Editor's Note: Christopher Lubienski, associate professor of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, was interviewed for an AFP article about homeschooling gains, which was posted on Google News. He said there have always been Americans unhappy with public education for theological or cultural reasons, and he estimated that two-thirds of children are homeschooled for religious or moral reasons. Lubienski's research centers on public and private interests in education, including the use of market mechanisms such as choice and competition to improve schooling.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012, AFP, Fabienne Faur, L’Agence France-Presse (AFP), WASHINGTON — For a small but growing number of young Americans, the living room is the classroom when it comes to the "three R's" of reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic.

Homeschooling is growing in the United States, as parents who question the ability of conventional teaching to properly educate their children take matters into their own hands — with help from the Internet.

The Department of Education estimates that 1.5 million children aged five through 17, or 2.9 percent of all American youngsters, were homeschooled in 2007, the most recent year for which figures are available. That's a 74 percent increase from 1999 when the number stood at 850,000 youngsters.