• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The River Houses

A National Network of Local Homeschool Societies

  • Subscribe!
  • Home
  • Topics โ–พ
    • Arts & Music
    • Astronomy
    • Books & Libraries
    • Collections & Collecting
    • Friday Bird Families
    • Great Stars
    • Holidays & Anniversaries
    • Language & Literature
    • Lunar Society Bulletins
    • Maps & Geography
    • Museums & Monuments
    • Natural History
    • Poems-of-the-Week
    • Quick Freshes
    • Research & News
    • States & Countries
    • Terms & Calendars
    • Weekly World Heritage
  • Homeschool Calendars
  • Six Books
  • TWOC โ–พ
    • The Lunar Society of the River Houses
  • About the River Houses โ–พ
    • Our Mascots
You are here: Home > 2020 > May > 19

Archives for 19 May 2020

๐Ÿ”Ž HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS โ€“ May 2020

19 May 2020 by Bob O'Hara

Click to: riverhouses.org/2020-05-research

On the third Tuesday of each month we post a quick roundup of some recent academic publications and news about homeschooling, offered for your interest. These are typically university research papers, and they may have a positive, negative, or neutral outlook on home education โ€” and if they don’t seem appealing, just scroll on by. The title links generally point to the full text of each publication, which is often a printable pdf file. In some cases, a paid subscription may be required to read the whole article. The article abstracts and introductions below are quoted in full whenever possible, without editing.

We have five items this month. The first is an interview with anti-homeschooling Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet, whose work has received extensive media coverage in the last few weeks, most of it negative. The fifth item is just one of the many pro-homeschool responses to Bartholet that are now in circulation. (We first took note of Bartholet’s call for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling in June of last year here at the River Houses, well before it attracted widespread public attention.)

In happier news, the third item below, Homeschooling and Libraries: New Solutions and Opportunities, is an edited volume of more than 20 chapters, all on how libraries can work more successfully with the homeschool community. Why not recommend it for purchase at your local library this month!


(1) A Warning on Homeschooling โ€” E.ย Bartholet, interviewed by L.ย Mineo (2020)

Introduction: Nationally renowned child welfare expert Elizabeth Bartholet wants to see a radical transformation in homeschooling. In an article in the Arizona Law Review, โ€œHomeschooling: Parent Rights Absolutism vs. Child Rights to Education & Protection,โ€ she argues that the lack of regulation in the homeschooling system poses a threat to children and society. The Gazette sat down with Bartholet, the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law and faculty director of the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School (HLS), to talk about the problems.


(2) Aย Qualitative Study of the Factors That Contribute to Successful Homeschool Graduates โ€” D.ย Garlington (2020)

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to focus on attitudes/practices/techniques/strategies that appear in several different homeschooled families that could help point to a commonality that other parents could point to as a necessary factor for a successful homeschooled student. The sample consisted of 2 homeschooled families with 13 children who were taught in a homeschool environment. The study interviewed only the parents of the students. The data for this qualitative study consisted of a survey created by the researcher and interviews with the parents of two homeschool families. The parent survey asked parents questions about their classroom environment, attitudes about school, and methods of instruction used in their homes. The interviews took the results from the two surveys and went more in-depth to understand the responses that were given on the surveys. Results revealed that several practices and similar attitudes were reflected across the families interviewed that have positive effects on the students. The homeschooled students are positively impacted when parents take the time to get to know them and tailor education to fit their needs. Parents who allow their homeschooled children to have a say in their curriculum, and how they are taught, is an excellent way for parents to provide each student with equal opportunities to succeed in a homeschooling environment.


(3) Homeschooling and Libraries: New Solutions and Opportunities [Book] โ€” V.ย Gubnitskaia & C.ย Smallwood, eds. (2020)

Publisher’s Introduction: As families are looking for better ways to educate their children, more and more of them are becoming interested and engaged in alternative ways of schooling that are different, separate, or opposite of the traditional classroom. Homeschooling has become ever more creative and varied as families create custom-tailored curricula, assignments, goals, and strategies that are best for each unique child. This presents a multitude of challenges and opportunities for information institutions, including public, academic, school, and special libraries. The need for librarians to help homeschool families become information and media literate is more important than ever.


(4) Global Citizenship Education in Homeschooling Practices and Experiences in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania โ€” B.ย Shackelford (2020)

Abstract: Global citizenship education (GCED) has moved to the forefront of U.S. education policy. The core tenets of GCED are knowledge, skills, behaviors, actions, attitudes, and values. Through these tenets, GCED strives to prepare students to be contributing members of society through making positive change. In this study, I examined the extent to which GCED was integrated in homeschooling education in eight families located in four Northeastern states, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The findings derived from individual interviews and surveys with homeschooling parents and their adult children as well as document analysis demonstrate that seven of the eight homeschooling families who participated in this study favored GCED as an educational approach, with the primary focus on attaining GCED knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. The one family, who did not favor the GCED educational approach, indicated that their educational focus was more on national citizenship not global citizenship. These findings have the potential to contribute to better understanding homeschooling as an educational approach and to broaden the research of GCED to include families who choose to homeschool their children. Further research can explore variances in socio-economic, racial, or linguistic differences in homeschooling families as well as how travel experiences or lack thereof can impact their approach to educating their children.


(5) The Social Realities of Homeschooling โ€” D.ย Sikkink (2020)

Introduction: In a recent University of Arizona Law Review article, Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor, claims that the โ€œhomeschooling regime poses real dangers to children and to society.โ€ Bartholetโ€™s legal argument is that homeschooling is an infringement on child rights, placing children in inferior, socially isolating, and dangerous educational environments. This threatens democracy, she says, since homeschooling is not likely to provide the kind of civic education available in public schools, especially regarding democratic values. Besides the risk of child abuse and indoctrination, the strength of far right-wing religious conservatives in the homeschooling movement ensures that children will be forced into submitting to patriarchy, leading, Bartholet fears, to โ€œfemale subservience.โ€ If that wasnโ€™t enough, she goes on to charge the homeschooling movement with links to white supremacy and racial segregation. According to Bartholet, the future of our democracy depends on โ€œfreeingโ€ these children from unhappiness and ignorance.


What interesting homeschool news and research have you come across this Leo Term?ย ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐ŸŽ“

โกโ€…Explore more: If you’d like to investigate the academic literature on homeschooling, the best place to start is Google Scholar (scholar.google.com), the special academic search engine from Google. Just enter a search term or phrase of interest (“homeschool,” “unschooling,” “classical homeschooling,” “deschooling,” etc.), and Google Scholar will return a list of academic publications that mention your topic. ๐Ÿ”Ž

โกโ€…Stay in the loop: This is one of our regular Homeschool Research & News posts. Add your name to our weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. ๐Ÿ—ž

Filed Under: Homeschool Research & News

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

Itโ€™s free! Your name and email address are never shared with any third parties.

CHECK YOUR INBOX (or spam folder) to confirm your subscription. Thank you! ๐Ÿ˜Š

Search the River Houses

Recent Posts

  • ๐Ÿ“š LEARNING THE LIBRARY: The Scientific 500s
  • ๐Ÿ–‹ ๐Ÿ” WONDERFUL WORDS: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
  • ๐Ÿ—“ ๐ŸŒฑ ๐Ÿฐ HAPPY HOMESCHOOL MARCH from the River Houses!
  • ๐Ÿ—“ ๐Ÿฆ LEO TERM 2021 and the Homeschool Year
  • ๐Ÿ“– ๐ŸŽ‰ WONDERFUL WORDS: Happy Dord Day!
  • ๐Ÿ—“ QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Familiesย โ€“ Week of 28 February 2021
  • ๐ŸŒŽ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ SUNDAY STATES: Michigan, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, and More
  • ๐ŸŒ• RESEARCH PROJECTS for Homeschool Students โ€“ February 2021
  • ๐Ÿฆœ FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Parrots
  • ๐ŸŒ ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ธ WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Maloti-Drakensberg Park in Lesotho
  • ๐Ÿ–‹ ๐Ÿ”ญ WONDERFUL WORDS: Watchers of the Skies
  • ๐Ÿ—“ QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Familiesย โ€“ Week of 21 February 2021
  • ๐ŸŒŽ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ SUNDAY STATES: Arkansas, Lebanon, Libya, and More
  • ๐Ÿฆ… FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Caracaras and Falcons
  • ๐Ÿ–‹ ๐ŸŒจ AN UNEXPECTED โ€œSNOW-STORMโ€ for Our Southern Homeschool Friends

Post Calendar

May 2020
S M T W T F S
« Apr   Jun »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  

Post Categories

  • ๐ŸŽต Homeschool Arts & Music
  • ๐Ÿ”ญ Homeschool Astronomy
  • ๐Ÿ“š Homeschool Books & Libraries
  • ๐Ÿ’ฐ Homeschool Collections & Collecting
  • ๐Ÿ“… Homeschool Holidays & Anniversaries
  • ๐Ÿ“– Homeschool Language & Literature
  • ๐ŸŒ• Lunar Society Bulletins
  • ๐Ÿ—บ Homeschool Maps & Geography
  • ๐Ÿ› Homeschool Museums & Monuments
  • ๐Ÿž Homeschool Natural History
  • ๐Ÿ—“ Quick Freshes for Homeschool Families
  • ๐Ÿ”Ž Homeschool Research & News
  • ๐ŸŒŽ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Homeschool States & Countries
  • ๐Ÿ—“ Homeschool Terms & Calendars

Astronomy

  • Amazing Space (Space Telescope Education)
  • American Meteor Society
    • โ€“ Fireball Reporting System
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • Homeschool Astronomy (Sky & Telescope)
  • NASA
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Our Solar System
    • โ€“ Spot the Station
  • The Planets Today
    • โ€“ย Light-Distance to the Planets
  • The Sky This Week (USNO)
  • Space Weather
  • Time and Date
    • โ€“ Eclipses
    • โ€“ Meteor Showers
    • โ€“ Moon Phases
    • โ€“ Seasons
  • Tonight’s Sky (hubblesite.com)

Books & Libraries

  • Baldwin Library of Children’s Literature
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • Classic Children’s Books (read.gov)
  • Folger Shakespeare Library
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Shakespeare’s Plays Online
  • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • In Our Time (BBC Podcasts)
  • New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • Project Gutenberg
  • US Library of Congress
    • โ€“ Children’s Book Selections
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ LC Blogs
    • โ€“ LC Digital Collections
    • โ€“ Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
  • US National Archives
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Founders Online
    • โ€“ Kโ€“5 Resources
    • โ€“ Teaching With Documents
  • Vatican Library Digital Collections
  • WorldCat Library Catalog
    • โ€“ WorldCat Library Finder
  • World Digital Library

Museums, Parks, & Monuments

  • British Museum Collections Online
  • Google Arts & Culture Collections
  • Smithsonian Institution
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Smithsonian Museums
    • โ€“ Smithsonian Open Access
  • Timeline of Art History
  • US National Park Service
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ National Memorials
    • โ€“ National Monuments
    • โ€“ National Parks
    • โ€“ Wild & Scenic Rivers Program
  • US National Wildlife Refuges
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
  • US State Parks

Natural History

  • All About Birds (Cornell University)
    • โ€“ Bird Identification Guide
    • โ€“ eBird Online
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • BirdCast Daily Migration Maps
  • Time and Date
    • โ€“ Seasons
  • UC Museum of Paleontology
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
  • US Fish & Wildlife Service
    • โ€“ Conservation Curriculum
  • US Geological Survey
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Latest Earthquakes
  • US National Weather Service
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
    • โ€“ Nationwide River Conditions
  • Wild & Scenic Rivers Program

Maps & Geography

  • Mapquest World Maps
  • Printable Outline Maps (d-maps.com)
  • USGS Topographic Maps
  • World Factbook (cia.gov)
  • World Heritage Sites (UNESCO)
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
  • Zoom Earth

Civics & Social Science

  • 1776 Unites
  • Constitution Center
  • C-Span Classroom
  • Economics Education from FEE
  • iCivics.org
  • Learn Liberty
  • MyMoney.gov
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
  • Online Library of Liberty
  • US Founding Documents
  • US Government Portal
    • โ€“ The Congress
    • โ€“ The Supreme Court
    • โ€“ The White House
  • US Mint
    • โ€“ Coin Activities for Kids
    • โ€“ Educator Resources
  • US Postal Museum
    • โ€“ Activities for Kids
    • โ€“ Explore the Collections
    • โ€“ Stamps Teach (from APS)

Post Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • April 2017
Sign up for our free newsletter and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox every week!

All original content ยฉ 2017โ€“2021 by The River Houses ยท The River Houses and the River Houses emblem are Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.