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Education, Engineering and Enlightenment; The Three E’s. State and Home Education Contrasted

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We are a family of ten, with children ranging in age from one to fourteen, and have been home educating for over three years. I am a biologist, my wife has a diploma in graphic art and design. Our reasons for starting to home educate were varied, but chief amongst them was the awareness that with a large family (at that time we had seven children) the logistics of traveling and being involved in school life were tearing our family structure apart. Also, we were less than happy with the state options open to our oldest daughter for secondary schooling in our area, and deciding that one out all out was the best for our family, we took the plunge. We did not have any major complaints against the primary school from which we withdrew three of our children—in fact I was and still am a Governor of that school. I suspect that this involvement was useful in overcoming the initial reservations of the Local Education Authority advisors/inspectors, with whom we have been quite open and have a good relationship—that is, we have (or are meant to have) two visits a year (one for our primary and one for our secondary age children). They have generally been positive in attitude and the children are quite pleased to receive the attention and interest of an outsider in their work. My governorship also provides me with a view into current state educational practice and policy, and has also been useful in obtaining access to catalogues of curricular materials.

Graham N. Like, Volume 14, No. 4, 2001, p. 13-23
 

 
 

Factors That Influence Parents to Homeschool in Southern California

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It is the purpose of this study to identify specific factors that drive parents out of the traditional school setting and attractive features that pull parents into the homeschool setting within the Southern California urban community. This study will identify: (a) demographic characteristics of those who homeschool in Southern California, (b) negative features which push families out of the traditional school setting, (c) attractive features that pull parents into the homeschool setting, and (d) implications of family income on the decision to homeschool.
June Hetzel, Michael Long, & Michelle Jackson, Volume 14, No. 4, 2001, p. 1-11
 

 
 

Getting Inside Families: Exploring a Case Study Research Issue in Homeschooling

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Educating children at home rather than at school is regarded by those who practice it as a quiet revolution amidst the storm of educational change battering schools. This paper maps a methodological journey from initial contacts with two families, interviews with them which led to a small-scale study proposal, then faltering steps into fieldwork guided by a desire to learn more about their homeschooling experiences and in particular how their parent-child relationship affected learning.
Stephen Peter Goymer, Volume 14, No. 3, 2000, p. 11-18
 

 
 

Self-Esteem and Home Schooling Socialization Research: A Work in Progress

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Challenges current thinking about the influence of self-esteem in home and conventional schools, presents problems with self-esteem as a measure of appropriate socialization by examining the history of this construct, reviewing empirical research on the subject, and noting the methodological concerns that accompany the use of this construct in research, and reviews the use of self-esteem within the home schooling literature
David J. Francis, Psy.D., and Timothy Z. Keith, Ph.D., Volume 14, No. 3, 2000, p. 1-9
 

 
 

Home Education, Information, and Communication Technology and the Search for a New Paradigm in Education

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Steve Richards, M.S. (London), B.Ed. (hons), Wales Director,…

Socialization and Home Educated Children: An Exploratory Study

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"Examines views of homeschool parents who participated in a focus group. Attempts to extend the current research knowledge by examining how homeschooling parents view socialization. No attempt was made to define socialization, as commonly understood by laypersons or researchers, for the participants. Attempst to fuel further conversation about socialization as it applies, or does not apply, to educating children at home.

 

 

Bryan G. Miller, M.A.R., Volume 14, No. 2, 2000, p. 7-14

 

 

 

 

Academic Intrinsic Motivation in Homeschooled Children

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"Analyzes academic intrinsic motivation in homeschooled children. Measures intrinsic interest in learning in children from three different educational settings: homeschools, a public school using grades for student evaluation, and a public school using portfolio assessment instead of grades. Also, homeschooled children’s academic achievement was tested and their parents’ attitudes and teaching practices were recorded to see what relationship these factors might have to academic intrinsic motivation.

 

 

Richard G. Medlin, Ph.D., and Robin E. Blackmer, Volume 14, No. 2, 2000, p. 1-6

 

 

The Homeschool Movement in the Postmodern Age

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Analyze the homeschool movement by grounding it in the social movement literature, particularly that which focuses on “new social movements,” and by highlighting the recent global social and cultural changes that have occurred as developed societies have been transformed from industrial to information societies, and their cultures from modern to postmodern ones. Argues that these changes are in large part responsible for the appearance, growth, and persistence of the homeschool movement in the late twentieth century. Includes information from interviewing and interacting with homeschooling families who are members of two homeschool support groups, with dozens of homeschoolers attending several homeschool conventions and activities, and with over a hundred homeschoolers across the nation via the Internet.

 

 

Gary Wyatt, Ph.D., Volume 13, No. 4, 1999, p. 23-30

 

 

The Perceived Impact of Home Schooling on the Family in General and the Mother-Teacher in Particular

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Uses quantitavie methods (in this part 1 of the study) to determine the perceptions of the mother-teacher in home schooling families as to the impact of the home schooling process on the family in general, and on the mother-teacher in particular (i.e., its effect on the roles and attending responsibilities of mother, teacher, wife, and individual).

 

 

Susan A. McDowell, Ed.D., Volume 13, No. 4, 1999, p. 1-21

 

 

An An Analysis of Print Media Coverage of Homeschooling: 1985-1996

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The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the press, specifically the print media, upon the public’s perception of homeschooling.

 

Isabel Faith Lyman, Ph.D., Volume 13, No. 3, 1999, p. 11-14