Instructional Motivations: What Can We Learn from Homeschooling Families?

Authors

Jesse Thomas, Texas Tech UniversityFollow

Abstract

Some educational theorists have believed that the beneficial aspects of home education will eventually find their way into mainstream educational contexts. The purpose of this paper was to extract the motivations behind homeschooling instructional decisions. This study was built on surveys and interviews from over 1000 homeschooling parents across the United States. Participants were asked about the reason for their instructional routines. Instructional motivations reported included a child’s particular learning style, a parent’s personal preference, a child’s interests, community resources, experience, faith, family reasons, special goals, and special needs. These motivations may also represent those of public school parents, thus providing a voice for all parents. The results provide an informational narrative that can be used by public school representatives to meet the changing needs and values of parents across the U.S.

Keywords

Homeschool, Instruction, Parents, Ethnographic Research, Naturalistic Inquiry

Author Bio(s)

Jesse Thomas is a Ph.D. graduate from Texas Tech University. His research interests include philosophy of education, John Dewey, parental involvement, and the ethical and moral pedagogical paradigms for educators. His current project explores curriculum and instruction motivations of families who educate in the home. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: thomasje2@hotmail.com.

Publication Date

11-28-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2425

Recommended APA Citation

Thomas, J. (2016). Instructional Motivations: What Can We Learn from Homeschooling Families?. The Qualitative Report, 21(11), 2073-2086. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2425