Study Affairs and Homeschooling as a Solution

By Kate John

Home education was the natural form of instruction until the first schools were formed a few centuries ago. Public schools became common during the industrial era. However, home education regained popularity in the early 1980s in the US, where it is called homeschooling. Home education is a legal option for parents who want to teach their children in a different learning environment than what exists in nearby schools. Many of these families make this choice religiously.

Homeschooling is for Self-Sufficient Parents 

Home education is a phenomenon that has always existed, being the only form of intellectual instruction in the past. Homeschooling, or homeschool, is the process by which the education of children is sought exclusively in the context of the family home or slightly wider circles (neighborhoods etc.), but in any case out of both public and private institutions. There are several reasons for homeschooling, which typically have as a main motivation the development of an innovative form of learning outside the paradigms of traditional school.

Traditional Schooling is Replaced

In many places home education replaces the traditional study routines that exist in nearby schools. Some families choose homeschooling because of their religion. Others do not like schools in their area or they keep their children away due to the institutional effect of the school, mainly due to the training of a child to be useful for the labor system. It is also an alternative for families living in isolated rural areas and it is they who decide, for personal reasons or practices not to take the kids to school.

Early Modern Homeschooling

In the early 1970s, the premises and efficacy of compulsory education was questioned in books such as Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, and No More Public School by Harold Bennet. These ideas resonated with school reformer John Caldwell Holt who wrote in 1976, Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better. After the publication of the book, Holt was contacted by families from across the US who had made the decision to educate their children at home. Thereafter, Holt began publishing a magazine dedicated to homeschooling called Growing Without Schooling.

Homeschooling Today

Since the 1980s, homeschooling has been the fastest-growing form of education in the US. The number of homeschoolers increased exponentially in the 1990s – from 250,000 in 1995 up to one million in the year 2000. Homeschooling continued to rise over the last two decades, becoming one of the top educational trends in the early 2000’s. Today there are around 2 million homeschoolers in the US. This data suggests that the factory model of public schools is no longer the most effective means of study affairs in the 21st century.

Author Bio: Kate John is a Project Manager in a UK-based writing firm which provides essay writing service to students. Kate John completed her masters in social welfare and society, and writes from her experience and facts on professional affairs.

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