Brief History of Homeschooling

Brief History of Homeschooling

Pinpointing the beginning date of homeschooling in reality impossible. Aristotle taught Alexander the Great 'at home' over 2,500 years ago. Actually, until the late 19th century, virtually everyone was ' homeschooled'. In the second half of the 19th century states began passing laws compelling parents to send their children to public schools.

The modern Homeschool movement started in the mid-1960s, from three very different sources. John Holt was a counter-culture figure who wrote extensively on education for 20 years. Another major source was the author Raymond Moore, whose concern originated out of his religious views. The third, indirectly, was the novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand, whose ideas gave birth to the modern libertarian movements, of which homeschooling (of one type) is a part.

John Holt coined the term ' unschooling', an approach that eschews curricula, schedules and any kind of structured method for educating a child. Given that children are naturally curious, and observing that public school more often dampens that spirit than encourages it, he recommended eliminating all structures.

Beginning with his first book, How Children Fail, published in 1964, Holt considered the public school system of rules as largely authoritarian. An Ivy League graduate and a teacher in alternative schools, he initilly sought to reform the public education system. He later came to believe that reform was impossible, given the nature of public schools. In 1977, he founded Growing Without Schooling, a popular bimonthly magazine resource for homeschoolers.

Raymond Moore came at the problem from a very different approach. A devout Christian and an ex-missionary, he considered the public school system an entire philosophy that taught values contrary to his religious belief. He believed education involved more than just providing facts. He considered the violence and other negative aspects of public schools and advocated that parents resume responsibility for their child's education and, in particular, the values being taught.

Although not a writer on education, apart from a few essays, Ayn Rand's body of work inspired a great many in the 1960s and later and held similar views about the public education system. Those sympathetic to her views established a political party that has long been opposed to any form of public, state-sponsored education, particularly whenever it is compulsory.

Nevertheless, the libertarians inspired by Ayn Rand went beyond this negative. They advocated positive steps to restore to education the focus of educating the individual intellectual mind possessed by every child. As with every broad movement, individual views differ but the emphasis on individual freedom and the development of intellectual creativity is central to this branch of the homeschooling movement.

All three of these widely varying starting points grew in tandem throughout the latter half of the 20th century, continuing today. Despite their radically different schools of thought, all have some things in common. All hold the public school system has and will continue to fail to deliver quality education in a safe, encouraging environment. All advocate putting the child's intellectual and ethical development at the heart of the educational process.

The history of homeschooling demonstrates success and promises a continued bright future.