Historical and Contemporary Perspectives of Homeschooling

Homeschooling in America According to Gretchen M. Wilhelm and Michael W. Firmin, in their article Historical and Contemporary Developments, the Department of Education found that over 1,700,000 students are homeschooled. That’s 3.4 percent of all school age children (304). Homeschooling is defined as an education that contains less than twenty five hours of public school teaching each week and is based out of a household. The earliest forms of education were originally taught from home, then later developed into public schools (Wilhelm and Firmin). Homeschooling not only affects the students taught, but also fellow Americans in the race to advance a nation. Homeschooling needs to be understood in order to revise education into a better and

Instead of sitting through educational lectures in a brick and mortar institution, students have a voice in what they learn, when they learn it and where it is learned. Parents may have students choose material at the library or use computer programs to deliver academic material. Depending on the curriculum and teaching method, location can factor little in a student 's ability to accomplish school. Access to the internet may be a stipulation that denies certain locations for curricular use, depending upon the teaching methods. Libraries, parks, hikes, etc, can all be considered learning environments for students. The ability to move around can be a major factor in some homeschooled families teaching methods. Using active experiences to teach students, parents expose their children to hands on learning. Some parents hold to the belief that students learn better when the students enjoy learning and teach themselves

In early America, schooling was taught in the home by either a parent or educated tutor. Public schools did not exist in America until the middle of the 1800s, leaving families to educate the children within the home. When public schools were formed, they were primarily church based and focused on doctrine more than academics. It wasn’t until the 1870s that public schools became more government supported academic institutions. More and more, public schools became popular. However, some parents still homeschooled their children for various reasons. Many of America’s presidents have been homeschooled, such as Washington, Adams, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Even Thomas Edison and Mark Twain were homeschooled. In the 1960s, homeschooling was on the rise of popularity in the groups of New Age philosophers, ex-hippies, and homesteaders. It wasn’t until 1993 that homeschooling became legal in all fifty states. Before then, many families suffered hardship from the states that enforced public school attendance (Wilhelm and Firmin