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 four items this month from around the world:
(1) Parental Perspectives of Homeschooling Music Education Curriculaย โ J.T. Anders (2023)
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to document parental views of the homeschool music curriculum in the state of Arkansas and assess how it affects the teaching and learning of music. I focused on homeschooling families before the beginning of the pandemic, which for the purpose of this dissertation is considered January 1st, 2020. The research questions which guided this dissertation were: 1.) What is the parentโs philosophy on the teaching and learning of music in homeschooling and in what ways do they report it has changed because of COVID-19? 2.) How do the parents describe their homeschool curricula, and how does music factor into the homeschool curriculum? 3.) How do homeschool parents report the difference between the teaching and learning of music and the teaching and learning of other subjects? Three homeschooling parents who use music in their curriculum were chosen from three distinct regions within the state of Arkansas. The regions were urban, the Coastal Plains, and the Highlands. Lengthy interviews with each family revealed that, dependent upon parental objectives, location, and availability of resources. Though parents shared many aspects of educational approach, the largest challenge shared by each parent was the lack of music education resources designed for the home. The parents hope to see the development of a comprehensive music education curriculum designed for homeschooling parents. The lack of such a comprehensive curriculum was discouraging to each parent. A review of existing resources confirmed their assessment. Each parent offered creative solutions which provide strategies for other homeschooling parents.
(2) A Phenomenological Study of Parental Involvement in Childrenโs Homeschoolingย โ S. Boonanegpat & P. Kitcharoen (2023)
Abstract: The objectives of this qualitative research were: (1) to study parentsโ lived experiences with parental involvement in childrenโs homeschooling; and (2) to interpret and describe the various units of meanings from parentsโ lived experiences with parental involvement in childrenโs homeschooling. Hermeneutical phenomenology was employed to holistically explore this phenomenon, and surpass the pre-existing notions. Hence, a series of in-depth phenomenological-interviews were carried out with seven homeschool parents. After the anecdotal descriptions of the lived experiences were analyzed, under the two overarching themes, seven themes were found. These themes are: (1) understanding, strong sense of self and learning methodology; (2) finding and accepting homeschooling; (3) traditional education as a positive constraint; (4) wearing two hats and multiple roles; (5) balancing between nature and nurture; (6) learning methodology; and (7) parentโs expectations. These findings show that parental involvement in childrenโs homeschooling hold rich and insightful lived-experiences, which should be theoretically considered and further explored to fulfill the comprehensiveness of the doctrine.
(3) Towards Numeracy Literacy Development: A Single-Case Study on the Use of the Living Book Homeschooling Modelย โ A.H. Dewantara, F.A. Setiawati, & S. Saraswati (2023)
Abstract: Public schools are not always believed to be able to support the development of an individual’s potential comprehensively. Homeschooling, an educational program where students learn from home, is currently an alternative education. This study aims to reveal why parents choose to homeschool their children and describe how a homeschooler parent as a single tutor develops her childโs numeracy literacy skills in living book homeschooling. This research is a holistic single-case study with two subjects: a homeschooler (J) and his mother (UPL) as the tutor. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis of Jโs learning activities. Thematic analysis with Atlas.ti software was employed. Findings reveal that the parentsโ main reasons for homeschooling are dissatisfaction with public school instruction and flexibility to comprehensively develop homeschoolersโ skills. In addition, the integration of RME (Realistic Mathematics Education) in the living book homeschooling model is a very powerful support to studentsโ literacy numeracy development. Practically, there are three main strategies implemented; the use of real contexts and concrete teaching aids, as well as an emphasis on conceptual understanding and high-order thinking skills.
(4) Developing a Scale to Measure the Diversity of Motivations and Practices of Home-Schoolingย โ C. Forlin, D. Chambers, & J.ย Banks (2023)
Abstract: Internationally, there has been a dramatic evolution in the numbers of parents choosing to home-school their children for some, or all, of their schooling. Research to date has mainly focussed on the characteristics and motivations of parents who home-school. Little is known about the practice and implementation of home-schooling, especially for learners with disability or additional learning needs. Where research exists, it is generally qualitative, location specific, and small in scale. To address this gap, this paper investigates research regarding previously identified reactive and proactive motivations, legal requirements, and implementation processes within home-schooling family demographics. These are then utilised to develop the Parentsโ Perceptions of Home-Schooling scale (PPHS), which seeks to clarify both motivations as well as implementation and practical issues associated with choosing to home-school. Discussion focuses on the design of the PPHS scale and an initial study with 21 home-schooling parents. Being created for distribution across geolocational, distinct, and international and national contexts, the PPHS will provide scope to gather large-scale quantitative data with a view to improving the supports available to home-schooling families and enhancing learner outcomes.
What interesting homeschool news and academic research have you come across this Hercules Term?ย ๐
โกโ 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 Kunzmanย & Gaither (2020), “Homeschooling: An Updated Comprehensive Survey of the Research.” ๐
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