Alternative schooling has been staunchly advocated for by groups disillusioned by government-sponsored public schooling that want to take personal control of their children's education. There are concerns, however, about nontraditional schooling options that do not meet standards that apply to public schools. The "United Nations Convention on…

The state of Connecticut detained 1,444 children and youth and committed approximately 270 to the Department of Children and Families for out of home placement in the 2007-2008 calendar year. A significant number of children and youth have special education needs that are often unidentified by home school districts. State and federal law mandate…

"Homeschooling," "deschooling," and "unschooling" are commonly used terms in the alternative-education world, but each lacks specificity. In this article, the author describes what he discovered during several visits to North Star. Known officially as North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, it is not as…

This booklet is the sixth in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on ways to provide encouragement to home-schooled teenagers. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "First Year Surprises," presenting one home-schooling family's experiences during the first year related to the nature of…

This synopsis provides highlights of a national home schooling survey of 1,516 families in the United States. The study explored five fundamental questions: (1) What are home education families' demographic and educational characteristics? (2) To what extent have home-schooling families been engaged in legal matters regarding their involvement in…

Research has documented that the self-esteem of girls plunges at adolescence. Whether this is true for girls educated outside the school system was studied through interviews with 20 homeschooled girls, a questionnaire completed by 20 more, and tape-recorded responses of 5 others. Subjects were asked to describe themselves and their interests,…

This booklet is the first in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on the socialization of home-schooled adolescents. The booklet advances the view that pivotal social experiences plus daily age-peer contact are not needed to produce socially competent individuals, that real world…

This booklet is the third in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on providing instruction and experiences in reading, writing, and mathematics. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "Developing a Writer's Toolkit," discussing ways to incorporate techniques used by successful writers to…

This booklet is the second in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children. The articles in the booklet are: (1) "Less is More," encouraging home-schooling families to take advantage of local, free resources before buying materials from a curriculum fair; (2) "Putting Together an Eclectic Curriculum,"…

Grace Llewellyn, author of "The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How To Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education," discusses how her educational experiences as both student and teacher influenced her support of teens liberating themselves from school and "rising out." Llewellyn also discusses innovative learning practices, a camp for teenage…

This booklet is the fourth in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on teaching a foreign language, history, science, and physical education. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "Habla Espanol? Tackling Foreign Language," examining effective and ineffective foreign language instruction…

This booklet is the fifth in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and deals with high school requirements and college admissions. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "'How Do We Know When We're Done?'," concerning criteria for high school graduation, college recommendations, and evaluating…