Homeschooling

Bruce S. Cooper

Homeschooling is in some ways the newest and most radical form of private education in the United States—and is, from another perspective, the oldest and most basic approach, as children have always learned from their families. Homeschooling is in some ways the ultimate type of privatization, as it is typically privately funded, privately provided, and (almost fully) privately regulated by parents in the home. About 1.35 million children in the country are being formally and officially educated by their parents or guardians at home—after a titanic struggle between 1975 and 1999 to legalize the effort, as homeschooling was once deemed a violation of “compulsory education” policies in all fifty states. This entry traces the history of that struggle, the pros and cons of the practice, and how it is typically implemented. Groups like the National Home School Legal Defense Association have fought in court and in legislatures to assure parents ...

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