The Growth and Transition of the Home Schooling Movement in the United States through an Analysis of Support Groups' Ideology and Activities

Abstract

This paper considers the characteristics of the home schooling movement which rose to prominence in the United States during the 1980s. Home schooling consists of instruction and learning conducted in a family setting in place of attending at school. The numbers of ‘home schoolers’ have been increasing rapidly in recent years, and according to an estimate by P. M. Lines they have reached a total of between 1.5 million and 2million.
The growth of home schooling may be explained in terms of two separate movements, both educational and social. Viewed in social terms encompassing political, cultural, and religious elements, it may be thought of as having received strong influences from the new conservatism and the new religious right. The new religious right became a powerful voice in the United States during the 1980s, and this was reflected in the development of home schooling at the time. On the other hand, home schooling also grew as part of an educational movement organized by people who sought an alternative to public education. Criticism of public education had become widespread since the 1960s, and education at home was seen as a means of avoiding exposure to a discredited system.