WASHINGTON -- Almost 1.1 million students were homeschooled in 2003, according to the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The NCES says the number of students taught at home in 1999 was 850,000.

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Parents offered two main reasons for choosing homeschooling: 31 percent cited concerns about the environment of regular schools, and 30 percent wanted to provide their children with religious or moral lessons.

The next reason, at 16 percent, was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools.

The government considers students homeschooled if they're taught at home for at least part of their education and if they don't attend private or public schools for more than 25 hours a week.

To read the NCES homeschooling report, click here.