Are we homeschoolers radical in our approach to our children’s education? No. No. No.

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How long has homeschooling been around?

Home education has been the primary means of learning for the majority of recorded history.  Even before history was written down, we are certain that children learned mostly through the teaching in their own families.

Through participation in  life’s daily activities, children acquired knowledge of everything from farming, building, caring for livestock,  tool making, sewing, making soap, and everything else they needed to be able to do.  Lessons necessary to teach them to  read, write, and cipher  enough to be responsible citizens  and to handle their homes and businesses took  a small fraction of the time that they take today, and the lessons stopped when the season called for their help in the field or elsewhere. The lessons were provided by parents, grandparents, siblings, or perhaps a  hired teacher paid for by the community’s families to teach the basics. There were no laws that compelled attendance. The highly educated founders of our country were for the most part educated through their own parents or tutors.  There was nothing like our modern institutionalized schools back then, yet they were far better educated.

In contrast, institutionalized schools are a recent invention.  It seems to be taken for granted today that these schools have been around for ages and are the best means of education.  That is just not so. The last compulsory education laws were not passed in the United States until 1918.   The current homeschooling movement is considered new only because it has occurred after the compulsory attendance laws have taken root and been accepted.

The modern homeschooling movement began building in the 1960’s One of its early advocates was John Holt who in 1977 began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine advocating  no school for children.  He was a former teacher who  gave up on school reform. His magazine offered a look at natural curiosity as a basis of learning, and gave a fresh view of education that is often lost in the drudgery and boredom of the usual traditional school. Also, in the 70’s and 80’s Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore began publishing books that  focused on the harm that can be caused by pushing children too early into  school.

As a young mother in the 80’s, I subscribed to Growing Without Schooling to read about this curious “new homeschooling”. I was amazed as I read story after story of children thriving by spending time with their parents learning throughout the day, more from activity, reading aloud and conversation than from textbooks.  Then in 1985  I found a  book that really gave me a heart for homeschooling. The book was Home Grown Kids: A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home by Dorothy and Raymond Moore (more on that in another post).

So, the  history of Homeschooling takes us back through the ages to see that education through families and small communities works. Homeschooling  (as it is termed today) or home education is actually a return to family-based education which has been the norm throughout history.[phpbay]Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling, 2, “2228”, “”[/phpbay]

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