The proposed study consists of comparative research conducted to examine for achievement differences between students who attend public school and students who are schooled at home. So that the proposed research may be viewed within the context of the existing knowledge base, this chapter of the proposal reviews the home schooling literature.
The presented review is divided into four sections. The first section examines the literature on the underlying reasons and motives for making the choice to home school children. The second section of the review examines the literature on the characteristics of home schooling families.
The third section of the review explores the research related to the educational outcomes of home schoolers. And, the fourth and final section of the literature review presents a series of conclusions about home schooling formulated on the basis of the examined literature.
Underlying Reasons and Motives For Home Schooling
Home schooling or home educating children has been a practice for many years (Taylor, 1997). Children were taught at home before public schools were even in existence.
When public schools were formed in the mid-nineteenth century, views about informal and home-based education began to change, the thinking being that public institutions were more capable of effectively teaching children (Taylor, 1997). Thus, between 1850 and 1970, most children were not educated at home by their parents (Taylor, 1997).
However, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, home education once again began to emerge as an alternative to public schooling. It is currently estimated that between 600,000 and 1.4 million children are being home schooled in the United States and that this figure will rise substantially by the turn of the millennium (Home School Legal Defense Fund, 1998) said to represent an increase in home schooling of about 15 percent every year.
Regarding the specifics of th...