HIstory of Home Education, Part I

The wandering trails I follow when I have a little time to surf the web... I started at a blog of someone whom I've actually met (Hi, Mother Auma!), CM, Children and Lots of Grace. I noticed a nifty little sidebar note that said, "I'm a Multicellular Microorganism in the TTLB Ecosystem," which I couldn't resist clicking.

I ended up at The Truth Laid Bear for the first time in my weblife (Some of you committed bloggers may find that hard to believe). I began to explore this unique Ecosystem and found Spunky Homeschool. The article there, Homeschooling for God, led me to an earlier post, The Homeschooling Movement, which led to the interesting, if rather involved, discussion in the comments.

What caught my eye there were some comments about history. Specifically, a history that may not be as familiar to many of us U. S. home school parents, as, say, the story of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The history of home education.

Yes, we have a history. I may be wrong, but I think home education seems like such a new idea that we forget that it has actually been around as long as the human race. More to my point, I think we forget that the modern movement has a history. In forgetting the brave souls who kept their offspring out of school 30 years ago, we may be missing some vital links.

So, for starters, here's a well-documented article by Patrick Farenga giving us A Brief History of Homeschooling. If you haven't heard of John Holt or Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore, you need to educate yourself!

See History of Home Education, Part II and History of State Home School Organizations for more reading.