Education Without School

  The history of home education in America dates back to the colonial era, when parents often taught their children at home due to the lack of formal schools in many areas. However, the practice of home schooling, as we know it today, did not become widespread until the latter half of the 20th century. During the colonial period, many families lived in rural areas where no schools existed. In these cases, parents had no other choice than teaching children themselves, or, if wealthy enough, hire a tutor to teach them. This was a common practice among the upper and middle classes, who could afford it. The first known instance of homeschooling in America occurred in the early 1600s, when Puritan settlers in New England began educating at home. At the time, these settlers believed that education was a religious duty, and that children should be taught to read the Bible and understand religious doctrine. This emphasis on religious education continued throughout the colonial period, with...

".....students being shamed, embarrassed, harassed, brutalized, drugged, inflicted with boredom, or just plain ignored — and they remembered these experiences far more vividly than anything they were ever ostensibly taught."- from David Albert's introduction to Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto.       Perhaps you remember specific lessons from your school days. I know I do. For many decades, one memory that has stayed with me is one of my high school algebra teacher throwing the book at me. I mean, he quite literally threw the textbook at me. Why? Because I  frustrated him, I suspect. He always asked me to "show my work," and I always jumped ahead to the answer, skipping the "work." The responses were correct, but that didn't seem to matter to him. I wasn't following his specific directions, and he expressed his frustration by throwing the textbook across the room at me! Then he flunked me in al...