Homeschooling

Homeschooling is the practice of providing education to youth outside of publicly and privately funded educational institutions. Practiced by a minority of Americans, homeschooling was once the traditional method for educating youth before the national initiative to establish tax-supported public schools began in the 1820s. Compulsory attendance laws in the 19th and 20th centuries rendered homeschooling illegal in most states until the 1980s. During the last three decades, various groups have worked to expand parents' rights to homeschool their children and by 1993, ensure its legal status nationwide. Homeschooling inspires citizens' curiosity and skepticism for many reasons: Public schooling is such conventional practice that its dismissal seems suspect; governmental oversight of homeschooling varies drastically from state to state; and parents are generally neither trained nor ...