The growth of home schooling over the last 20 years in Maine and across the nation, state responses, and current controversies are described in this paper. Following an introduction, the first part provides definitions and discusses legal concerns of home schooling. The next part provides a historical overview that examines public school…

One manifestation of the demand for educational reform over the last 30 years has been the removal of children from public schools by their parents. This document looks at the history of early home schooling in the United States and presents demographic information concerning those families who have chosen this option. The academic achievement of…

Cases that address the issue of home schooling are summarized in this report. Organized chronologically, each case description includes quoted material from the court ruling. Issues involve parent actions regarding compulsory student enrollment, parent qualifications for home teaching, student certification, church-state separation, constitutional…

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 digest highlights some of the findings of the largest study of home schooling conducted to date (L. Rudner, 1999). For this study, 20,760 students in 11,930 families provided useable questionnaires and corresponding achievement test data. Home schooling parents had more formal education than parents in the general population, and many had…

Examines state laws and the actions of various courts on home instruction and unauthorized educational programs. Suggests reforming the regulation of private education through legislative action that requires periodic testing as an alternative to compulsory school attendance. (Author/MLF)

Argues that the home-schooling movement enables teachers, parents, and children to step outside the traditional concept of education and discover how it is possible to teach and learn in various nontraditional ways. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

This article discusses home schooling for gifted children and describes the most common teaching strategies or pedagogical approaches that home schoolers have successfully used, including: classical, lifestyle of learning, schooling at home, structured/mastery learning, unit studies, unschooling, worldview, and curriculum-based. The benefits of…

This review of literature compares schooling at home and in school. After definitions of home schooling and conventional schooling are supplied, general characteristics of home schools are delineated. Discussion subsequently focuses on the outcomes of home schooling. With respect to cognitive outcomes, the evidence suggests that youth educated in…

Because rural communities have different needs and resources from those found in urban settings, nontraditional education programs provide alternatives to those features of modern mass education that respond primarily to urban needs. This digest looks at a few nontraditional programs and strategies, the problems to which they respond, and the…

This study of the characteristics of home schooling is based on returned questionnaires of 37 questions each, mailed to a random sample of 416 drawn from 6,850 families listed in the Bob Jones University Press home school mailing list. The 253 returned questionnaires, representing a 62% reponse, provided data on the characteristics of these…

This publication is the first in a series of reports that examine policy issues in education. It looks at the four major forms of school choice--charter schools, open enrollment, home schooling, and vouchers--and how they are changing the landscape of public education. School choice is one of the fastest-growing innovations in public education,…

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…

Discusses various aspects of home schooling, including reasons that parents choose home schooling, two major schools of thought on home education, historical perspectives, and legal issues. The role of the public library is examined and some services offered to home schoolers are described. A bibliography of books for parents is provided. (10…

Technology is making home schooling easier on parents as well as more interesting for students. In addition to taking classes online, home-schooled children are researching projects on the Internet and communicating with other home schoolers. (MLF)