The Homeschooling Movement and the Return of Domestic Education, 1998–2016

Abstract

Homeschooling has grown in popularity and is now practiced by a much wider range of people than was the case in the 1980s. Ethnic diversity has increased markedly. New institutions, magazines, and conferences have emerged to serve this more heterogeneous clientele. The internet has had a transformative influence, increasing curricular options, facilitating social connection, and providing information for prospective homeschoolers. These changes have been greeted with ambiguity by Sectarian leadership, made more acute by a series of high-profile scandals among some of the most influential Sectarian Protestant leaders and organizations. Moreover, many of the young adults raised in the Sectarian homeschooling subculture have moved away from their parents’ commitments. At the same time, government schools have moved toward the homeschooling model through various curricular and funding innovations. Homeschoolers themselves have been moving in a more formal direction, combining at-home education with various institutional enrichments. The end result is a much more fluid, complex continuum of home-school options families can choose as fits their situations. The future will likely add to the proliferation of options for home-school hybridization.