Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

Educational Innovation: Homeschooling

Anitra Palmer and Leanne Rohrbaugh
Loyola University Maryland

Homeschooling and Its History

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

Homeschool education has been in existence since the early eighteenth century. There
was a time when it was the only form of education available for children of high socioeconomic
status. It grew into a choice for parents who wanted to incorporate religious learning into the
academics of their childs education. Today, homeschool education has grown into a worthy
alternative to public education. It is currently used as an alternative where children can have a
safe and healthy learning environment, a place where children who are gifted and talented can be
adequately pushed instead of looked over, and where children can have a flexible one-to-one
education going in the direction and interest of the parent and child instead of the government
and school system (Jamaludin, Alias, & DeWitt, 2015).
The history of homeschooling is split into three parts. The first part occurred before the
formation of traditional schooling as it is known today. In this time period (prior to 1850),
homeschooling was the norm and widely accepted. The second stage occurred between 1850
and 1918. At this time, traditional school was in its early beginnings, but it was the law of the
land. There was a shift in beliefs. Experts believed it was no longer appropriate, nor effective, for
parents to educate their children. At the same time, parents believed that the government was
intervening in their influence, beliefs, and choice. There was much contention between the
parents and government over who could teach children best. Though in the minority, homeschool
education continued. The last stage includes modern times. This final stage began between the
1960s and 1980s. During this time, homeschooling proponents broke off into two different
groups. One group supported homeschool education because it gave parents complete control
over their childrens education along with making education more involved in the real world. The
other group supported homeschool education because it allowed religious beliefs to be taught
along with academic subjects. Parents could instruct their students on their familys belief system

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

and enable it to continue into the future (Murphy, 2013). Currently, these reasons are just part of
a long list of why parents have opted to homeschool their children.
Positive and Negative Critiques of Homeschooling
There have been positive and negative critiques toward homeschool education. One
positive critique is that homeschool students perform higher academically than students in
traditional schools. Lubienski, Puckett, and Brewer draw on information the Home School Legal
Defense Association presents, which states, On average, homeschool students in grades 14
perform one grade level higher than their public and private school counterparts, and, By grade
8, the average homeschool student performs four grade levels above the national average
(Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013, p. 380). Another positive critique is money. It is cheaper to
educate a homeschool student than a traditional school student. It costs $546 per student per
year for a homeschool education, while public schools have spent $9,963 per student during
the 2009 school year (Lubienski et al., 2013, p. 382). The third positive critique pertains to
government regulation of education and how it is unnecessary when homeschool education is
being implemented. Regulation in terms of the certification of parents and state mandated
certification requirements only intrude upon homeschooling, as its freedom is what is claimed
to make it work (Lubienski et al., 2013, 382).
Along with the positive critiques are negative ones. One negative critique of homeschool
education is that it is an ineffective way of educating students. Research has yet to find a direct
correlation between homeschool education and higher achievement specifically. Lubienski et al.
state, ... although there may be a correlation between the act of homeschooling and higher
academic outcomes, researchers and advocates have yet to demonstrate a causal relationship
between these two factors (2013, p. 383). A second negative critique is how, in actuality,

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

homeschool education will not save the government any money. The simple loss of a student or
two from a school will not reduce the amount of money the government is spending on students
in a public school system, as the general population of the student body will still be there, along
with the staff and administration. For any difference to be made regarding the amount of money
spent, there would need to be a significant number of families deciding to homeschool their
children before staffing and funding would be reduced (Lubienski et al., 2013). A final negative
critique is the lack of accountability for students in homeschooling. Lubienski et al. point out that
as recent and current proposals aim to accelerate the trend of deregulation within homeschool
education, they are doing so ... by removing the requirement that parents educating their
children at home have a teacher certification or even a college degree, and restricting state
oversight of homeschooling, as with the reduction or eradication of mandatory testing for
homeschooled children (2013, p. 387). Naturally, this can make it very challenging to determine
the true effectiveness of homeschooling itself (without additional factors such as family support
that would positively influence the education of a student in any school setting).
Worthiness of This Change
When it comes to the worthiness of homeschooling, this is easier said than done to
assess. It also depends on the perspective/viewpoint one is taking. For instance, coming from a
parent who is considering homeschooling or currently homeschools, there are various reasons
behind homeschooling that would make it a worthy innovation. These reasons include (but are
certainly not limited to): the desire for a more personalized curriculum, the desire to include
certain values within teaching, the idea that the parent can be a better teacher for his/her child
than the public or private school system, and simple disagreement with the public and/or private
school system in general (Lubienski et al., 2013). So a parent who feels strongly regarding one or

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

more of the reasons listed would see homeschooling as something that is quite worthy to him/her
when it comes to the education of his/her child.
In addition to parents themselves, there are many organizations that promote
homeschooling and are avid proponents of it. The Christian Home Association of California,
Home School Legal Defense Association, and Heritage Foundation are some of the stand-out
organizations that encourage homeschooling by presenting data that show the greater academic
success seen by students who are homeschooled as opposed to those who are not (Lubienski et
al., 2013). (Home School Legal Defense Associations points on students higher performance in
grades 1-4 and grade 8 were shared earlier.) In an article titled, Are Homeschoolers Prepared for
College Calculus? (2015), Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, and Sadler conducted a study on the
performance of college students enrolled in tertiary calculus while noting factors such as the type
of high school attended, race, home language, parent education, home support, and SAT math
scores. The study did find that students who were homeschooled did earn significantly
higher final grades (Means: 87.2 out of 100) than students who attended all other school types
(Means ranged from 78.9-82.3 out of 100) (Wilkens et al., 2015, p. 44). While this data
certainly adds to the organizations in favor of homeschooling in proving the worth of such an
innovation, the authors of this study and Lubienski et al. point out how there is not enough
scientific evidence behind these studies to actually prove the effectiveness of homeschooling.
This is because the studies were not able to prove that factors such as socioeconomic status and
parent education (which would help students attending any school type) were not influential in
these results (as opposed to the process of homeschooling itself) (Wilkens et al., 2015 &
Lubienski et al., 2013). Thus, for organizations that are pushing homeschool education and
parents that prefer this independent option, homeschooling is seen as a very worthy innovation.

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

However, for those invested in other types of schooling, it can easily be seen as less worthy (if
worthy at all).
The Planning and Implementation of Homeschooling and Its Continuation
The early groups promoting the idea of homeschooling were the liberal left and the
Christian right in the time period of the 1960s to 1970s. The central focus with these groups
was that of parental choice in their childrens education, which continues to be a main factor in
pushing the movement forward today. As mentioned in the first section (above), the liberal left
viewed homeschooling as part of a more comprehensive worldview, while the Christian
right viewed it as a part of a commitment to life as religious persons (Murphy, 2013, p. 389).
Overall, both groups felt the public school system harmed children, and their frustration with this
fueled their endorsement of homeschooling.
Over the years, homeschooling has continued to grow and come out into the light. In
the early years Murphy points out, The educational establishment and many mainstream
educators viewed the movement with skepticism if not outright hostility, and at first it was
illegal to homeschool a student in most states; now it is legal in all 50 states (2013, p. 342). As
support for this innovation has grown, the National Center for Education Statistics showed an
increase in homeschooled students from 1.1 million students in 2003 to 1.5 million in 2008.
The National Home Education Research Institute showed about more than 2 million
homeschooled students in 2010 (Lubienski et al., 2013, p. 379). Similar to the liberal left and
Christian right groups, Lubienski et al. points out that providing religious or moral
instruction is the main motivating factor for homeschooling families (2013, p. 379). Of course
there are additional reasons for families to homeschool that numerous organizations support and
encourage (mentioned earlier), but this remains a prominent one. While homeschooling is still

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

viewed with controversy, as it continues to grow it is interesting to note that the main reason
families gravitate to homeschooling is essentially along the same lines as the reasoning for its
support in the first place.
Alternative Change Strategies and Approaches
For homeschool education to continue to grow successfully, perhaps community/district
groups could form to offer support for those in the area who are involved in homeschooling. This
would provide a way for everyone to be on a similar page and have access to additional
resources to better students education. Strategies for teaching certain subjects and/or concepts
could be shown to parents in need of such support. Tutoring sessions could also be held for
students who are struggling with something that parents struggle with themselves. Additionally,
these gatherings could be a way to socialize homeschooled students. External projects, such as
community service, could also be planned to broaden students educational experiences.
Finally, although many organizations that are proponents of homeschooling are pushing
not to be controlled by government regulations, taking a standardized test such as the SAT is
essential if a student is planning on going to college. With this in mind, organized meetings
based on the community/district groups discussed above could be held to help prepare students
for the test. They could form a study group to learn more about the test itself and prepare for it
together.
Ultimately, this approach to homeschooling would be a way to put more resources and
support in place for those who would want it. Though it would not be the best idea to make such
community/district groups mandatory, as this would take away from the desired free-form
structure of homeschool education, it would be an open invitation for those involved to gather
and form an organization of their schooling based on how they see fit.

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

References
Christian P. Wilkens, Carol H. Wade, Gerhard Sonnert & Philip M. Sadler (2015). Are
Homeschoolers Prepared for College Calculus?, Journal of School Choice, 9:1, 30-48,
DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2015.998963
Christopher Lubienski, Tiffany Puckett & T. Jameson Brewer (2013). Does Homeschooling
Work? A Critique of the Empirical Claims and Agenda of Advocacy Organizations,
Peabody Journal of Education, 88:3, 378-392, DOI: 10.1080/0161956X.2013.798516
Khairul, A. J., ALIAS, N., & DEWITT, D. (2015). Research and trends in the studies of
homeschooling practices: A review on selected journals. TOJET : The Turkish Online
Journal of Educational Technology, 14(3) Retrieved from
http://ezp.lndlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/

Running head: HOMESCHOOLING

1728238520?accountid=12164
Murphy, J. (2013). RIDING HISTORY: The organizational development of homeschooling in
the U.S. American Educational History Journal, 40(1), 335-354. Retrieved from
http://ezp.lndlibrary.org/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/docview/1449497153?accountid=12164