I attended Wheaton College in Illinois, majoring in Philosophy and Literature. After a year on a farm in New Hampshire I married my wife Elizabeth and we went to Yale Divinity School to study philosophical theology there. While there I took a summer New Testament Greek course that fascinated me so much that I shifted my emphasis to Church History and classical languages. But learning the classics is hard work! As I was slaving over Greek and Latin conjugations and declensions I asked myself, “didn’t people learn this stuff when they were kids long ago? Why don’t we learn the classics in schools now?” So I enrolled in a course in the history of American education to find out what happened to the classics.
I did find that out, but I also discovered a fascinating new topic. Our family moved to Bloomington, IN, where I enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the history of American education. My doctoral dissertation ended up being a history of the discipline itself–a history of history of education, published in 2003 under the title American Educational History Revisited. One of the things I noted there and in other publications was that historians of education have not paid sufficient attention to forms of education outside of the public school system.
After graduate school I was hired by Messiah College to teach in the education department. At the same time our family was growing (we now have four children) and my thoughts about educational options were beginning to have profoundly personal implications. As a result both of my professional observation that the discipline of educational history needed more work in alternative modes of schooling and my personal interest in the topic of homeschooling, I decided to write a history of this educational option.
The results of what became a six year project were published in the summer of 2008 by Palgrave MacMillan under the title Homeschool: An American History
Did (do) you homeschool your children?
At present the oldest two of our four children are enrolled in a cybercharter, one is in second grade at the neighborhood public school, and one in kindergarten. We tend toward a pragmatic view of these matters–whatever seems to be best for each child given their individual circumstances. Our eldest daughter, for example, is involved in a very intensive ballet program in Carlisle, PA and was accelerated two grades in school because of her high test scores. For both of those reasons she and we decided together that homeschooling would be the best move for now. We also decided together that the cybercharter would be best for her because she likes the curriculum and especially the extra activities (leadership retreats on college campuses, field trips with other enrollees, etc.).
Dr. Gaither,
My name is John Press. I am a doctoral student in the History of Education Department at New York University. Your American Educational History Revisited is a very important and beautiful work. Our dismissal of our predecessors and progress harms the profession immensely. It likely harms our nation too. Your work should be required reading in every educational history program.
Thanks so much, John Press
pressjohn@hotmail.com
http://www.culturism.us
Hello. I homeschool my three kids here in Charlottesville, VA, and I’m so very glad to have stumbled upon your blog! You do a truly commendable job of even-handedly summariing, contextualizing and critiquing the articles and resarch you cover. Thanks very much for this valuable service. I will check in often, and have passed the link to your blog on to our local (450 families) homeschooling group members.
Hi Milton,
Elizabeth told me at lunch today to look up your blog, and I’m impressed! I was laboring under the delusion that “research” showed that, now that there’s been a generation of people who have been through homeschooling, they’ve turned out to be more confident and better able to function in variety of new situations. Elizabeth set me straight straight away.
I find it really intriguing that some of the most intelligent, accomplished, well-educated women I know have turned to homeschooling (and not for religious fundamentalist reasons), including Jenny, Lisa, Karin, and of course, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth also tells me I should buy your book, which I will do if you promise to autograph it.
My wife and I turned to home schooling upon the birth of our first child in 1980, before we knew there was anyone else out there doing it. We made the decision because we knew God would ultimately hold us, not the state or the church, responsible for the rearing of our children; thus, our reason was “religious.” I recognize that there are legitimate “non-religious” reasons for turning to home education, but I find it narrow when some don’t recognize religious, even fundamentalist, motivations as legitimate impulses for making decisions about the education of children. Do only non-religious motivations count? Perhaps religiously motivated people should not be allowed to rear their children, or vote, as one of my colleagues here at Emory suggested.
Delighted to discover your blog, Milton. It’s time to add it to my standard reading list.
Glad you found it Scott! Comment any time!
Whoa! You might be the most balanced, sane, and intelligent homeschooler I have ever run across. I… I… I… didn’t know that people like you existed. I am however, very familiar with the Casey Patrick Cochrans of this world.
Enjoying your blog, looking forward to picking up a copy of your book as well. Best regards!