Virtual Charter Schools and Home Schooling By Carol Klein

Home schooling

A social movement of sizable proportion has been gaining momentum over the last few decades in this country and abroad. It has served as a voice and vehicle for those seeking an alternative to public edu-cation. Though born of small numbers, this movement has swelled to include approximately two million youngsters who receive the majority of their education within the home rather than solely from a state funded or private learning institution. In fact, the 2005–2006 school year revealed an estimated total of 1.9–2.4 million students in the United States (Ray, 2006).

Definition

There are various definitions of home schooling in the literature, but the following captures the essence of their meanings. Russell (1994) saw home schooling as occurring when “75% or more of what the family considers to be schooling is provided by or conducted under the supervi-sion of the parent(s)” (p. 2). Lines (1991) viewed it as instruction and learning that take place primarily at home in a family setting with a parent acting as teacher or facilitator of activities. Activities may be planned or not, but learning involves pupils who are family members doing grade K-12 work.

Background

According to Ray (2002), the home school movement that we are now witnessing grew out of an alternative school movement in the 1960s and 1970s. It was also reinforced in the 1980s and 1990s by a public perception that government schools were on a downward spiral (Hetzel, 1998), through reports such as “A Nation at Risk,” the decline of Stan-dardized Achievement Test (SAT) scores, international comparisons, and safety concerns.