Birth of a Free Market

The term "homeschooling" is a bit of a misnomer. To many people, the word conjures up a vision of mothers instructing their children around the kitchen table — a myth perpetuated by the media who invariably demand this particular image to accompany their stories.

The reality is far different. While instruction around the kitchen table does indeed occur in most homeschooling families, the flexibility and range of homeschooling encourages an enormous variety of alternative educational models. These models range from child-led, interest-based learning (unschooling) to the traditional, classroom model with professional teachers. They include distance learning, cooperative teaching arrangements between parents, commercial learning centers, and subject-specific tutors. Many young teenagers routinely take junior college or university courses. Others participate in the revival of apprenticing.

The homeschooling boom has not gone unnoticed by educational entrepreneurs. Homeschooling conferences attract huge numbers of vendors catering to the hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of families attending. Traditional curriculum vendors have repackaged their wares specifically for the homeschooling market. Homeschooling magazines and newsletters flourish while increasing in number. Organizations providing paid support (curriculum counseling, bureaucratic paperwork assistance and legal support) for homeschooling families continue to spring up.