Learning in the Absence of Education

Essays on Homeschooling

© Beverley Paine

Reasons, Characteristics and Outcomes of Home Education
(continued)

Many of the outcomes of home education are unintended ones, and are recognised as welcome bonuses, including:

closer family relationships, with children playing a more positive and significant role in family life, and an emphasis on family making skills;

parental personal fulfillment and increased learning opportunities for parents as well as children;

greater understanding of personal responsibility;

natural fostering of co-operative and team behaviours;

an empowering process for both parents and children;

greater freedom from arbitrary time limits such as terms and year levels to pursue educational activities and interests.

In addition, clear educational advantage has been cited in research as outcomes of home learning environments:

increased opportunity for one to one interaction with more skilled peers or parents leads to cognitive challenges and gains;

children are able to ask more questions, with more time allowed for answers to be found, leading to increased motivation for learning;

children and parents engage in more complex language in the home learning environment compared with classroom settings, and this improves the intellectual and language development of children;

children have been consistently shown to rate equal to or higher than average on standardised achievement tests in the USA;

home educated children’s self concept has been shown to be significantly higher than schooled children, indicating that home education does not socially deprive children but produces socially well adjusted young people;

children are less peer oriented;

increased involvement in community activities;

greater attainment of independent learning skills, self-motivation and organisational abilities.

Home education is not a new phenomena, neither is it radical. All types of people and families engage in educating their children at home, for all sorts of reasons. The pluralistic nature of home educating families reflects the pluralistic nature of mainstream Australian society.

This is further reflected in the many different approaches to education at home adopted by these families. No one way is right, or necessarily better, than any other. The diversity of educational approaches and values is shared among the many home educating families via conferences, newsletters, camps, journals and support networks. These are seen as vital to informing home educating families of resources and options available, as well as current research developments and results.

As home education grows as a movement in Australia more local research will be done, giving a clearer picture of the advantages to be had.

References:

• Getting Started With Home Based Learning - Practical Considerations For Parents of School Aged Children, B Paine (self published)
• ‘The Home Education Phenomenon’, R Hunter, Griffith University, QLD
• ‘Parents Rationales for Operating Home Schools’, J Gary Knowles, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 20, No 2
• ‘Homeschools: A Synthesis of Research on Characteristics and learner outcomes’, B Ray, Education and Urban Society, Vol. 21, No 1
• ‘Home Education and the family’, J Peacock, Naturally Learning, Vol. 4&5
• ‘Home based education effectiveness research and implications’, R Meighan, Education Review, Vol. 47, No 3

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More than 60 essays covering a wide range of home schooling concerns and issues, such as late readers, value of play, socialisation, learning maths, part time school, and thoughts on testing. Learning in the Absence of Education is an intimate and honest look at day-to-day homeschooling life spanning several years. Includes articles on learning maths, reading and writing, spelling, socialisation, part time schooling, fathers and homeschooling, value of play, grading and testing, coping with stress and illness, and much more.

"These essays are the real life experiences of a long term home educator and activist and make inspiring reading... a valuable resource for all those interested in home education.... What I particularly appreciate are the personal day-to-day stories that are so specific in the incident or outcome These are essays written over time that reflect natural learning (read life) as it really happens.

I really enjoy Beverley's writing style in this book. It is very direct, sometimes even challenging the reader. She tries to be scrupulously honest always so we read of advantages and disadvantages of whatever topic she is discussing. She will also point out the ideal situation and how she thinks she falls short. Sometimes she is self-deprecating; sometimes she glows with enthusiasm for their successful lifestyle. There are touches of humour and sometimes wry cynicism.

Hopefully this book will answer many people's questions and fears about natural learning. It is all in here: how right it feels when natural learning is working well, what happens when we have insecurities ourselves, and the results so far. By presenting the natural learning case in this essay style, Beverley has been able to reflect the different moods, the ups and downs, that make the book a valuable resource for all those interested in home education, whatever their current style."
Janine Banks, home educator, Qld

ISBN 1876651016, 128 pages... $22.95

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