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Homeschooling has grown into a large and highly diverse segment of American education. However, empirical studies of homeschooling have remained methodologically underdeveloped. The purpose of this article is to chart an agenda for a new generation of research on homeschooling. A narrative review of quantitative research published since 2000 is undertaken to identify gaps in the current evidence base. This review indicated that prior work is generally limited by small samples, uniform operationalizing of homeschool practice, and cross-sectional data sources. This article then concludes by describing strategies that researchers can use to address the limitations of previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This summary captures the current thinking on homeschool policy as expressed by a diverse group of homeschool policy stakeholders at a recent convening. Key topics discussed include the purpose of education, the regulation and support of homeschooling, and issues with access to needed resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies exploring homeschooling typically focus on comparing homeschoolers to conventionally schooled peers on a range of academic outcomes. Largely absent from the literature are within-group studies designed to identify experiences that facilitate (or hinder) homeschoolers' academic outcomes. The aim of this paper is to describe a heuristic model outlining ways the home environment, instructional practices, parent characteristics, child characteristics, and the broader context might relate to homeschoolers' academic competence. The heuristic model is attentive to the possibility that these relations might vary as a function of child characteristics. In addition, the potential for transactional and mediated relations is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private school choice programs are publicly-funded programs that provide families with funding to attend a private school of their choice. Since 2021, 15 states have enacted or expanded choice legislation, even making homeschoolers eligible to participate. However, homeschoolers are often reluctant to participate due to proposed regulations. We survey a national sample of hybrid school leaders, a sector that shares similarities with homeschoolers in modality, and randomly assign hypothetical regulations to them. We find that 65% are willing to encourage participation in the absence of regulations, but regulations reduce leaders' willingness to encourage participation by about 31 points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses three nationally representative data sets of U.S. school-aged children who are currently homeschooled and two nationally representative data sets of U.S. adults who have ever been homeschooled to empirically document the amount of time homeschooled individuals are homeschooled, how much time they spend in public- or private-school settings, and the amount of exit out of or entry into homeschooling over the course of their primary and secondary education. Findings reveal high levels of variation in when and how long individuals are homeschooled. Implications for researching the homeschooling population are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We articulate a theory suggesting that the way families practice homeschooling is based on practical constraints imposed by household demographic characteristics and ideological considerations. These theories are empirically tested using the 2012, 2016, and 2019 waves of the National Household Education Survey and a sample of 1,468 homeschooling families. Findings indicate that specific household characteristics such as family structure, labor force participation, and parents' educational background are associated with how long a child is homeschooled and the resources families use to homeschool their children. Comparisons between homeschooling and non-homeschooling families are also made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite upwards of 100,000 gifted students possibly being educated at home, research regarding this population is limited. The literature on gifted homeschooling includes topics such as motivations for homeschooling, modalities of instruction, and student achievement and social-emotional wellness. Recommendations for expanding the literature and providing better insight into these students' experiences include determining the demographics of gifted homeschool students, surveying methods and costs of instruction, and measuring educational outcomes. It is imperative to collect and make this information publicly available, and to prioritize research on this population. Doing so will ensure that policy better serves the needs of these unique learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are over one million school-age children in Missouri, and we estimate 61,000 (6% of all school-age children) are homeschooled. Missouri is one of 29 states that does not require homeschooling to be reported. Using methods that can be replicated elsewhere with publicly available data, we test three approaches to estimating homeschool participation: using American Community Survey (ACS) data; subtracting public and estimated private school counts from ACS school-age totals; and polling parents. We comment on the usefulness and limitations of each approach and provide a model for researchers seeking to estimate homeschooling trends in states that lack administrative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article explores the socio-historical and contemporary context of Black home education within the Black Belt of the American South through a literature review. This literature review aims to uncover the historical evolution, socio-cultural dynamics, and contemporary challenges and opportunities associated with Black home education in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooled children spend more time than schooled children with their parents and siblings, which may, in turn, affect their attitudes about the family. In fact, earlier research has shown that fostering familial ideals is one of the central aims of parents who homeschool. Yet, few studies have been conducted about the ways homeschooled children relate to their family members and understand the family. The purpose of the present research was to use metaphor analysis to examine the attitudes of Israeli homeschooled adolescents towards their families. Twenty-four homeschooled individuals aged 15 to 21 participated in the research. The data were analysed in two stages. First, we identified the metaphors that were used to describe their families. We then analysed the interpretations of the metaphors. The adolescents in the sample viewed their families as a source of knowledge; stability and security; guidance and assistance with development; support with life’s diffculties; familiarity and connection; as well as a mixture of pleasantness and unpleasantness. Overall, the adolescents in our analytic sample held positive attitudes towards their families and expressed deep gratitude for and connection with their siblings and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the dynamic landscape of education, homeschooling continues to offer a compelling alternative to traditional schooling. Homeschool numbers surged through the pandemic and have not decreased to pre-pandemic levels. This study examines the shared connections between homeschooled families in Connecticut and local public libraries by looking at how home educators use library resources and participate in library programming; and examining how Connecticut libraries perceive and respond to the diverse needs of homeschooling communities. Based on 2 Connecticut statewide surveys, one sent to public librarians and another to homeschoolers, the study sought to identify areas of strengths, weaknesses and disconnects in the homeschool community and public library relationships in Connecticut. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected and reviewed to identify potential improvements to the evolving role of libraries in supporting alternative education pathways, and the potential for an infusion of public library support from the homeschool community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School choice is spreading across the U.S. at the same time that scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) are stagnant. We examine the association between education freedom and 8th grade student NAEP score levels and gains in states in 2019. We construct the 2019 Education Freedom Index as a composite measure of the accessibility of private school choice, public charter schools, homeschooling, and public school choice in each state. Using statistical regression, we find that more education freedom is significantly associated with increased NAEP scores and gains, supporting the claim that choice and competition improves system-wide achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While evidence exists for the negative and positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on the mental health and well-being of adolescents and parents separately, the potential impact of lockdown, and the effective coping strategies that have been used have so far, by both children and their parents still needs to be explored. A dyadic approach was used to explore the perceived impact of COVID-19 restrictions among early adolescents and their parents in Northwest England. Nine parents (8 female and 1 male) and their 10 children (6 boys and 4 girls) aged 11–13, were recruited from 4 secondary schools to be interviewed. Remote interviews took place between October and December 2020 for the adolescents and between March and May 2021 for their parents. Inductive thematic analysis was used. Five inter-related themes were identified: (1) overcoming barriers for learning at home; (2) juggling a work–life balance; (3) loss of experiences; (4) caring for other family members; and (5) adopting new self-care and coping strategies during the pandemic. Themes identified will help to inform policy and practice for supporting adolescents and parents in the future, including the promotion of positive coping strategies and the provision of resources for adolescents, schools and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on research which investigated the lived experiences of primary school headteachers, teachers and parents during the first lockdown in England between March and July 2020. The study aimed to understand how homeschooling was approached and the challenges and opportunities it afforded. Individual semi-structured interviews were undertaken with participants and the findings are presented in the article in three episodes using fictionalised scenarios. The episodes created are the initial approach to homeschooling, coping with uncertainty and realignment. The themes emerging from each episode are pragmatic decision-making, change and the impact upon welfare and well-being, and shifting priorities. The article illustrates the struggles of homeschooling in lockdown and some surprising outcomes, and also points to future possibilities for education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this short response, we at the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) offer two critiques of Ray and Shakeel's (2022) recent study on the influence of demographic factors on homeschool safety. We argue that, while the study's methodology is novel and valuable, concerns remain about its usage of snowball sampling to overrepresent certain demographics, as well as shortcomings in the survey instrument and its validation. Our main critique, however, questions the study's ideological roots. We argue that Ray and Shakeel's aim is to circumvent consideration of potential changes to policy measures that would protect homeschooled children. In CRHE's view, closing loopholes that enable abuse to occur unnoticed takes precedence over determining incidence of abuse relative to school type. Indeed, we caution against conflating the relative incidence of abuse within homeschooling communities with its absolute importance to a society that prioritizes child safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, historians – along with archivists and other stakeholders – began to initiate digital memory banks, inviting members of the public to upload personal stories, pictures, videos, or other material connected to the pandemic and its impact on everyday life. This article describes how platforms from Western and Central Europe differ with regard to contributions by children and adolescents, taking the German coronarchiv.de and covidmemory.lu from Luxembourg as the main case studies. Submissions come in various forms, but photographs are the most frequent, echoing the visual bias of social media. By means of selected contributions, the article illustrates the range of topics that can be of interest to future historians of education. The platforms show how COVID-19 influenced not only practices of education, with the introduction of homeschooling, but also the content of teaching, as seen in the many pandemic-related assignments uploaded. In this respect, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are significant gaps in the collections. Most notably, the first wave of infections in Europe is overrepresented, and people that were most existentially affected by the pandemic are underrepresented. Performing a thorough source critique on a selection of contributions, we argue that, despite these gaps, digital memory banks on the pandemic are of significant value for a future historiography of education, as long as the available metadata of the individual submissions are as complete and transparent as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of homeschooling focus primarily on two areas: the demographic characteristics and socio-economic status of homeschoolers and the achievements of homeschooled children. Recently, however, the angle of research has shifted to the emotional and social results and emerging problems of homeschooling. Our paper presents the first attempt to investigate the reasons families in Russia choose homeschooling in the context of the historical changes that took place in the Russian education system in regard to the reasons families in Europe and the US choose homeschooling. In addition, this paper identifies the barriers homeschool families in Russia face and ways to overcome them. The study is based on survey data (N = 151) and interviews (N = 33) of parents in Russia. Our results indicate that parents struggle to define their role(s) in their relationships with their children during homeschooling while also encountering a lack of support and the misunderstanding of other family members. In addition to these difficulties, we identified organizational problems, including the transition to homeschooling, the lack of parental pedagogical competence, and the lack of special methods of individual education. A distinctive feature of Russian homeschooling, moreover, is that it remains parent-friendly, allowing the family to choose and organize the form of education for their children, and is developing rapidly while existing being in an institutional environment controlled by the state, with the legacy of the Soviet educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longstanding critique of homeschooling is that it isolates children from mainstream society, depriving them of social experiences needed to thrive as adults. Although a small number of empirical studies challenge this criticism, this research tends to be derived from self-reports of homeschooling parents about their children. In this study, analyses of qualitative interviews (n = 31) and survey data (n = 140) of adults who were homeschooled as children are performed. Most interview participants described conventional and unconventional social experiences that they felt had satisfied their social needs while being homeschooled. Participants who were homeschooled for all or most of their K-12 education had less exposure to mainstream school-based social opportunities but reflected that homeschooling had not hindered their ability to navigate society effectively. Analyses of survey data seemed to echo this finding. Across four social and life outcomes (i.e. college attendance, household income, marital status, and subjective wellbeing), no statistical differences were observed between short-term homeschoolers (1–2 years) who spent nearly all of their K-12 education in brick-and-mortar schools and long-term (10–12 years) and substantial (3–9 years) homeschoolers who had less exposure to mainstream social opportunities available in brick-and mortar schools. This study advances the literature by drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from formerly homeschooled adults and by differentiating homeschoolers based on how many years they were homeschooled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Quebec (Canada), a new normative framework and the COVID-19 pandemic have precipitated the hiring, by the ministry of education, of at least a hundred new resource persons to monitor home education. According to international writings, these professionals are at the crossroads of normative, political, and educational conflicts. Our literature review reveals that these resource persons might solve such conflicts by adopting some of ten typical intervention strategies: mutual understanding, tolerance of disagreement, search for the child's interest, creativity, competency development, negligence, abuse of power, protection of their professionality, incontestability, and distrust. A questionnaire was constructed on the basis of this typology, aimed at supporting the study of their interactions with families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooling is on the rise in many Western countries, reflecting families' growing preference for teaching their children at home, in a family environment. This increasing trend has a social derivative, as learning at home may develop alternative competencies. The objective of this research is to examine the effectiveness of homeschooling by analyzing the levels of creative thinking and social competencies among homeschoolers and by comparing these abilities to those of traditional learners. Participants included 549 schoolchildren between the ages of 8 and 12 (280 homeschoolers and 269 public school students). The participants were asked to fill in two questionnaires: 1) the Creative Thinking Drawing Production (TCT-DP) questionnaire to evaluate their creative thinking, and 2) the Social Competencies Rating System (SSRS) questionnaire to evaluate their social competences. The findings of the multiple regression analyses indicate that homeschoolers exhibit higher level of creative thinking and higher social competencies than traditional learners. Policy implications highlight the need to develop creative thinking and social competencies among traditional learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a qualitative study in which families recorded themselves reading a child-friendly book about a bear in lockdown and combines ethnographic and autoethnographic methods to examine the reactions of home educated and traditionally schooled children during Aotearoa New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdowns. This research theorizes data sourced from family reading sessions through the writings of Philippine psychologist Virgilio Enriquez and the indigenous Philippine concepts of kalayaan (relational autonomy), katarungan (justice), karangalan (self-respect) and kapwa (shared inner identity). This research considers how children's experiences of lockdown differed according to their investment in a primarily school-based identity. It argues that pedagogies of love and care, along with the prospect of supporting children as they cope with the pandemic, should entail a recentering of reciprocal modes of thinking, doing, and relating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, the US Census Bureau (USCB) conducted regularly scheduled surveys to assess the impact that the virus had on American families. These showed that the number of adults/parents with children who were taught entirely in their homes doubled between the spring and fall 2020. Though millions of these individuals are now teaching their children at home for the first time, it is difficult knowing how many of them will continue doing so after the pandemic wanes and schools reopen on a large scale. In the following, a brief description of the USCB surveys and their results will be provided, as well as suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Corona virus (COVID-19) crisis forced many countries to follow strict protocols ordering schools to close. With schools under lockdown, homeschooling has become the only form of schooling available. Reports have indicated that parents and students have struggled with the challenges of homeschooling. Against this background, this study explored primary school students and parents' educational chances and challenges during homeschooling in two countries: Mexico and Germany. Comparing these two countries can shed light into potential differences of how inclusive approaches have been incorporated in homeschooling. Following a qualitative approach, thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents and school students. Results from a qualitative content analysis revealed that parents across both countries face challenges to organise homeschooling and motivate their children. However, they spent more time with their children. Primary school students in Germany and Mexico are challenged considerably by the loss of social contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When schools were closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions, teachers were challenged to engage children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) through remote teaching, particularly in physical education. The European Standards in Adapted Physical Activity (EUSAPA) have been used to define the competencies of adapted physical education (APE) teachers. Through a consensus building exercise, the standards were updated in this paper to include technologically supported pedagogy. Evidence from 125 APE teachers, who completed a technological communication inventory, modified versions of the technology, pedagogy and content knowledge scale (TPACK-21), and self-efficacy on including students with disabilities in physical education scale (SE-PETE-D), were used to inform experts to create technological indicators for the EUSAPA. Teachers used 3 to 4 technologies (email, phone, SMS, Whatsapp) to communicate with students and colleagues, and many reported low levels of technological content knowledge. Experts considered the need to add 13 new functions to the EUSAPA. Most of the functions were considered to be feasible to implement in existing practices and the other requiring extra resources or skills. As further training is planned, consideration of expertise is warranted when mapped against meeting standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norwegian teachers and school leaders had to organise and provide homeschooling for their students from March to May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey conducted in May 2020 examined lower secondary school students' experiences of distance learning. How students at different levels of academic achievement (based on grades) experienced homeschooling was compared to comparable findings from a survey conducted on students from the same schools during the autumn of 2018. The findings indicate that students experienced less support and feedback from their teachers during homeschooling, and that teachers gave more written than oral feedback to the students during homeschooling than they do in regular school. Furthermore, there was a tendency of lower efforts and self-efficacy among low-achieving students, which might be difficult to reverse when schools reopen. The findings raise growing concerns about homeschooling leading to a larger gap between high- and low-achieving students in lower secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the way in which characteristics of the education crisis in the postmodern era are manifested in parental deliberations when choosing to homeschool their children in Israel. Based on a review of the characteristics of the education crisis and examination of possible solutions, homeschooling is presented as an optional solution to this crisis. The article is based on a qualitative study that examined the reasons of Israeli parents for selecting homeschooling, which demonstrates the link between the deliberation process of those choosing homeschooling and the characteristics of the education crisis. The article ends with an explanation about why it is important to regard homeschooling as a unique solution. Education crisis characteristics. Possible solutions for the education crisis. Home education as one of the possible solutions for the education crisis. Link between the deliberation process of those choosing home education and the education crisis. The importance of regarding home education as one of the solutions to the crisis in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home schooling is a growing practice in many Western countries. Examination of the practice has entailed collection of "hard" data, such as academic achievements and success rates in higher education, as well as investigation of the practice from the perspective of parents. It is very important to examine homeschooling from the perspective of the children studying in this framework, yet only a few studies of this type have been conducted. The purpose of the present research was to examine how adolescents evaluate homeschooling. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 young people (ages 16–22) who were raised in a homeschooling setting. The interviews included a series of questions intended to examine how adolescents evaluate homeschooling. The findings indicated diverse themes that can be divided into four main super-themes: contents and methods of instruction and learning; outcomes – traits; outcomes – family; and outcomes – society. Regarding the first super-theme, the interviewees noted both advantages and disadvantages. For the second and third themes, they cited only advantages. With regard to the fourth theme, only disadvantages were mentioned. The findings suggest that some of the themes refer to constructivist learning and some of them reflect overall aims of education – socialization and individuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1988, Van Galen proposed two distinct categories to describe homeschooling parents – ideologues and pedagogues. Her model has been widely cited in the homeschooling literature. In the 30 years since the introduction of these identifiers, homeschooling in the United States has experienced tremendous growth due to a number of intersecting contextual and societal events, which suggests a need to re-examine Van Galen's initial binary categories. Education reform, enacted through standards-based curriculum and assessment, school choice presented as a mechanism to improve the educational experiences of the country's most vulnerable students, greater acceptance of homeschooling as a legitimate school choice, and the diversification of families choosing homeschooling as an alternative to traditional forms of K–12 schooling have all contributed to homeschooling's explosive growth and a corresponding need to revisit homeschooling's conceptual framework. This article proposes an enhanced framework for defining homeschooling, which better reflects the what of school and how of schooling that contemporary homeschooling families employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The State of Alaska, by some measures the United States' most rural state, has long supported correspondence schools, a popular school choice option available to all students statewide and used primarily by homeschooled students. This paper first explores Alaska correspondence schools in historical context, and then quantifies capture rate, enrollment by race/ethnicity, grade distributions, and cohort graduation rates for the years 2010–17. Findings include a steady increase in the proportion of Alaskan students enrolled in correspondence schools between 2010 and 2017; disproportionate enrollment of Alaskan students identified as White in correspondence schools between 2010 and 2017; enrollment peaks in late high school during 2014–17; and significantly lower 4- and 5-year cohort graduation rates among students enrolled in correspondence schools compared to those enrolled in traditional public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades homeschooling has become increasingly popular, but this educational alternative has lacked rigorous empirical evaluation because of data limitations. Since little data are available for individual students, we examine homeschooling participation at the statewide and district level in Wisconsin. The most compelling finding is the large decrease in homeschooling at the upper levels of high school which may distort the evaluation of homeschooling as preparation for college. We also examine district and community factors associated with overall homeschooling participation and find evidence, for example, of the importance of test scores and specific religious preferences to that choice. Specifically, we find that higher district level homeschool participation is associated with lower district grade school test scores, lower expenditure per pupil, and a lower percentage of Catholic individuals living in the surrounding area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 10 years has seen a dramatic increase in the number of parents in the United States choosing to homeschool their children instead of sending them to public school. One report had the number increasing by 61.8% from 2003 to 2012, with the total number of homeschooled children reaching nearly 2 million (Snyder, T. D., and S. A. Dillow. 2015. Digest of Education Statistics 2013 (NCES 2015-011). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education). With more students withdrawing from public education to a more insulated environment (often due to religious reasons), there are concerns about the long-term ramifications this trend may cause. This paper addresses the degree to which a religious homeschooled education might be problematic within John Dewey’s conception of education as laid out in Democracy and Education. For Dewey ‘Common subject matter accustoms all to a unity of outlook upon a broader horizon’ (Dewey, John. 1985. Democracy and Education, Collected Works. Middle Works Vol 9, 26. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press). I argue that persons raised in a virtual vacuum in which education is rooted within a particular faith may be less capable of serving as vibrant members of a democratic-based society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consistent growth of homeschooling in recent decades can be considered a reflection of public criticism of the education system. This criticism has given rise to alternative education methods; homeschooling is one of the most radical examples. In light of the increasing scope of homeschooling and its significant implications, it is important to understand its origins. However, the research on the attitudes of parents who choose homeschooling has not considered the role of personality of parents in their attitudes. The purpose of the present research was to examine the contribution of socioeconomic and personality traits of parents to their attitudes, focusing on neuroticism, openness to experience, and anxiety and avoidance attachment styles. The findings indicated that parents’ personality contributed significantly to the explanation of their attitudes; in some cases, this contribution was mediated by their socioeconomic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Homeschooling only has become a choice for many families of gifted children during the last two decades, as the number of gifted families has grown steadily along with the general homeschool population (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013). The current study examines a group of homeschooling mothers of gifted children who publish and maintain publically available blogs about their homeschooling experiences. In this qualitative study, four themes emerged (a) unintentional homeschoolers, (b) curriculum pivoting, (c) reflection as progress, and (d) reaching forward and back. In the current study we have identified some interesting but preliminary findings about families who homeschool their gifted child or children. We should continue working to understand the phenomenon of gifted homeschooling and its implications for schools and for society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives the demographic characteristics of the U.S. homeschooling population and the reasons that parents choose to homeschool, summarizes the findings of studies on the homeschool learner outcomes of academic achievement, social development, and success in adulthood, and proposes future research on parent-led home-based education. The majority of peer-reviewed studies on academic achievement reveal a positive effect for the homeschooled students compared to institutional schooled students, while a few studies show mixed or negative results. Regarding social and emotional development, a large majority of studies show clearly positive outcomes for the homeschooled compared to those in conventional schools. A majority of the studies on the relative success of the home-educated who later became adults show positive outcomes for the homeschooled compared to those who had been in conventional schools. I recommend that the existing literature be enhanced by well-controlled non-experimental designs to examine adults who were homeschooled in terms of an array of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding lifelong learning, rates of public welfare dependency, and degree of personal agency or self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, parental involvement in their children’s education has been steadily increasing. Perhaps the ultimate form of parental involvement is the phenomenon called elective home education – EHE (also known as homeschooling). It is customary to divide EHE into two categories according to the degree of structure:structured EHEandunstructured EHE(orunschooling). Advocates of structured learning study in the home framework according to a defined curriculum, whereas unstructured learning advocates study content determined in accordance with the child’s wishes, with no external dictates. This division relates to learning as one entity. This article proposes to distinguish between two dimensions of structure: content and process. In order to demonstrate this distinction, qualitative research was conducted in which 30 mothers who educate their children at home were interviewed and asked what they actually do within the framework of EHE. The research findings suggest that the two types of EHE are indeed different from one another with regard to the structure of the content of instruction and learning as well as the structure of the process. The article addresses the importance of broadening the traditional distinction (structured and unstructured EHE) to include content and process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much attention has been focused recently on the deepening crisis in the education system. Researchers have attributed these problems to the school environment. One method for examining this claim is to compare specific emotional and behavior problems among children who attend schools and children who do not. This study examined three aspects of children's emotional world—emotional and behavioral problems, depression, and attachment security—in a group of children attending school and a group of homeschooled children, matched for socioeconomic background and research procedure. The findings indicated a lower level of depression among the homeschooled children; no difference was found between the groups in attachment security. With respect to emotional and behavioral problems, no difference was found in internalizing problems, but more externalizing problems were found among the school-going than the homeschooled children, in 9–10-year-olds and 11–12-year-olds, but not in 6–8-year-olds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blogs have become a go-to information resource for members of online communities. In this qualitative study we applied uses and gratifications theory (U&GT) to analyze the experiences and perceptions of four mothers of gifted children who maintain blogs about their homeschooling experiences. Data suggest that this novel context and population did not yield different categories of gratification; however, not all prior categories were represented among this relatively narrow sample. Results support findings from prior research in other contexts suggesting that bloggers find gratification from self-expression, social interaction, information exchange, maintaining community, and recording life events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate whether non-public school enrolment affects the performance of public school districts. If homeschooling and private schools act as competition, public school districts test scores should be positively associated with non-public enrolment. Using data on West Virginia county school districts, and controlling for endogeneity with an instrumental variables approach, we find that a one standard deviation increase in relative non-public enrolment in a county is associated with statistically significant improvements in public school district test scores. Our findings thus confirm that non-public enrolment and the competition it provides act to improve, rather than impede, public school performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The homeschool population continues to grow in size and now accounts for 3.4% of all students in the United States.Objective: Given the heterogeneous nature of the population, this study examines the relationship between different types of homeschoolers and a number of substance use related outcomes.Methods: To conduct this study, we used pooled data (2002–2013) from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Respondents aged 12–17 who reported they had been homeschooled at any time during the previous 12 months were classified as homeschoolers (N= 1,321). Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify latent subgroups of homeschoolers and multinomial regression was executed to assess the relationship between the subgroups and perceived substance use risk, availability, and past 12-month use.Results: The LPA yielded four subgroups, which were summarized as (1) highly religious and engaged, (2) limited parental monitoring, (3) high parental warmth and support, and (4) secular permissive. Of these, the highly religious and engaged subgroup was the least likely to report using substances.Conclusion: The results underscore the variation that exists among homeschoolers and the importance of examining the relationship between different types of homeschoolers and outcomes of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the meanings parents attribute to homeschooling. The literature reveals two main approaches to this subject: a view of homeschooling as a pedagogical practice and a holistic perspective. Employing qualitative methodologies, we administered in-depth interviews to 30 mothers who engaged in homeschooling in Israel, in order to gain a better understanding of what homeschooling meant to them. Analysis of the interviews indicated that the participants attributed diverse meanings to homeschooling. These represented many themes, which were gathered into four super-themes: control, lifestyle, family, and child. The first two themes were emphasized more often than the latter two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a qualitative case study approach, this study looked at the educational activities that constitute a typical day in a homeschool family and the role that the parent has within those activities. Three homeschooling families with high school students in a single community in a southern state in the United States participated in the case study. Data was collected using observations, field notes, interviews and artifacts. Analysis of the data pointed to an eclectic mix of instructional modalities and activities used by families. Students often participated in a variety of instructional activities such as online courses, private tutors, and self-taught classes through the use of a flexible daily schedule. Parents were seen to be more of a facilitator or director of educational activities for their children rather than the direct providers of instruction in the homeschool setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooling is legal and growing in many countries but is virtually forbidden by law in Germany and a few others. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has reviewed and upheld this ban. Is home education a human right? How do these courts employ their jurisprudence of proportionality to find banning home education does not violate relevant constitutional or human rights norms? Why does Germany forbid home education? Why does the ECtHR uphold Germany’s position? What does this divergence imply about the right of home education and the jurisprudence of these courts? If the promise of human rights is individual liberty then a system that justifies or endorses state control of education for the purpose of cultural conformity can be said to be far too statist for a free and democratic society. In this article, I argue that both the German Constitutional Court (FCC) and the ECtHR have adopted an approach to education rights that is profoundly mistaken. I conclude that home education is a right of parents and children that must be protected by every state. Nations that respect and protect the right of parents and children to home educate demonstrate a commitment to respecting human rights; nations that do not, such as Germany and Sweden need to take steps to correct their failure to protect this important human right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooling is controversial for a variety of reasons. One concern is whether families are sufficiently equipped to serve students with disabilities. We investigate this issue by assessing parental satisfaction with the special education services that their child is receiving in various educational sectors (e.g., homeschool, traditional public, public charter, and private). Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. households from the National Household Education Survey, we find that parents who homeschool are more satisfied than parents of children in traditional public schools and a variety of private schools with the special education services that they are receiving. Despite obvious selection bias in our sample, we view parental satisfaction as one of many important indicators for the quality of special education services. The results from this study suggest that homeschooling is a potentially beneficial option for serving students with disabilities, though additional research examining other student outcomes would be invaluable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working within a self-determination theory (SDT) framework, this study used cluster analysis to examine the naturally occurring types of homeschool-learning environments parents (N = 457) have created. Measures of support for student autonomy, mastery goal structure, and use of conditional regard were adapted for a homeschool context and used as constituting variables. Follow-up measures of parental need satisfaction, efficacy, student academic engagement, teaching practices, and demographics were used to identify significant differences among homeschooling motivational profiles. A five-cluster solution best fit the data: ahigh need supportprofile,low need supportprofile and three profiles ofmixed need support. In general, thehigh needandmixed needsupport profiles were associated with higher student engagement, need satisfaction, efficacy for homeschooling, and frequent use of teaching strategies that promote autonomous motivation and support for student competence. Thelow need supportprofile was significantly associated with lower need satisfaction and teaching strategies associated with control. Higher levels of academic engagement were reported for those students homeschooled longer and at higher grade levels. Male teaching parents (N = 29) reported significantly less need satisfaction and were significantly more represented in thelow need supportprofile. These findings point to the utility of self-determination theory for characterizing the motivational environments of homeschools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyone in France takes for granted the existence of compulsory school attendance (“école obligatoire”) while home education remains very exceptional. Yet school attendance is not, and has never been, legally compulsory in France. How can one explain the fact that the right to home educate is little known and practiced? This article researches how public policies may foster this widespread ignorance. Drawing mainly on archival records of French Parliament debates about compulsory instruction in 1882, 1936, and 1998, it depicts various ways for lawmakers to contribute to this ignorance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulators ubiquitously dichotomize schooling into two discrete sectors:publicandprivate. Although homeschooling is regulated in some contexts as a third sector, the general approach is to treat it as a species of private education by subjecting it to public regulation while simultaneously denying it public funds. But the public/private binary is increasingly difficult to sustain as charter schools multiply and, especially, as virtual schooling increasingly penetrates primary and secondary education. Public school systems are deploying virtual education in ways that erode once impermeable walls between public and private. Many obstacles to homeschooling will fall with those walls—particularly obstacles related to government financing of homeschooling activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study draws on the theory of feminist physicist Karen Barad to examine how gender matters in Evangelical homeschooling families of various sizes, with an emphasis on large families. The two-phase data collection includes interviews with 18 participants and observations of several participants over one year. We use a Baradian analytic process called diffractive analysis to read the messy borders between the discursive and material for mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, and elements of homeschooling environments. We find that materiality intra-acted with gender in complex and sometimes surprising ways but that gendered possibilities in homeschooling are steeped in the terrains of politics, history, culture, economics, and environment. In addition, we see possibilities for using this method of analysis as a way to more carefully and complexly read data in the micro. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Elective Home Education is a legal, minority approach to the compulsory education of children. I review the potential contribution of the historical analysis of ‘domestic pedagogies’, presented in this Special Issue, for home education practice in the UK. By drawing on narratives of a period at the cusp of the perceived normalcy of ‘schooling’, I consider an alternative discourse to articulate the purpose of, and approaches to, education. In particular, I focus on the family not only as the site for educational practices, but also as critical for our understanding of what constitutes a ‘suitable education’. Along the way, I show how distinctions, common in home education practice, illuminate the historical debates on ‘domestic education’. I conclude by suggesting we cannot disassociate discussions of a suitable home education from the family within which such an education occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores the motivations of African American parents for choosing homeschooling for their children and the academic achievement of their Black homeschool students. Their reasons for homeschooling are similar to those of homeschool parents in general, although some use homeschooling to help their children understand Black culture and history. The average reading, language, and math test scores of these Black homeschool students are significantly higher than those of Black public school students (with effect sizes of .60 to 1.13) and equal to or higher than all public school students as a group in this exploratory, cross-sectional, and explanatory nonexperimental study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, the number of homeschools in the United States (US) has grown, and a large proportion is attributed to increases in religiously affiliated homeschools (Kunzman, 2009). However, empirical analyses of the relationship between religion and homeschooling are lacking. This analysis begins to fill that void using a culture wars framework, and indicates that states with higher percentages of evangelical residents are less likely to regulate homeschooling. Consistent with Deckman's (2004) claim, these findings demonstrate the culture wars are active in education policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]