Presents the story of how institutionalized racism prompted one African American couple to home school their three sons, who 10 years later, found themselves at Ivy League schools. The move to home schooling came after the boys were expelled from a mostly white, private school for what the parents insisted were racial reasons, asserting that skin…

Public schools and home-school advocates have moved closer in tolerance. All 50 states now allow some kind of home schooling. Four states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Iowa) allow home-schooled children to take part in public school extracurricular activities. One California district provides funds to home-schooling families to purchase…

Home school is evolving and gaining popularity in the United States. This paper describes different methods of home schooling, presents various home schooling resources that are available, and discusses the relationships between home schooling families and public schools, noting that a relationship between schools and home schools could be…

Opportunities for school choice in the United States have expanded since the 1990s. This report uses data from the National Household Surveys Program (NHES) to present trends that focus on the use of and users of public schools (assigned and chosen), private schools (church-and nonchurch-related), and homeschoolers between 1993 and 2003. The…

This report analyzes the reasons why parents in Minnesota choose to homeschool their children. The survey, on which the report is based, is part of a larger study examining each of the types of school-choice options available in Minnesota. Three research questions guided the survey: What are the demographic characteristics of families who choose…

Identifies some reasons why public schools will never be for everyone, considering how the tenacity of the public school image makes change difficult for public schools. Examines how the relationship between public school officials and home schoolers might be mediated in a way that benefits both groups of educators. (Author/SM)

Reports on a survey of parental opinions and attitudes toward schooling among 40 rural and small-town New Mexico families, all Anglo, involved in home schooling. Concludes that these parents were not greatly dissatisfied with public education, but mainly sought to shelter their children from the negative influences of other children and society.…

Parents applying for home schooling should be informed about such matters as curriculum options, testing procedures, teaching qualifications, and opportunities for socialization. Home-schooled children should be allowed to participate in as many of the regular school offerings as schools can legitimately accommodate. Provides statistics about home…

Since 1982, 34 states have changed their laws or regulations to make it easier for parents to teach their children at home. As the wave of home schooling grows, school administrators can do much to establish a climate of mutual respect, benefit, and cooperation. (MLF)

This document provides an overview of home schooling in the United States that sets the context for a discussion of state regulation of home-schooling parents. The focus is on the nature and variety of statutes and regulations regarding home-schooling. The use of parents as teachers is discussed. Several generalizations concerning major…

Noting that the single best way to improve elementary education is to strengthen parents' role in it, this book describes aspects of parent-school interaction that could be used to improve the quality of children's education and academic success. The first chapter defines the ineffective ways in which most parents respond to public education and…

This paper presents selected results of some initial attempts to describe and understand the home school phenomenon. Two types of research activities investigating the nature of family curricula are reviewed: (1) informal descriptions of home schools and their participants' reflections as already published, and (2) several case studies of families…

Increasing numbers of children are meeting state compulsory education requirements at home rather than at school. Although home instruction was once the mainstay of frontier American education, some educators now regard the practice as suspect. This paper hopes to reconcile opposing views by examining home schooling, including numbers of children,…

Summarizes four formal studies that measured the academic achievement of home-schooled students. Concludes that the home-schooled student is not necessarily academically disadvantaged. Asserts that public school administrators should assist home-schooling parents with curricular materials, library usage, testing, and extracurricular involvements.…

A resource document released by the National Association of State Boards of Education recommends standardizing the criteria for approving home instruction and shoring up progress reporting and evaluation procedures. These recommendations have implications for the ways local districts locate and monitor home instruction. (MLF)