Acknowledging the growing trend to educate school-aged children at home, this book provides a detailed account of home schooling, providing a vision of home education that reflects its multidimensional nature. The book consists of seven chapters: (1) "Learning about Home Schools" describes the research study from which this book is drawn and discusses why it is important to understand home education; (2) "The Home Education Movement: What We Know" focuses on the evolution of the movement and the impact that public attitudes have on its development; (3) "Parents Who Teach Their Children at Home" examines the profile of parent educators and reveals that they come from a wide range of educational and economic backgrounds and hold a variety of political and religious beliefs; (4)"Seeing through the Eyes of Parent Educators" presents narratives from several parent educators that illustrate the meanings parents associate with the activity of home schooling; (5) "The Relationship between Home Schools and Conventional Schools: Parents' Perspectives" examines the issue of cooperation between home schools and formal schools, and describes some cooperative programs established in recent years; (6) "Implementation of Policies and Views of Superintendents" demonstrates school superintendents' interpretations of home and school regulations and their views about parent educators, and implications for policy; and (7) "The Future of Home Schooling" explores the intersections between social life, school life, and family life; raises questions regarding the relationship between home education parents, professional educators, and educational policy makers; and suggests directions for future research. Contains 156 references. (BAC)