Homeschool Fever

Pre-1850s - Many children are educated in private schools or in the home; grammar schools are available in many larger towns, but attendence is not forced.  Parents had the right to choose and it wasn’t questioned!

1842 - Charlotte Mason is born in England

1852 - Massachusettes declares a compulsary education law for all

Mid-1800s - McGuffey Readers are a popular choice for educating at home

1870’s - PNEU (Parent’s Educational Union) formed in England

1870 - By now, all 50 states provided free elementary school

1885 - C Mason gives series of lectures, later published as Home Education

1891 - C Mason moves to Ambleside, England

1891 - C Mason establishes House of Education to train teachers

1893 - Dorothy Sayers is born

1912 - The School in Your Home (Berle) asserts that mass education has failed

1918 - Compulsory education attendence laws now enacted in all 50 states

1920s - debates begin over how to properly enforce compulsory attendance in schools

1923 - C Mason dies

1923 - John Holt, Father of Unschooling, is born

1948 - Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares compulsory education a “human right”

1955 - Mary Pride, renown homeschooling author, is born

1960s - The Moores begin to research the validity of formal early childhood education

1964 - J Holt first publishes How Children Fail

1967 - How Children Learn (Holt) is publised

1970s - The modern homeschool and “deschooling” movement quietly begins in America

1975 - Better Late than Early (Moores);  asserted formal education should be postponed til later in childhood

1977 - Growing Without Schooling (Holt) magazine first published

1977 - J Holt coins the term “unschooling”

1980s - Homeschool movement begins in force with much grassroots and pioneering efforts underway

1983 - Homeschool Legal Defense Association founded

1985 - J Holt dies

1986 - The Big Book of Home Learning, Volume 1 (Pride) is published

1989 - Homeschooling is now legal in all 50 states

1991 - John Taylor Gatto, NY State’s ‘91 teacher of the year, announces his reason for retirement

1994 - H.R.6 Bill defeated; if passed it would have potentially required all teachers (even homeschoolers) to be certified

2000 - Patrick Henry College opens; first college specifically for homeschooled Christian students