According to some numerous historical and current public figures were home-educated, although Milton Gaither questions whether the term can be applied to figures from the past without committing an anachronism, arguing that
This perspective, while accurately pointing out the anachronistic tendency of older histories of education to interpret the past as simply prolegomena to the public school, commits its own anachronism by reading current conflicts between family and State into the past. It doesn’t often recognize that the modern homeschooling movement is in many ways fundamentally different from earlier efforts to educate children in the home.
What is Homeschooling ?
Homeschooling or homeschool (also called home education or home learning) is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in a formal setting of public or private school. Homeschooling is a legal option in many places for parents to provide their children with a learning environment as an alternative to publicly-provided schools.
Parents cite numerous reasons as motivations to homeschool, including better academic test results, poor public school environment, improved character/morality development, and objections to what is taught locally in public school. Some countries like Countries with the most prevalent home education movements include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. have highly regulated home education programs as an extension of the compulsory school system; others, such as Germany and Brazil, have outlawed it entirely.
Methodology and Curriculum
Homeschools use a wide variety of methods and materials. There are different paradigms, or educational philosophies, that families adopt including unit studies, Classical education (including Trivium, Quadrivium), Charlotte Mason education, Montessori method, Theory of multiple intelligences, Unschooling, Radical Unschooling, Waldorf education, School-at-home, A Thomas Jefferson Education, and many others. Some of these approaches, particularly unit studies, Montessori, and Waldorf, are also available in private or public school settings.
"All-in-one" curricula, sometimes called a "school in a box", are comprehensive packages covering many subjects; usually an entire year's worth. They contain all needed books and materials, including pencils and writing paper. Most such curricula were developed for isolated families who lack access to public schools, libraries and shops. An example of curriculum online can be seen here.
College Admissions and Acceptability
The lack of "formal" records and transcripts (kept by school districts) is rarely a problem for home-schooled students who wish to enter college. Most, if not all, states permit homeschooling parents to issue a high school transcript for their child, and many parents choose to use standardized test scores to aid colleges in evaluating students. The College Board suggests that homeschooled students keep detailed records and portfolios.
The map shows acceptability status of homeschooling in different parts of the world.(*For the United States and Switzerland legal status varies by state, color by most occurring) Legal under no conditions, or only registration Legal under regulating conditions, such as mandatory tests and checks Legal under restricting conditions, like a teaching certificate or permit Illegal No available data
According to an unsourced National Home Education Research Institute statement, an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children were home educated during 2005–2006. During this time, homeschooling rates increased among students whose parents have high school or lower education, 1.6 to 2.4 percent among student in grades 6–8; and 0.7 to 1.4 percent among students with only one parent. As in 1999, rates were highest in families with three or more children (3.1 percent), and higher in families with two children (1.5 percent) than only one child (1.4 percent). There were more homeschool students from families with two parents (2.5 percent) than only one parent (1.5 percent), and students from two parent families where only one parent worked were more than twice as likely to be homeschooled (5.6 percent).
