The following information is designed to give families interested in teaching their children at home confidence and a better understanding of this successful alternative to school based education. All the information has been drawn from research into home education on three continents. The information in this article can be reproduced in pamphlet form for distribution.

Reasons For Choosing Home Education

Since the 1970's home education has grown as a popular movement, and like all such phenomena, has attracted research in an attempt to understand, not only why families turn their back on institutionalised education, but also what long term effects may occur for those families and the implications for society as a whole.

Drawing from several studies the following reasons for parents choosing home education emerge (not listed in any order or priority):

* a marked lack of confidence in state related institutions overall, with a tendency toward conservative view points

* lack of influence in setting school agendas and determining curriculum opposition to the ideological content of school programs and/or methodology used conflicting value orientations of home and schools

* individualised attention for children with special needs (gifted and talented and specific learning problems)

* focus on perceived gains in social development from home education, with a strong focus on family unity and relationships

* concern with declining academic standards perceived lack of availability of educational programs to suit individual children's learning needs, styles, rates and interests

* avoidance of negative peer influences and damaging socialisation experiences perceived lack of attention in schools to holistic development of children, including spiritual

* strong parental sense of primary responsibility for children's education, with a need to have access to, and some control over, their children's educational experiences as a strong motivating factor.

* offers solutions to present or potential educational problems, sometimes as a result of deterioration of communications and hostile relationships between families and schools

* parents' own educational experiences, or memories of unhappy or unsuccessful personal experiences of schooling

* high cost of alternative and/or private (including correspondence) education lack of availability of choice of schools in local area

* opposition to the competitive nature of schooling, including grading and testing

* perceived gains in autonomous home learning programs, independent study skills and higher student motivation

* the development in parents of a stronger sense of satisfaction with their own lives through directing their children's education

* home education offers a natural learning and socialising environment as opposed to the contrived and artificial environments and learning programs of schools

No doubt there are many more reasons as each family has a unique set of circumstances leading to the decision to home educate. Most families' reasons change over time as the benefits of home education become more apparent.

Characteristics And Outcomes Of Home Education

The following list of characteristics are drawn from research seeking to find a descriptive profile of parents and children engaged in learning at home in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of home education.

* the practice of home education follows closely from the reasons for choosing it and from lifestyle choices

* parents are highly interested in children's personal, social and spiritual development

* both parents are actively involved in home educating their children with the mother as the "teacher' most of the time

* most, though not all, parents have attended or graduated from tertiary education

* learning programs tend to move from formal structured activities to generally more informal, spontaneously generated learning activities with time and experience

* learning programs tend to be flexible and highly individualised with use of home made and purchased curriculum materials home educated students study a wide range of subjects, including conventional school ones

* many families are also interested and involved in home birth, breast feeding, and healthy lifestyle choices

* a variety of religious beliefs are represented among home educating families

Many of the outcomes of home education are unintended ones, and are recognised as welcome bonuses, including:

* closer family relationships, with children playing a more positive and significant role in family life, and an emphasis on family making skills parental personal fulfilment and increased learning opportunities for parents as well as children

* greater understanding of personal responsibility

* natural fostering of co-operative and team behaviours

* an empowering process for both parents and children

* greater freedom from arbitrary time limits such as terms and year levels to pursue educational activities and interests

In addition, clear educational advantage has been cited in research as outcomes of home learning environments:

* increased opportunity for one to one interaction with more skilled peers or parents leads to cognitive challenges and gains

* children are able to ask more questions, with more time allowed for answers to be found, leading to increased motivation for learning

* children and parents engage in more complex language in the home learning environment compared with classroom settings, and this improves the intellectual and language development of children

* children have been consistently shown to rate equal to or higher than average on standardised achievement tests in the USA

* home educated children's self concept has been shown to be significantly higher than schooled children, indicating that home education does not socially deprive children but produces socially well adjusted young people

* children are less peer oriented

* increased involvement in community activities

* greater attainment of independent learning skills, self-motivation and organisational abilities.

Home Education - Practical Considerations

Mention homeschooling to most people and they immediately think of "school at home", with a parent playing the role of teacher and the children behaving as students between nine and four each day. In practice homeschooling is very flexible, offering a different kind of education from that available in school. There are many things to consider when thinking about educating your children at home. Regardless of your reasons, the following list of questions may help prepare you and your family for what can be an enjoyable adventure in education together.

* Are you prepared to spend a lot of time with the children, perhaps all day?

* Do you enjoy their company, doing what they want to,listening to their ideas?

* Do you respect and understand them and their needs?

* Which role do you see yourself best at - educational facilitator, mentor, resource person, co-learner and participant, adviser, friend, parent, teacher?

* Are you comfortable with the other roles? Can you develop them more? Do you know where, and are you prepared, to get help and advice?

* Are you prepared to take up and make the most of learning opportunities when presented, at any time of day? The advantage of the home learning environment is being able to continuously evaluate and plan the learning process for each child, based on their interests and present knowledge and abilities. Continual access to the child allows for increased opportunity to "catch" and extend the learning moment.

* Can you learn to be intuitive to your children's learning needs, to "back off" when necessary, put your "teaching" needs on hold sometimes? This involves recognising and understanding your child's learning needs and also your own perceptions about learning.

* What is your own attitude to learning - do you find it easy, challenging, exciting, enjoyable, interesting, an adventure? Children learn first by example.

* Are you prepared to be flexible, willing to try different approaches, constantly evaluate the educational process, not only of the children, but your own too?

* Do you have confidence in yourself and the children? Can you let them go at their own pace, gently prodding them with positive strokes? You need to develop strategies for building and maintaining confidence and support, both for them and yourself. Rigid timetables, deadlines and grading systems seldom work well with the ebb and flow of a busy family life, and are generally tailored not to the needs of individuals, but to external demands. Do you need them?

* Can you give yourself some time to be yourself, not parent, teacher, or slave to the house-hold chores? Will you be able to satisfy your own interests and needs?

* Are you prepared to spend a long time home educating, perhaps even ten years or more - or as long as you need to? What about careers, finances, babies, etc?

* Can you cope with being different; with opposition from your family, community; or from the authorities? We all need the approval of our peers, and unless you are able to secure a supportive network of friends who applaud your efforts, life may be an uphill battle of wavering confidence in your decision to home educate.

* Do the children want to learn at home? This may sound obvious, but if they don't, home education will not work.

* All children need reassurance they are okay or normal, and access to other children in all kinds of situations and environments.

* Children leaving school need time to adapt, to find the independence and self-motivation needed for successful home learning. They may require time off from formal academic study with lots of informal and experiential based learning. Often children need reassurance that they are keeping up with their peers. They need to be reminded frequently that they are learning, but perhaps different things, in different ways, and at different times to their friends.

It is important to provide a network of caring, supportive and trusted adults outside of the home your child can access at any time when needed. The learning program needs to be tailored to the needs and interests of the children, and based on their personal learning styles.

When a family decides to home school, there is a shift in the focus of family life, as parents become more involved in their children's day to day lives, interests, curiosities and activities. What begins as an adventure in alternative education becomes a deeper and more meaningful adventure in parenting.

Home educating parents are highly motivated individuals who are keenly interested in the education of their children. The vast majority of parents share the belief that the education of children is primarily the responsibility and the right of parents.

Home educating families work together to form supportive networks, catering to the educational and social needs of their members. Regular outings and newsletters are a feature of these networks.

Most homes are suitable learning environments. Ask yourself the following question - Does this house look like a place where learning is happening? Good indicators are book shelves with fiction and reference materials, games, toys, art and craft materials, displays of children's work, adequate and varied writing materials, etc. Does it feel like a place where learning is valued? You don't need to turn a room into a classroom, with desks and so on. Most of your children's activities will happen in the family room where you spend most of your time, or outside in the garden or community! A few well chosen educational texts are all you generally need to buy.

Your entire environment and community are your resources, and as a home educating parent you will use them! Begin with the local library as an extension of your own reference collection. The computer, with educational CDROMS, access to email and Internet, can be useful but are not essential. Many home based learners already belong to community groups (and there are hundreds of different types for all sorts of interests). Begin to consider people and places as resources you can use in your learning programs. There are many educational philosophies and curriculums to be found in libraries - check out 370+ for specific titles on education. Use these for ideas, and to help you develop a greater understanding of the educational process, but don't be overwhelmed. Remember that they have been written for teachers
with classrooms full of children!

Take some time to consider what education is and what it means to you. Education is a lot more than just schooling. Think about what your educational goals for your children are - what sort of people do you want them to be when they are grown up? Write this down - it is your statement of philosophy.

Evaluation is an essential aspect of your home learning program. It allows you to know how your children are learning and progressing. You will need to develop a system of record keeping you can use to help you evaluate. Some families use diaries or journals, others use learning contracts, calendars, check-lists. You can use tests if you want to, but they aren't mandatory. Keeping samples of the children's work is a generally essential.

Your learning program can look very different to those in schools, but generally the subjects most home learning programs cover are: mathematics, English and other languages, environmental studies, society studies (including media, history and geography), the sciences, the arts, technology (not just computers!), health and personal development. How you present learning in these areas is up to you. You can purchase and follow preset sequences in text books, or design your own activities. You can design your own home based learning program to suit your child's individual learning styles and needs.

Social interaction is essential for healthy development in children. Although close interaction with up to thirty children everyday is not required (or perhaps desired), children do need friends around their own age. Home based learning families maintain contact with school based friends, other community social groups such as church, sport or special
interest, and also form homeschooling support networks. If your children have frequent access to a wide range of age groups (including adults), and a couple of close friends they see more often, then this is good.

You don't need to have set times for "study" unless you want to. Most families concentrate on academic work in the morning leaving the afternoons free for the children to carry on with their own projects. Some families concentrate learning on two or three days each week, leaving the rest for other family activities or excursions. It is entirely up to you and your children's learning needs.

Home education is not a new phenomena, neither is it radical. All types of people and families engage in educating their children at home, for all sorts of reasons. The pluralistic nature of home educating families reflects the pluralistic nature of mainstream Australian society.

This is further reflected in the many different approaches to education at home adopted by these families. No one way is right, or necessarily better than any other. The diversity of educational approaches and values is shared among the many home educating families via conferences, newsletters, camps, journals and support networks. These are seen as vital
to informing home educating families of resources and options available, as well as current research developments and results.

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Information in this article came from the following sources:

Getting Started With Home Based Learning - Practical Considerations For Parents of School Aged Children, B Paine (self published)

The Home Education Phenomenon, R Hunter, Griffith University, Qld

Parents Rationales for Operating Home Schools, J Gary Knowles, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol 20, No 2

Homeschools: A Synthesis of Research on Characteristics and learner outcomes, B Ray, Education and Urban Society, Vol 21, No 1

Home Education and the Family, J Peacock, Naturally Learning, Vol 4&5

Home based education effectiveness research and implications, R Meighan, Education Review, Vol47, No3

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A collection of timely and informative articles, essays, and opinion pieces available for free distribution via email and print methods. When reprinting this article please include this notice:

Copyright 1998 by Beverly Paine and the National Home Education Network.
Available for free distribution if this notice is included.