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Did you know that mandatory public education did not exist in the United States until the mid-1850’s industrial revolution? Prior to that time, homeschooling or the use of private schools and tutors was the norm.
The modern homeschooling movement began in the mid-1980’s. As various states were faced with the question whether to make homeschooling legal, homeschool students proved the method successful by winning various “bees”, by enrolling in colleges, and by entering professional careers. Although TEACH CT views homeschooling as a method of discipleship as well as schooling, those early successes were helpful in convincing legislators that homeschooling continued to be a sound method of education. But policy makers wanted more than illustrative stories of success. They wanted empirical evidence. That is where homeschool research comes in.
Research has also informed our view of whether or not homeschooling is successful.
We recommend two sources for research information on homeschooling.
NHERI The National Home Education Research Institute, was founded by Dr. Brian Ray 30 years ago. You can access NHERI directly here. More information about the development of NHERI - on its 30th anniversary year- can be found here.
HOMESCHOOLING BACKGROUNDER Homeschooling Backgrounder is a resource for policy makers and journalists. Its mission is to provide information about homeschooling that is backed by data. It includes articles by Dr. Brian Ray as well as other homeschool researchers. This can be a good site to use when discussing legislation with your representative. You can access the site directly here.
HOMESCHOOLING FAST FACTS summarizes homeschool statistics. You can access that page here.
