By Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
National Home Education Research Institute

The Context

I was talking with a doctoral student from a European country just the other day. She now lives in an east coast state, teaches in a public school, and is studying homeschoolers in America. In the nation from which she comes, very few families homeschool.

She knew very little about home-based education before recently moving to the United States. And she was very skeptical that just ordinary parents – who are not certified teachers – can effectively teach children. She is changing her mind fast based on what she is seeing and otherwise experiencing with homeschooling families.

This educator’s preconceived biases and notions are not uncommon. Most of us must admit that we have preconceptions that we bring to many, if not most, topics. Along these lines, virtually all of us Americans have known and experienced only institutional classroom schooling with professional teachers for six generations. With that, many people, in the United States and elsewhere, are oblivious to the possibility that normal everyday parents, without teaching degrees or State-issued licenses, might be able to do a good job of teaching children.

Read more here.