Homeschooling
The history of the origin of Homeschooling
Mar
Homeschooling is a type of education where children or students can study from the comfort of their homes. Homeschooling, also commonly known as home education in the United Kingdom and London, is supervised by the parents or guardians and sometimes even tutors employed by the parents.
Table of Contents
How did it begin?
Homeschooling was first introduced in the 1970s by an educational reformist known as John Holt. He resurfaced this educational program because he felt that the regular formal education system was a form of oppression and preparing students for compliant employee jobs, which he did not approve of at that time.
What John Holt stands for?
John Holt was for the idea that Homeschooling will bring out or, in other words, will make students understand their interests better than they would if they were in a traditional education system. However, not every parent agreed to what John Holt wanted because drastic measures had to be taken due to the contradiction between his introduction to Homeschooling and formal education hence the introduction of compulsory education attendance laws in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Homeschooling in its infancy stage was for religious reasons. However, Moore, another homeschooling advocate, felt that while Homeschooling would be best for imparting religious morals on children, public schools did not put these considerations into action. For this reason, legal action was taken to make Homeschooling acceptable in western society.
Homeschool Legal Defence Association (HSLDA)
A homeschool parent and attorney, Michael Farris, founded an association, home school legal defence association (HSLDA), in 1983. HSLDA aimed to create a religious and social vision where children would be homeschooled by their parents to enter the government, education, and entertainment industries to transform the US into a nation based on Christian beliefs.
However, as time progressed, parents started homeschooling their children based on personal reasons and not reasons that Michael Farris and other influential homeschooling leaders had made them believe.
Early homeschooling advocates like John Holt felt strongly that traditional schools did not bring each student’s talents. Instead, everyone followed a specific curriculum bringing out synonymity in the students rather than their unique talents and skills that Homeschooling could offer.
Why did Homeschooling begin?
Formal education meant that children stayed away from home for at least 8 hours a day. For this reason, children could not spend the time they wanted with their parents. Therefore, the beginning of Homeschooling ensured that parents spent enough quality time with their children while monitoring their schoolwork.
A social movement of parents started, and parents began taking action on this idea. Their primary focus was to show that students’ schooling was instead a parent’s job but not the government as traditional schools tend to put it.
On the other hand, Homeschooling does not use a different curriculum than most students in the state schools. Parents found it more convenient to have their children study in a less oppressive environment since they felt that what was taught in a traditional school could also be conducted at home.
According to Holt, the advocate of Homeschooling, the school curriculum had to fit the students’ interests and not the other way around. Formal education did not personalise learning based on each child’s interests.
Raymond Moore fully supported Holt’s idea. However, he insisted that formal education made students start school early before they were mature enough to contemplate the concept of school and education.
On the other hand, Homeschooling allowed students to start school as soon as they were old enough to begin school.
Another reason that caused the introduction of Homeschooling was that other parents were not satisfied with the local school’s education system and considered it “oppressive”. Parents wanted to monitor their children’s learning programs to increase their involvement in their child’s development. Homeschooling was more engaging and lively since parents did not pressure children to follow specific “unnecessary” rules. Moore said that Homeschooling created a strong bond between the parents and their children that would not have otherwise happened had the children been in public schools.
Parents preferred Homeschooling because children could quickly bring out their hidden interests and talents if they were around their parents and not in a formal school setting; they were not 100% comfortable.
Home education was a good alternative for special needs parents who were afraid that their children would not comfortably learn in public schools. Racism had become quite the problem in public schools forcing guardians to home school their children to stay away from bullies and other children who, according to them, would be a threat to the safety of their children.
Due to the influence of technology in the learning system, home education developed cyber schooling that enabled even the poor kids to acquire a more attainable learning program without going to expensive state schools.
Most parents in the western world now opt to homeschool their children. According to studies conducted, Homeschooling is quickly rising and might override public school education soon.
Will Homeschooling override regular school education?
It is encouraging to see Homeschooling is growing and becoming more accepted among the black community.
I came across this interesting article written by Lance Izumi titled “Homeschooling will boom long after covid-19“, a senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute. He is the author of the new book “The Homeschool Boom: Pandemic, Policies, and Possibilities.“
Click this article to learn more about getting started with Homeschooling, or download our FREE EBOOK to help you on your homeschool journey!
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