When Michael Farris and Michael Smith founded Home School Legal Defense Association in March of 1983, home schooling was just a tiny blip on the education radar screen. The concept of parents teaching their children at home was relatively obscure, and the families who chose to follow this non-traditional education route were fairly certain to face opposition from the educational bureaucracy and following legal entanglements, as well as from their own friends and family.
Steve Moitozo explains how homeschooling is parents deciding and directing the education of their children—deciding and directing the education, not doing all the educating.
Patrick Farenga's discussion of the role John Holt played in the evolution of the homeschooling movement.
Would-be reformers of the current educational system, including corporate altruists nor philanthropic foundations, have shown much interest so far in homeschooling's increasing popularity. Instead, they've focused on the promotion of charter schools and school vouchers. In this article, Greg Beato details some of the efforts of big business to reform public schooling, taking a look at corporate sponsorships, grants, and scholarship programs. It examines the dichotomy between those who criticize the system as an Industrial Age artifact and simultaneously push for more standardization and regimentation. Homeschoolers have provided an alternative that offers positive results in academics and other accomplishments. The article continues by looking at the future of the relationship between business and homeschoolers, from increasing scholarship opportunities to partnerships between homeschooling groups and corporations.
Although HSLDA has changed over the past 30 years—in terms of the size of our membership and staff and our physical location—our original vision and purpose remain unchanged. HSLDA exists expressly for the purpose of advocating family and freedom.
Homeschooling can feel intimidating for many parents. But don't forget, it comes in all shapes and sizes. This guide helps you familiarize yourself with all things homeschooling.
Home in education has been around as long as Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had no teachers or school to send their children to, so they simply had to do it themselves. It has been the case during much of history that they were simply no schools to send children to, leaving parents with no alternative but to homeschool.
Before the state’s first compulsory attendance statute was enacted in 1875, all education was private and much was home-based. After the statute, as industrialization and urbanization took hold in our growing country, “public schooling” and “education” came to be regarded as nearly synonymous. But the current statute (NJSA 18A:38-25), dating from the 1920s, has always permitted parents the option to cause their children to “receive equivalent instruction elsewhere than at school.”
The homeschool niche is unique and has its own quirks. This youtube video shares ten tips for marketing your product or service to homeschool parents.
This is an interview with Dr. Raymond Moore, with an emphasis on his and his wife's influence on the homeschooling movement.
In July 2000, Louisiana residents Joyce and Eric Burges created the National Black Home Educators Resource Association, a nonprofit organization that provides advice on curriculum materials, pairs new families with veteran home educators, and produces an annual symposium. The Burgeses’ goal is to encourage other African-American families to become more involved in their children’s education. This article tells their personal story and how they have impacted the community in which they live.
A media kit is a document you provide to potential advertisers and other parties you are interested in working with information about your value as a partner. It is meant to reflect your reach as a blogger. A media kit can be as simple as an ad page with basic blog and social media numbers or as complex as a full-blown demographic study of your readers printed and bound. Whatever kind of media kit you choose to create, remember to be clear and concise.
The right to home school is based on two fundamental principles of liberty: religious freedom and parental rights. Whenever one of these two freedoms is threatened, our right to home school is in jeopardy. Here are the battles we think home educators will be facing as we enter the next century:
Get tips on how to understand the homeschool market, how to do market research on a home business budget, and whether or not you should buy advertising.
An interesting list of homeschoolers from history, along with a short description of homeschooling experience.
Twenty years ago, home education was treated as a crime in almost every state. Today, it is legal all across America, despite strong and continued opposition from many within the educational establishment. How did this happen? This paper traces the legal and sociological history of the modern home school movement, and then suggests factors that led to this movement's remarkable success.
This is the final installment of Cheryl Seelhoff's series on the history of homeschooling in America.
If you’re looking for a perfect niche market for your specialty toys, you might try homeschoolers. Since they are outside of the mainstream, they tend to be more skeptical about mass-marketed products and more inclined to make unorthodox choices, as a scan of homeschooling websites and a survey of five homeschooling moms revealed.
Cheryl Seelhoff discusses the controversy between her and other homeschool movement leaders.
A look back at the history of the Home School Lega Defense Association with Michael P. Farris, J. Michael Smith, Christopher J. Klicka, and David E. Gordon. Hear about the early years of HSLDA, the way home schooling has changed, and some of their most memorable cases.
This timeline highlights the important milestones in the fight for homeschool freedom in the United States.