Describes why home school is a natural environment for customizing instruction to meet the individual needs of students, especially those with special needs and talents. (Contains 19 references.) (PKP)

Argues that while customizing education through home schooling may permit schooling to be tailored for each individual student, total customization also threatens to insulate students from exposure to diverse ideas and people and thereby to shield them from the vibrancy of a pluralistic democracy. (Contains 10 references.) (Author/PKP)

A Texas elementary school is meeting home-school parents halfway by fostering a once-weekly project involving adolescent, home-schooled tutors and fifth and sixth graders. The home-schooled kids get a break from their routine, and the public schoolers benefit from help with academic subjects and community service projects. (MLH)

Describes the Community-Assisted Schooling Alternatives (CASA) Vida Home School Enrichment Center, a K-6 center developed by Arizona's Kyrene School District for 120 home-schooled students. (PKP)

Religious conservatives and political libertarians share a family-centered vision of home schooling. Conservatives' home-schooling plans are usually based on Christian ethics and feature a core group of subjects--reading, writing, mathematics, science, religious studies, and history. The author and his wife, both certified teachers and…

In 1991, the Iowa legislature enacted dual-enrollment legislation allowing Iowa's home-schooling students to enroll in their district for academic programs, participate in extracurricular activities, and use the area education agency's services. This article tells how a home-schooling parent worked with a principal to create a program serving 37…

Home schooling neither isolates children nor harms their academic growth, but approaches the true definition of education: the passing down of culture. Public schools have redefined family values and often fail to take religion seriously. Home-school parents see the family as a superior social institution; many value religion's cultural…

Widespread "family abuse" by the child protective services industry and feelings of parental "disenfranchisement" have spawned the Parental Rights Movement and associated legislation. Legislation often focuses on formal recognition that parental rights are fundamental and should be protected from government interference;…

A parent and communications professor describes his family's long-standing participation in home schooling, highlighting efforts to provide socialization and service education, uphold academic standards, and integrate learning activities into everyday life. Home schooling is a labor of love. Children benefit from experiencing the focused attention…

Not all home schoolers are politically conservative, suspicious of public education, or separatists. The Holtrop family's home-schooling philosophy stresses what is best for individual learners. They prioritize objectives like love of learning, critical thinking, integrated subject areas, learning through life experiences, and development of…

Seventeen years ago, the Lagunitas School District (California) decided to honor the wide range of parent values and expectations by setting up alternative curricula. Options presently include an Academics and Enrichment program, a Montessori program, open classrooms, home study, and transfer to another school district. Nontraditional student…

The Des Moines (Iowa) Public School System was one of the first to offer a cooperative home-school experience for interested parents. The district's Home Instruction Program, which now serves 310 students from 165 families, offers parents several choices regarding curricula, type of assistance, evaluation method, and dual (part-time) enrollment…

Homeschooled students from families representing all ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and education levels are increasingly entering public schools part-time. This article explains how school administrators, teachers, parents, and homeschoolers can become partners. Tips are provided on classroom deportment, parental aspirations, and…

As state legislators, school boards, and the public at large become more receptive, home-schoolers are gaining access to more resources, including those at public schools. Researchers disagree over home schooling's effects on academic achievement and social development. Home schooling could be an important resource for studying how children learn…