How to make our kids like to go to school

Most of the children complain of not liking school in their early days. This is the time, when parents should actually try to identify what the real problem is. It may either be just boredom or stress factor that makes a child hate school. This article helps parents to understand every detail they need to know about how to make kids like to go to school.

How to make kids like to go to school 

Have you ever noticed that your kid has severe stomach aches during the school time, or even fever just as soon as the school bus arrives near the house for picking him up. Is it that your kid starts feeling giddy or sick as soon as he starts getting ready for school as soon as his parent wonders what is exactly going on with the child he starts feeling better as soon as he is allowed to stay home? So if you are one of the parents, whose kids do have all such problem or any other just in time, then you need to know that there is definitely something going wrong here. Maybe your kid doesn't wish to go school. The reason could be because he doesn't like it or doesn't enjoy so much going to school.

This is a common problem most of us face when kids go to school. Is it that kids go to school or we actually send them to school? Whatever may the answer be but the fact is not all children enjoy schooling as much the rest do. Schooling is all about learning, getting education and finishing the set standard curriculum, but maybe that's not each and every child in the school is looking for. May be each and every child out there has their own imagination which makes him ask for more, and then maybe the school that this child goes to does not work as her his or her expectation. So whatever be the reason, which definitely has to be one of them a kid may not enjoy going to school. But when such question arises whether or not why would a kid not enjoy going to school, can't we just ask ourselves whether or not we enjoyed going to school. If we did then why these kids don't? What has changed from then to today's circumstances? Or there is some other reason which we need to know, which makes kids uninterested in going to school?

It is not exactly a great thought to know that your kid does not enjoy going to school, but if you ignore this fact and forcibly keep sending him or her to school the problem worsen further. But then this doesn't mean that you ask your kid to stop quit school (which the kids would enjoy so much) and stay home. We all know that schooling is so important in life. But forceful schooling is not going to do any good. Though the fact remains unchanged that each and every individual needs to go to school, as it is very important for their personality development, gaining of knowledge and academic evaluation. But other than forcing a child to go to school a parent may just try to investigate the reasons for the child not liking the school at all. Like what goes wrong, or has it been like this before or even if there is some kind of trouble the child is facing.

Basic reasons why a child wouldn't like to go to school

Here are few basic and common reasons known to parents which are applicable to most of the children who don't like to go to school:

1. The child doesn't enjoy the schooling session.
2. The child finds schooling boring.
3. The child finds the curriculum and study material difficult enough to understand and hence avoids doesn't like to go to school.
4. The child has problem with few of his class-mates or doesn't have a healthy friendship with anyone which makes it hate school
5. Any other child bullies him and the child is terribly frightened. This is one of the common reasons which make kid hate school.
6. The regular punishments in school make him feel embarrassed in front of his class-mates.
7. The child is been teased either for his looks or his academic performance.
8. The child feels dumb as compared to other children in his or her class.
9. The child feels too exhausted with the study pressure
10. Maybe the child hates the way he or she is been treated in school by either his classmates or his teachers.
11. Few kids consider school as a prison and hence don't like it.
12. Most of the kids are exhausted or stressed out and hence don't enjoy schooling.

Each one of us need to understand that the above reasons only suggests that it is not the school they actually hate, but it mostly the circumstances or situations around the school that actually bug the kids.

Get to the root of problem

Parent has to first identify the root of the problem. Once you get to the root you know what you should or you can do about it. Other than forcing kids to school, maybe parents can think of different ways by which kids would start liking school. But for this it is very important that a parent tries to understand the real reason about why a kid doesn't like school and then help their children with liking school. However parents need to understand the root cause at the earliest, usually in early years of school or the problem can worsen further.

Handle the school bully

If your child is afraid of some other child in the school who bullies him in any way, then it's time that you put a stop to it. Either talk to the teacher about this bully or report to school authorities. If possible speak to this child's parents or even if that doesn't solve the issue then handle the bully yourself. In such cases you may also teach your child to about how they can handle the bully themselves. This will not only help them gain their confidence but also help them to gain some respect in front of their class mates.

Help your child to make friends in school

When children have good friends in school or a small group of friends in school, they enjoy schooling even better. So if your child's real problem is that he is not able to make friends, then maybe he needs your little help. Call over his classmates for a small snack party and allow them to spend some time. Or you can also make him join some activity class of his own interest where he may find kids of same interest, who can be good friends to him.

Try to make studies easy and understandable for your kids

In this case you may also need the school teacher to help you out with steps on how schooling can be made easy. Help your child with worksheets and easy examples which will make him understand the concept much better. Nowadays with internet we can also provide kids with additional resources and study materials with actual pictures and educational games which make studies as well as concept easier for kids.

Try and make schooling a fun-filled activity

Though this can look a bit difficult, but it is not impossible. Once you understand what your child is really interested in then maybe you can help him out to achieve it. Finally each and every child has to like something and dislike something. But it is more important to pay attention to their likings and provide them helps with that. Like for instance if a child wants to join the football session the school has before school, allow him to join that. This way a child would definitely make it to school and also make some friends of his own age group. However if a child hates a particular class but has joined out of pressure from you or his teacher, then that should be stopped immediately. This way a child would never find schooling boring.

Reward your child for 100% school attendance

If your child starts enjoying schooling sessions and does attend school regularly without even missing a single day in a month; then you should reward your child at the end of the month for doing so just to boost his confidence. This reward could be anything from a Ice-cream treat or small toy or anything else.

This way you would make it easier for child to enjoy schooling without any pressure. However if in any way you are not able to reach to the root of cause then an expert's advice is really needed. So don't just ignore the problem but in a way try to help your child to make schooling an enjoyable experience for him.

Choosing a right school for your children

If asked how to go about choosing the right school for your child what would you say?

It's a question that you should be asking yourself if your child is of schooling age, or is already in school and making the move from primary to secondary. And in asking the question it will throw up a myriad of additional questions that together can make for something of a mine field if you are doing it for the first time.

The first question to ask is: what sort of school did I attend and was it right for me? It may sound contrived but looking back at your own schooling can lead you to make some informed decisions. After all if you went to a school that was under funded or under resourced you wouldn't realistically expect your child to go there would you?

Most of us have been out of the schooling arena for some time and things have changed quite a lot so it is only reasonable to expect that nothing is necessarily as it was when you were at school. So make a checklist with your partner and work down that list to make an informed choice. 

Also don't just pick one school. In your area alone there may be 3, 4 or 5 schools that would be suitable for your child, so it is only right that you take the time to inspect them all, and judge them on their individual merits. Just because you like the look of one primary or secondary school doesn't mean that all of the others in your catchment area are the same.

School Visits

Visit the schools if you can. Use the opportunities presented by school open days to see what the school has to offer, or if you prefer, make an appointment yourself and take the time to tour the school with a senior teacher or head teacher who should be more than happy to answer all of your questions and show you parts of the school that open days might not allow. 

 

Talk to your child as they will almost certainly know children who attend the schools on your list. Find out from them what their friends think or ask their friends directly. You would be surprised at just how unbiased and informative children can be about their schooling.

Ask about the facilities and after school activities the schools have to offer. Remember that school is not only a place of learning but also a place where your child will learn the rudimentary skills of communication and how to mix with others. 

Speak to your local authority and ask about league tables and exam results, you can tell a lot from the league tables and exam results as to how well a school performs. 

If necessary make a shortlist of schools that you think may fit the bill and ask to visit them again. Sometimes a second look can throw up things that you may have missed first time round or that just didn't spark your interest at the time. Most schools will be happy to do this. Not only does it show you have your child's well being at heart, but it also allows you to familiarise yourself with the staff along the way.

Make notes - and lots of them - don't be afraid to ask your guide to repeat some information you may think relevant. After all you only have a certain amount of time to tour the school.

Observe how the teachers and pupils interact if you can and if you can manage to coincide your visit with the end of the school day don't be afraid to speak to parents who have come to collect their children. If you explain your reasons for asking them questions they will be more than happy to help. After all they will have been through the same process themselves at some stage.

And finally, and perhaps most important of all, take on board your child's comments and opinions. After all it is they who will be spending most of their time at school. If it looks right and feels right, then it more than likely will be, but if your child isn't going to be happy there then the whole process can only end in tears. 

In conclusion, finding the right school for your child is one of the most important tasks you as a parent will perform during their formative years. If you make the right choice and use your checklist then you will find your child will be happy, content and flourish in the pursuit of knowledge, which is one of the greatest gifts you as a parent will ever receive.

Methodology of Homeschools

Methodology

Homeschools use a wide variety of methods and materials. There are different paradigms, or educational philosophies, that families adopt including unit studies, Classical education (including Trivium, Quadrivium), Charlotte Mason education, Montessori method, Theory of multiple intelligences, Unschooling, Radical Unschooling, Waldorf education, School-at-home, A Thomas Jefferson Education, and many others. Some of these approaches, particularly unit studies, Montessori, and Waldorf, are also available in private or public school settings.

It is not uncommon for the student to experience more than one approach as the family discovers what works best for them. Many families do choose an eclectic approach. For sources of curricula and books, "Homeschooling in the United States: 2003"^[13] found that 78 percent utilized "a public library"; 77 percent used "a homeschooling catalog, publisher, or individual specialist"; 68 percent used "retail bookstore or other store"; 60 percent used "an education publisher that was not affiliated with homeschooling." "Approximately half" used curriculum or books from "a homeschooling organization", 37 percent from a "church, synagogue or other religious institution" and 23 percent from "their local public school or district." 41 percent in 2003 utilized some sort of distance learning, approximately 20 percent by "television, video or radio"; 19 percent via "Internet, e-mail, or the World Wide Web"; and 15 percent taking a "correspondence course by mail designed specifically for homeschoolers."

Individual governmental units, e. g. states and local districts, vary in official curriculum and attendance requirements.

Unit studies

The unit study approach incorporates several subjects, such as art, history, math, science, geography and other curriculum subjects, around the context of one topical theme, like water, animals, American slavery, or ancient Rome. For example, a unit study of Native Americans could combine age-appropriate lessons in: social studies, how different tribes lived prior to colonization vs. today; art, making patterns or artifacts influenced by Native American decorative crafts; history (of Native Americans in the U.S.); reading from a special reading list; and the science of plants used by Native Americans. 

Unit studies are particularly helpful for teaching multiple grade levels simultaneously, as the topic can easily be adjusted (i.e. from an 8th grader detailing and labeling a spider's anatomy to an elementary student drawing a picture of a spider on its web). As it is generally the case that in a given "homeschool" very few students are spread out among the grade levels, the unit study approach is an attractive option.

All-in-one curricula

All-in-one homeschooling curricula (variously known as "school-at-home", "The Traditional Approach", "school-in-a-box" or "The Structured Approach"), are methods of homeschooling in which the curriculum and homework of the student are similar or identical to what would be taught in a public or private school; as one example, the same textbooks used in conventional schools are often used. These are comprehensive packages that contain all of the needed books and materials for the whole year. These materials are based on the same subject-area expectations as publicly run schools which allows for easy transition back into the school system. These are among the more expensive options for homeschooling, but they require minimal preparation and are easy to use. Step-by-step instructions and extensive teaching guides are provided. Some include tests or access information for remote testing. Many of these programs allow students to obtain an accredited high school diploma.

Online education

Online resources for homeschooling include courses of study, curricula, educational games, online tests, online tutoring, and occupational training. Online learning potentially allows students and families access to specialized teachers and materials and greater flexibility in scheduling. Parents can be with their children during an online tutoring session. Finally, online tutoring is useful for students who are disabled or otherwise limited in their ability to travel. Several well-known programs for gifted children, who need differentiation in their curricular choices, are available: the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth http://cty.jhu.edu/about/index.html and Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth http://epgy.stanford.edu/ both provide challenging materials to students, including both self-paced courses with tutor support and online classroom-based courses. A commercial program of online study in all courses and at all grade levels is available from K12.com http://www.k12.com/. 

The K12 curriculum has been adopted by a number of public independent study charter schools throughout the country (see, for example, the California Virtual Academies at http://www.k12.com/cava/, where students use the K12 curriculum for credit under the supervision of a credentialed teacher). A number of other online high schools are also offering diplomas in many states, including some directed specifically at gifted students (see Stanford Online High School at http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/. 

Students can enroll in a full-time course load leading to a diploma or enroll in particular courses as part of their enrollment in another school or homeschool). Similarly, as more and more universities make content available online, homeschooled families are finding a wealth of materials available, primarily for use as self-study. Although teacher support is not usually provided in open courseware programs, families teaching their own children may, if the study met their requirements, grant credit for the work through their homeschools. The University of California at Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many other renowned universities have contributed materials in this area. Some commercial organizations publish university-level lecture series on a broad range of subjects. Although the companies typically offer no teacher support or credit, homeschool families can, depending on their legal method of homeschooling, grant credit for work that includes the use of these materials if mastery is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the parents or other persons with oversight responsibility.

Community resources

Homeschoolers often take advantage of educational opportunities at museums, libraries, community centers, athletic clubs, after-school programs, churches, science preserves, parks, and other community resources. Secondary school level students may take classes at community colleges, which typically have open admission policies. In many communities, homeschooling parents and students participate in community theater, dance, band, symphony, and choral opportunities

Groups of homeschooling families often join together to create homeschool co-ops. These groups typically meet once a week and provide a classroom environment. These are family-centered support groups whose members seek to pool their talents and resources in a collective effort to broaden the scope of their children's education. They provide a classroom environment where students can do hands-on and group learning such as performing, science experiments, art projects, foreign language study, spelling bees, discussions, etc. Parents whose children take classes serve in volunteer roles to keep costs low and make the program a success.

Certain states, such as Maine, Florida and New Mexico, have laws that permit homeschooling families to take advantage of public school resources. In such cases, children can be members of sports teams, be members of the school band, can take art classes, and utilize services such as speech therapy while maintaining their homeschool lifestyle.

Unschooling and natural learning

Some people use the terms "unschooling" or "radical unschooling" to describe all methods of education that are not based in a school.

"Natural learning" refers to a type of learning-on-demand where children pursue knowledge based on their interests and parents take an active part in facilitating activities and experiences conducive to learning but do not rely heavily on textbooks or spend much time "teaching", looking instead for "learning moments" throughout their daily activities. Parents see their role as that of affirming through positive feedback and modeling the necessary skills, and the child's role as being responsible for asking and learning.

The term "unschooling" as coined by John Holt describes an approach in which parents do not authoritatively direct the child's education, but interact with the child following the child's own interests, leaving them free to explore and learn as their interests lead."Unschooling" does not indicate that the child is not being educated, but that the child is not being "schooled", or educated in a rigid school-type manner. Holt asserted that children learn through the experiences of life, and he encouraged parents to live their lives with their child. Also known as interest-led or child-led learning, unschooling attempts to follow opportunities as they arise in real life, through which a child will learn without coercion. An unschooled child may utilize texts or classroom instruction, but these are not considered central to education. Holt asserted that there is no specific body of knowledge that is, or should be, required of a child

"Unschooling" should not be confused with "deschooling," which may be used to indicate an anti-"institutional school" philosophy, or a period or form of deprogramming for children or parents who have previously been schooled.

Both unschooling and natural learning advocates believe that children learn best by doing; a child may learn reading to further an interest about history or other cultures, or math skills by operating a small business or sharing in family finances. They may learn animal husbandry keeping dairy goats or meat rabbits, botany tending a kitchen garden, chemistry to understand the operation of firearms or the internal combustion engine, or politics and local history by following a zoning or historical-status dispute. While any type of homeschoolers may also use these methods, the unschooled child initiates these learning activities. The natural learner participates with parents and others in learning together^.

Autonomous learning

Autonomous learning is a school of education which sees learners as individuals who can and should be autonomous i.e. be responsible for their own learning climate.

Autonomous education helps students develop their self-consciousness, vision, practicality and freedom of discussion. These attributes serve to aid the student in his/her independent learning.

Autonomous learning is very popular with those who home educate their children. The child usually gets to decide what projects they wish to tackle or what interests to pursue. In home education this can be instead of or in addition to regular subjects like doing math or English.

According to Home Education UK the autonomous education philosophy emerged from the epistemology of Karl Popper in The Myth of the Framework: In Defence of Science and Rationality, which is developed in the debates, which seek to rebut the neo-Marxist social philosophy of convergence proposed by the Frankfurt School (e.g. Theodor W. Adorno Jürgen Habermas Max Horkheimer).

Homeschooling and college admissions

After secondary education is completed, many students choose to pursue higher education at established colleges and universities. Many students use standardized test scores to aid colleges in evaluating their educational background. The College Board suggests that homeschooled students keep detailed records and portfolios.

In the last several decades, US colleges and universities have become increasingly open to accepting students from diverse backgrounds, including home-schooled students.According to one source, homeschoolers have now matriculated at over 900 different colleges and universities, including institutions with highly selective standards of admission such as the US military academies, Rice University, Haverford College, Harvard University, Stanford University, Cornell University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Princeton University.

Many homeschooled students earn college credit through dual enrollment, by taking community college classes while in high school and, in some cases, while in Junior High School. Others choose to earn college credits through standardized tests such as the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and DANTES Subject Standard Tests (DSST)^.

Homeschool cooperatives

A Homeschool Cooperative is a cooperative of families who homeschool their children. It provides an opportunity for children to learn from other parents who are more specialized in certain areas or subjects. Co-ops also provide social interaction for homeschooled children. They may take lessons together or go on field trips. Some co-ops also offer events such as prom and graduation for homeschoolers.

Homeschoolers are beginning to utilize Web 2.0 as a way to simulate homeschool cooperatives online. With social networks homeschoolers can chat, discuss threads in forums, share information and tips, and even participate in online classes via blackboard systems similar to those used by colleges^.

Homeschool athletics

Early in the 21st century, a number of national and international organizations began oversight of sports exclusively for homeschool athletic teams. N.C.H.B.C. has organized a National Basketball Championship with over 350 teams competing through a network of regional qualifying competitions. Currently H.W.S.A. organizes a Baseball National Championship, N.H.S.V.B.T. in volleyball,N.H.S.C. in Soccer, and N.H.FA. in 8-man football. Additional structures are organizing national championships in tennis, and 11-man football. In 2005, the Central Virginia Homeschool Disciples became the first 11-man high school homeschool football team in the U.S.

In 1994, Jason Taylor was a homeschool football player in Pennsylvania who engaged a legal battle against the N.C.A.A. (the leading oversight association governing U.S. collegiate athletics) and its classification of homeschool athletes as essentially high school drop-outs. Taylor's legal victory has provided a precedent for thousands of other homeschool athletes to compete in colleges and attain the same opportunities in education and professional development that other athletes enjoy. Other homeschool students who have risen to the top of collegiate competition include N.C.A.A. 2005 champion tennis player, Chris Lam, Kevin Johnson of the Tulsa University basketball team, 2010-2011 Big South Player of the Year Jesse Sanders of the Liberty University Flames and the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow from the University of Florida .

In Texas, Six-Man Football has also been popular among homeschoolers, with at least five teams being fielded for the 2008-2009 season. Interestingly enough, the top 3 places in the Texas Independent State Championship (TISC, also referred to as "the Ironman Bowl) were claimed by homeschool teams. The Homeschool Sportsnet website lists several homeschool sports teams and organizations.

What is Home Schooling...?

Homeschooling or homeschool (also called home education or home based learning) is the education of children at home, typically by parents or by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school. Although prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most childhood education occurred within the family or community, homeschooling in the modern sense is an alternative in developed countries to attending public or private schools. Homeschooling is a legal option for parents in many countries, allowing them to provide their children with a learning environment as an alternative to public or private schools outside the home.

Parents cite numerous reasons as motivations to homeschool their children. The three reasons that are selected by the majority of homeschooling parents in the United States are concern about the school environment, to provide religious or moral instruction, and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at public and private schools. Homeschooling may also be a factor in the choice of parenting style. Homeschooling can be an option for families living in isolated rural locations, living temporarily abroad, to allow for more traveling, while many young athletes and actors are taught at home. Homeschooling can be about mentorship and apprenticeship, where a tutor or teacher is with the child for many years and then knows the child very well.

Homeschooling can be used as a form of supplementary education, a way of helping children learn, in specific circumstances. For instance, children that attend downgraded schools can greatly benefit from homeschooling ways of learning, using the immediacy and low cost of the Internet. As a synonym to e-learning, homeschooling can be combined with traditional education and lead to better and more complete results. Homeschooling may also refer to instruction in the home under the supervision of correspondence schools or umbrella schools. In some places, an approved curriculum is legally required if children are to be home-schooled.A curriculum-free philosophy of homeschooling may be called unschooling, a term coined in 1977 by American educator and author John Holt in his magazine Growing Without Schooling. In some cases, a liberal arts education is provided using the trivium and quadrivium as the main model.

History

For much of history and in many cultures, enlisting professional teachers (whether as tutors or in a formal academic setting) was an option available only to a small elite. Thus, until relatively recently, the vast majority of people were educated by family members (especially during early childhood).

The earliest compulsory education in the West began in the late 17th century and early 18th century in the German states of Gotha, Calemberg and, particularly, Prussia. However, even in the 18th century, the vast majority of people in Europe lacked formal schooling, which means they were homeschooled or received no education at all.The same was also true for colonial America and for the United States until the 1850s.Formal schooling in a classroom setting has been the most common means of schooling throughout the world, especially in developed countries, since the early and mid 19th century. Native Americans, who traditionally used homeschooling and apprenticeship, vigorously resisted compulsory education in the United States.

 In 1964, John Caldwell Holt published a book entitled How Children Fail which criticized traditional schools of the time. The book was based on a theory he had developed as a teacher – that the academic failure of schoolchildren was caused by pressure placed on children by adults. Holt began making appearances on major TV talk shows and writing book reviews for Life magazine In his follow-up work, How Children Learn, 1967, he tried to demonstrate the learning process of children and why he believed school short-circuits this process.

In these books Holt had not suggested any alternative to institutional schooling; he had hoped to initiate a profound rethinking of education to make schools friendlier toward children. As the years passed he became convinced that the way schools were was what society wanted, and that a serious re-examination was not going to happen in his lifetime.

Working in a similar vein was Rousas John Rushdoony who focused on education in America and was an advocate of homeschooling, which he saw as a way to combat the intentionally secular nature of the U.S. public school system. He vigorously attacked progressive school reformers such as Horace Mann and John Dewey and argued for the dismantling of the state's influence in education in three works: Intellectual Schizophrenia (a general and concise study of education), The Messianic Character of American Education (a history and castigation of public education in the U.S.), and The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum (a parent-oriented pedagogical statement). Rushdoony was frequently called as an expert witness by the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) in court cases.

During this time, the American educational professionals Raymond and Dorothy Moore began to research the academic validity of the rapidly growing Early Childhood Education movement. This research included independent studies by other researchers and a review of over 8,000 studies bearing on Early Childhood Education and the physical and mental development of children.

They asserted that formal schooling before ages 8–12 not only lacked the anticipated effectiveness, but was actually harmful to children. The Moores began to publish their view that formal schooling was damaging young children academically, socially, mentally, and even physiologically. They presented evidence that childhood problems such as juvenile delinquency, nearsightedness, increased enrollment of students in special education classes, and behavioral problems were the result of increasingly earlier enrollment of students. The Moores cited studies demonstrating that orphans who were given surrogate mothers were measurably more intelligent, with superior long term effects – even though the mothers were "mentally retarded teenagers" – and that illiterate tribal mothers in Africa produced children who were socially and emotionally more advanced than typical western children, "by western standards of measurement."

Their primary assertion was that the bonds and emotional development made at home with parents during these years produced critical long term results that were cut short by enrollment in schools, and could neither be replaced nor afterward corrected in an institutional setting. Recognizing a necessity for early out-of-home care for some children – particularly special needs and starkly impoverished children, and children from exceptionally inferior homes– they maintained that the vast majority of children are far better situated at home, even with mediocre parents, than with the most gifted and motivated teachers in a school setting (assuming that the child has a gifted and motivated teacher). They described the difference as follows: "This is like saying, if you can help a child by taking him off the cold street and housing him in a warm tent, then warm tents should be provided for all children – when obviously most children already have even more secure housing."

Similar to Holt, the Moores embraced homeschooling after the publication of their first work, Better Late Than Early, 1975, and went on to become important homeschool advocates and consultants with the publication of books like Home Grown Kids, 1981, Homeschool Burnout, and others.

At the time, other authors published books questioning the premises and efficacy of compulsory schooling, including Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, 1970 and No More Public School by Harold Bennet, 1972.

In 1976, Holt published Instead of Education; Ways to Help People Do Things Better. In its conclusion, he called for a "Children's Underground Railroad" to help children escape compulsory schooling. In response, Holt was contacted by families from around the U.S. to tell him that they were educating their children at home. In 1977, after corresponding with a number of these families, Holt began producing Growing Without Schooling, a newsletter dedicated to home education.

In 1980, Holt said, "I want to make it clear that I don't see homeschooling as some kind of answer to badness of schools. I think that the home is the proper base for the exploration of the world which we call learning or education. Home would be the best base no matter how good the schools were." Holt later wrote a book about homeschooling, Teach Your Own, in 1981.

One common theme in the homeschool philosophies of both Holt and the Moores is that home education should not be an attempt to bring the school construct into the home, or a view of education as an academic preliminary to life. They viewed it as a natural, experiential aspect of life that occurs as the members of the family are involved with one another in daily living.