Not until a little before mid 1800s did institutionalized schooling
became the norm. Many of America's founders were educated by mentors,
family and apprenticeships without any state-run education system. This
is some of the background information and basis for homeschooling
catalyst John Caldwell Holt's book How Children Fail, which came out in
1964.
The idea of the book, was not on how children were being taught in
schools, but how public schooling as a method in itself fails children.
This was very controversial at the time and Holt was brought into the
public eye very quickly. Holt later produced a follow up book called
How Children Learn, which demonstrated his philosophy on the learning
processes of children and how institutionalized learning retards this.
However, neither of his books addressed or proposed any alternative to
education. Holt basically planted the seed for change and many other
education dissenters started producing books and articles supporting
the premise soon afterward. Author Harold Bennet had actually written a
book that gave suggestions on how parents can keep their children out
of school illegally.
Only after parents had written him regarding his teaching, stating they
started teaching their kids at home, did Holt start producing
literature on homeschooling. His last book Teach Your Own, published in
1980, contains his take on homeschooling.
Beginning Research on U.S. Academics and the Advocacy of Homeschooling
Educational professionals, Raymond and Dorothy Moore were also working
on education research. They worked during the same time period as Holt
was writing his books, finding similar congruencies.
The Moores concluded that public or formal regimented schooling, before
the ages eight to twelve years of age, was actually a detriment to
their learning process. They sought and found, according to their
studies, a direct relationship to institutional education to such
ailments as delinquency, near-sightedness, and a higher enrollment of
special education courses.
The Moores also concluded that the time away from family stunted the
growth of bonds made at home with parents and stated that it was
necessary for a vast majority of children to be educated at home.
Home Schools and Religion
Statistically speaking, the majority of those parents who decide to
start homeschooling base their reasons on religious grounds. That is
why there is a large portion of available curriculum that is for the
Christian homeschool. A great deal of curriculum of a Christian
homeschool is not much different than that of a regular homeschool, but
there is often supplemental literature on evangelical teachings or
belief systems that are shared within the family.
Studies have found that homeschooling parents are of the Christian
faith in the U.S. -- nearly 90 percent having been polled said as much.
However, other faiths have also embraced homeschooling; Muslim
believers are a large growing demographic recently.
Since a large percentage of parents are Christian believers and are
motivated to homeschool for such reasons, a good deal of Christian
homeschool material has been made available throughout the web in the
last decade.
