Homeschooling: A Brief History

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the series opening or the first series post.

What we consider “traditional education” today, is actually not traditional at all. As seen from my regulation of education post, compulsory attendance did not come into law until 1852 in America. Before the 1800s, homeschooling had been the main approach to education since the beginning of time, only the methods and subjects have changed. Some children, mostly those of the wealthy, were taught by tutors while most children were simply taught basic life skills and religion by their parents.

The Catholic missionaries set up schools to teach things such as reading and Catholic doctrine, and some missions even taught math and astronomy, but these schools were primarily for adults who would then go home to teach their children.

Between the 1920s and 1970s, because of the compulsory attendance laws, it was illegal to teach children at home. Homeschooling during this time still existed, but was underground and mostly in rural areas. Some parents set up small private schools as a way to overcome academic and doctrinal issues in public schools.

During the 1970s, radicals helped push for homeschooling and by 1982 three states recognized the right to homeschool. Today, homeschooling is legal in all fifty states, but more than half have moderate to high regulations.

For more information on homeschooling, please read the resources listed here.