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. 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 or introductions below are quoted in full whenever possible, without editing.
We have five items this month:
(1) High School Nutrition Education Modules for HomeschoolingΒ β M.J. Baker (2023)
Abstract: The increasing prevalence of obesity is increasing in the adolescent population. Many preventable diseases that may manifest later in life are associated with modifiable risk factors established during this time. Adolescents are at risk for chronic diseases related to diets consisting of increased fat, sodium, and sugars combined with decreased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and high fiber or calcium-containing foods. General nutrition knowledge questionnaires demonstrate that students receive inadequate nutrition education. Homeschooling is growing in popularity in the United States, which allows the opportunity to integrate nutrition education because the instructor or parent accompanies their students during cooking, tasting, and education sessions. Family-based intervention is the basis of weight management in children because it involves the entire family in dietary modification and increased physical activity. This multi-component approach course consists of 16 weekly modules that allow students to learn about the foods they consume daily and how it affects their health.
(2) A Netnographic Study of Homeschooling in ItalyΒ β A. Chinazzi (2023)
Abstract: My study aimed to develop a context-specific understanding of home education (or homeschooling) in Italy, by considering the micro, meso and macro levels of this under-researched phenomenon (see Figure. 1). At the interdisciplinary crossroads of Education and Cultural Anthropology, the study was framed within an interpretive and culturally-oriented paradigm. Using a qualitatively-driven mixed methods approach (Mason, 2006), I drew on field notes from online and offline participant observations, interviews, and survey data to make sense of the βemicβ conceptualisations of this form of alternative provision. Netnographic methods (Kozinets, 2015) were especially useful to explore the phenomenon at its meso level, i.e., the relational network of multiple belongings to communities, associations, formal and informal groups that every home educator relates to. During the pandemic, many families decided to home educate not because of actual pedagogical conviction (βproactiveβ motivations), but as a pragmatic way to escape the unprecedented school situation (βreactiveβ motivations). New families and communities have emerged, increasing the complexity of the Italian homeschooling landscape. As previous research has highlighted (Fensham-Smith, 2017), online communities are empowering contexts in which parents embody other rationales to their narratives to legitimate their choice, develop a sense of belonging and identity as home educators, and progressively move from βreactiveβ to βproactiveβ motivations. These communities serve as social agents with potential transformative effects on their members and their educational practices. In these social spaces, knowledge and meanings are co-produced by their members through dialogue and knowledge exchange, generating shared narratives but also conflicting conceptualisations of the home education practice. Schismogenetic dynamics (Bateson, 1979) have fostered the insider narrative around the supposedly βpureβ home educator, whereas actual experiences are marked by nuances and flexible transitions between different approaches and arrangements. Netnographic methods proved to be useful to engage with this hard-to-reach and geographically dispersed population, who are often very active on the Internet. Moreover, it was chosen for its affordances in addressing a scarcely investigated research topic by becoming familiar β from the within β with the cultural codes and vocabulary of its social actors in a less obtrusive manner compared to traditional ethnography. Deemed to be well suited to deal with politically and socially controversial topics, netnography is appropriate to study homeschooling in a social context where it is, albeit legal, but poorly understood and potentially stigmatised. The netnographic and ethnographic insights generated through hermeneutic analysis were used for both methodological and data triangulation, i.e., they contributed to the development of questionnaire items and the semi-structured interview guide (research design and tool development) and to the interpretive endeavour (meta-inferences).
(3) Homeschooling in the State of Missouri: How Advocacy Coalitions Influence Regulation of the Home SchoolΒ β C.B. Garth (2023)
Abstract: The state of Missouri has no justiciable regulations for homeschooling, which leaves some Missouri children without their guaranteed state protections. Utilizing the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), this qualitative study analyzed the narratives of two homeschooling advocacy coalitions, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), to identify any consistencies or inconsistencies between coalition narratives and those of actual homeschoolers. This study applies the ACF to contribute to literary scholarship using the ACF in qualitative research on homeschooling policy and the educational practice of Missouri public school teachers and leaders who may benefit from an improved understanding of the parental right to homeschool. Study outcomes reveal how the policy narratives of the HSLDA are likely to keep Missouri homeschooling unregulated and how their resources compare to the counter-narratives and operations of the CRHE as part of the process of keeping homeschooling unregulated. Also identified are the discrepancies between coalition and participant policy positions. Following the ACF, this study seeks to provoke policy-oriented learning that may induce policy change and ensure all Missouri children benefit from their state-authorized protections and rights.
(4) Homeschooling in Chinese Cities: Educational Implications for Post-Pandemic SchoolsΒ β T.T. Lee (2023)
Abstract: This article reports the findings of a multi-site qualitative study of 31 Chinese homeschooling families in Taipei and Hong Kong. Homeschooling, a significant source of inspiration for school innovation, has been growing around the globe in recent years, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the challenges facing mainstream schools. The findings reveal that the families under study chose to homeschool their children mainly because they were dissatisfied with mainstream schools in the Chinese context, which, as they described, were not sufficiently child-centric. Notably, their homeschooling practices were highly diversified and hybridised, including a variety of organisational methods, actors, and materials. Based on lessons learned from homeschooling, the findings indicate the need for mainstream schools to reimagine their relations with families and the outside world in terms of pedagogic time, space, relations, and resources to better respond to every studentβs unique needs as well as the challenges ahead in the post-pandemic world.
(5) The Role of Parentsβ Characteristics on Child-Parent Relationships in Homeschooling during COVID-19 LockdownΒ β J.A. Perez, R.P. Heradura, & B.E. Tuttle (2023)
Abstract: The COVID-19 crisis has interrupted the education systems in the Philippines and the whole world. Most families were forced into homeschool learning. However, carrying out homeschool learning has also placed a strain on child-parent relationships. One hundred thirty-five Filipino parents who were homeschooling their children during the Covid lockdown answered an online survey. This cross-sectional study investigated how parentsβ characteristics such as faith-based role construction (FBRC) and parent-focused role construction (PFRC) influence child-parent relationships (CPR) in homeschool learning during the Covid crisis. This study also investigated the mediating role of parentsβ self-efficacy (PSE) in helping their children succeed in school between parentsβ FBRC and CPR. The mediating role of PSE between PFRC and CPR was also investigated. Results showed that FBRC of the parents has a direct positive association to child-parent closeness but not to child-parent conflict. The PSE mediated the relationship between the FBRC and child-parent closeness and conflict. The PFRC was not directly associated to child-parent closeness and conflict, however, there was an indirect association between PFRC and child-parent closeness and conflict when the PSE was placed as a mediator between PFRC and child-parent closeness. There was also an indirect association between PFRC and child-parent conflict when mediated by PSE. Implications for educational policy-making decisions were drawn. Likewise, recommendations to improve the child-parent relationship in homeschool learning were also offered.
What interesting homeschool news and academic research have you come across this Hercules Term?Β π
β‘β Explore more: If you’d like to investigate the academic literature on homeschooling more extensively, the best place to start is Google Scholar, 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 research publications that mention your topic. In addition, for research prior to 2020 in particular, see the comprehensive bibliographic essay by KunzmanΒ & Gaither (2020), “Homeschooling: An Updated Comprehensive Survey of the Research.” π
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