘How do you do it? What about their socialization?’ “

Gray’s group offers field trips, “park” days, guest speakers at monthly meetings and plenty of time to socialize. In recent years, the association has held graduations, creative writing contests, band and choir groups and science classes at a church in Spencer taught by staff from Charlotte’s Discovery Place.

Gray said a good majority of parents decide to home school because they want to provide education in a religious context. Last year, 70.2 percent of N.C. home schools listed themselves as religious-based schools, the state reported.

North Carolina’s rising home-school numbers match growth nationally. About 1.5 million to 1.9 million children in the United States were taught at home in 2000-2001.

The national rate is growing annually by 7 percent to 15 percent, according to the National Home Education Research Institute based in Oregon. No federal agency tracks national figures.

Townsend said that families in North Carolina benefit from home schooling laws that are not as restrictive as in many other states.

For instance, North Carolina requires parents only to maintain records of attendance, standardized test scores and immunization for home-schooled students. It doesn’t require any specific subjects to be taught.

New York state, by contrast, mandates what courses should be taught and requires that parents file periodic detailed reports on the child’s instruction with the superintendent of the local public school system. Wake County alone had more children in home schools than New York City in the 1999-2000 school year — 2,457, compared with 875.

Several studies sponsored by home school supporters have shown that home-schooled students score well above the national average on standardized tests and study more advanced materials than their peers in schools.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.