Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet

Family and Consumer Sciences

1787 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210

Home Schooling: An Overview

HYG-5284-95

Home schooling or home educating children has been a practice for many years. Children were taught at home before public schools were even in existence. When public schools were formed in the mid-nineteenth century, views about informal and home-based education began to change.

Between 1850 and 1970, most children were not educated at home by their parents. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, home education once again began to emerge as an alternative to public schooling. In 1986, it was estimated that between 120,000 and 260,000 children are being home schooled in the United States (Lines, 1986).

In past times, parents taught their children at home because there was a lack of public schools or the schools were too far away for the children to attend. Present day home schools have once again emerged as parents are choosing to educate their children at home for reasons of security, values and/or educational quality.

Youngstown State University Professor Jane Van Galen describes parents who teach their children at home as either ideologues or pedagogues.

Ideologues tend to view home schools as opportunities to create formal learning environments using pre-determined curricula, textbooks and rigid schedules. For these parents, the general processes and functions of the public school are often copied. In addition to their overall curricula, these home-schoolers tend to emphasize the values and beliefs that they consider to be important -- values rooted in their personal histories.

Pedagogues tend to place the learner central to everything else that transpires in the home. For these parents, schooling does not always mean education. They also hold the belief that learning should be less structured, more direct and more experiential. The learner is responsible for determining what is learned.

For the more conservative home schooler, the curriculum typically contains a core group of six subjects -- reading, writing, mathematics, science, religion studies, and history. The more liberal home schooler usually has a less structured approach and use children's natural ability to wonder to set the course for learning.

Since home schools vary from home to home, it is impossible to say what will work for all parents who choose to home school their children. There are however, some basic keys to creating a successful environment for home schooling.

• Provide an opportunity for children to socialize with other children close to their age. Many areas have some type of home school association or home schooling support group. If there is one of these groups in your area, utilize their knowledge to improve your own home school.
• With today's technology, utilize as many types of instruction methods as possible. These methods may include correspondence course, interactive satellite broadcasts or electronic networks among schools. America Online features a home-schooling forum with lesson plan resources, tutoring, legislative updates, and networking with other home schoolers for group projects. New curriculums are constantly being developed using multimedia computer technology, including software on CD-ROM.
• Studies have found that children who are given only what they like to read and great amounts of uninterrupted time without the checking and testing, their reading skills rise significantly (Holt, 1983).
• Allowing children to have some flexibility in their choices will make them more willing to study and learn the subjects that are critical to their success.
• The basic skills, such as reading, writing and mathematics should not be overlooked. These may be incorporated into other activities when possible. For many families, home schooling is not a permanent choice and many of these students will at some point enter the public school system. It is to the students advantage, to remain at or above the grade level of their peers so that they will not be lacking when entering the public school system.
• Getting your children involved in some type of group activity such as 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, baseball, gymnastics, etc... gives them the opportunity to be with other children and to learn to function as a member of a group or team. This is an important concept which needs to be learned early in life.

Resources

Holt, John, "Schools and Home Schoolers: A Fruitful Partnership," Phi Delta Kappan 64 (February, 1983): 391-94.

Lines, Patricia M, "An Overview of Home Education, Phi Delta Kappan 68, (March 1987): 510-517.

Rakestraw, Jennie F. and Donald A., "Home Schooling: A Question of Quality, An Issue of Rights," The Educational Forum, Vol. 55, No. 1, Fall 1990: 67-77.

VanGalen, J. A., "Schooling in Private: A Study of Home Education," Ph.D. diss., 1986, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.