The controversy over whether parents should have the right to determine in detail the type and scope of their children's education harks back to colonial times and has been manifested more recently in court cases considering home instruction in lieu of public school attendance. This first chapter of a book on school law objectively examines both…

John Naisbitt's "Megatrends" has implications for schools. Since most jobs require information processing, schools should teach students to operate computers, and develop their critical thinking, literate, numeric, and interpersonal skills. Administrators, as facilitators, should employ planning processes which include staff, students…

Progress on school choice in the statehouse and courtroom during 2002 set the stage for ambitious 2003 legislative agendas in many states and the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that voucher programs do not violate the Constitution, even when participating schools are overwhelmingly religious. Research supporting choice has grown…

Home schooling is the formal instruction of children in the home instead of the school. This pathfinder guides readers to useful sources of information about home schooling, and is intended for any public library setting. The resources have been evaluated and chosen to answer basic questions and to serve as entry points into the greater body of…

This paper examines the American tradition of educational freedom, following its ebb and flow at various points in history. America's ethos of educational freedom has always been strong, tied to its values of pluralism, tolerance, and free inquiry. However, its legacy of freedom has suffered repeated assaults by individuals and groups who wish to…

Homeschooling, one of the fastest growing educational alternatives, is enjoying increasing respect from educators and parents alike. This is partly because homeschooling children score as well and often better on standardized tests than their publicly schooled counterparts. However, the vast majority of homeschooled students come from the…

Learning environments have an impact on acquiring skills in reading as well as developing positive attitudes toward reading. Another variable that affects attitudes and aptitude toward reading is the "climate" or "environment" in which children learn their skills. This paper concentrates on the phenomenon that is reaching epic proportions in the…

Place-based education, which draws from local culture, history, and geography to create a meaningful curriculum, holds particular promise for rural homeschooling. Following a brief review of the homeschooling phenomenon, this digest identifies ways that rural place-based education can counter common concerns about homeschooling. In 1999 about 1.7…

This paper reports on a study that examines legal and policy issues surrounding access to public-school extracurricular activities for home-school students. Chapter 1, "The Problem and Its Background," reviews such relevant issues as the history of choice in America and Illinois, legal foundations, regulatory disparities, research…

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,"…

In "State v. Riddle," the West Virginia Supreme Court held illegal a family's religion-based home instruction of its children because, among other reasons, the family was not part of a self-sufficient religious community and had not followed state procedures on home schooling. Tells how to use legal citations. (RW)

Parents who are considering homeschooling their children should examine whether they are willing to engage in child-led learning, possess genuine humility and compassion, have the inner security to teach others freely, are themselves willing to learn, and possess patience. Discusses the rationale for and implications of homeschooling. (LP)

The author discusses how she learned to accept the differences in approaches to living and learning among herself, her mother, and her daughters. She achieved this by drawing on her own learning experiences, spirituality, and experience in teaching her adopted Native American daughter to read. (LP)

The academic success of home schooling has been repeatedly documented. There are now 1.23 million children being home schooled in the United States Home schoolers have been a key part of the coalition fighting nationalized testing. They have also been disproportionately subject to child abuse investigations by social workers. As a result, they…

Discusses philosophical arguments relevant to the question of teaching creationism, especially with regard to developments in the debate since the early 1990s. Considers what the relevant differences for the policy question for private, public schools, and home schoolers are. Discusses the main legal arguments that have ruled in the case of public…