Virtual Charter Schools and Home Schooling By Carol Klein

Though sources may have presented a somewhat exaggerated picture of the state of American education, the reaction of some parents was to withdraw from the public school system hoping that the home could provide a superior environment. Hetzel et al . (2001) found that the 332 parents who responded to their survey believed that their children receive “better instruction in morals, values, and academics, in a safer environment if they are home schooled.”

Characteristics of home schooling parents

What are some of the characteristics of this particular population? Some studies have indicated that home educators are a diverse group of individuals characterized by various educational, philosophical, and religious backgrounds (Barfield, 2002; Stevens, 2001). However, Mayberry, Knowles, Ray, and Marlow (1995) found certain trends to be identifiable in the home schooling sample they studied. First, they found it to be generally a “white, middle-class movement, chosen pri-marily by relatively young parents living in traditional nuclear fam-ilies” (p. 43). These parents also tended to be well-educated, with the fathers often employed in jobs with flexible hours. Next, with many of these parent educators, religious and spiritual convictions were found to be a prominent feature of their daily lives that directly affected their decision to home school. Third, this group was found to be politically conservative and associated with the Republican Party for the most part. Finally, these parents have had “little confidence in a wide spectrum of social institutions, including those commonly perceived to be con-servative in nature” (p. 43). In spite of these trends, Mayberry et al. stressed that the movement is by no means monolithic.

While some families use a very structured pedagogy for teaching their children, others embrace a more relaxed style of learning. Some children may start the day with breakfast and then get right to studies, which consist of a series of sequential workbooks, whereas others do chores first (e.g., feeding chickens and livestock), then participate in conversa-tion that lingers around the breakfast table, and finally shift gradually to a minimally-planned reading of novels, writing letters to grandparents, and the practicing of phonics (Ray, 1999). Though a variety of structures may be employed, studies reveal that students in these environments are thriving (Medlin, 2000; Rudner, 1999; Taylor, 1986).