Interesting Reading for Home Educators
Homeschooling on Wikipedia
For those unfamiliar with Wikipedia, it is essentially an open encyclopaedia - one which can be added to or edited by anyone. This method of creating entries can lead to some pretty robust disagreement about what should and should not be included in any article - and the home schooling one is not immune from that!
In addition to reading the article itself, it is really most interesting to click on the 'Discussion' link at the top of
the page and read through some of the opinions that have been aired as the article has evolved.
Read the Article
Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998
A massive US study in which more than 11,000 home educated children where given standardised test and compared to their peers who attended school. This is a peer-reviewed academic article and is pretty heavy going but it's worth persisting with.
(If
you can't be bothered, the overall assessment was broadly positive towards home schooling - home educated children performed on average as well as or better than those educated in schools.)
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Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement
Not an article - this is a book of a thesis written by sociologist Mitchell L. Stevens, and is really a must-read for anyone going into home schooling for the first time. It looks at the reasons for choosing home schooling, the experience of both children and educators and the wide range of approaches used. It is very good on the complicated politics of home schooling in the USA.
The publication of this study led to considerable debate and not a little anger in the USA, where many home schoolers felt they had not been listened to or had been misrepresented. However the overall response from the home schooling community was very positive.
More about this Book
An A for Home Schooling
A long but interesting article which gives a good overview of the reasons for the huge increase in number choosing to educate at home in the USA. It attempts to look at the very varied motivation behind people's choices as well as the outcomes.
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Correcting Misconceptions about Home Schooling
In this Washington Post article the author looks at responses to an article he wrote on the topic some time earlier. The responses are interesting as they give a pretty broad overview of the different impressions of both parents and children to the
experience of a home education.
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Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs
Dave Arnold, an educator and a member of the Illinois Education Association, mounts a vigorous argument against home schooling. Even if you disagree with him, this is a worthwhile read - if nothing else it will prepare you for the sort of arguments
you are bound to encounter if you choose to home school!
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