Klein and Poplin on Virtual Charter Schools

This post reviews Carol Klein and Mary Poplin, “Families Home Schooling in a Virtual Charter School System” in Marriage and Family Review 43, nos. 3&4 (2008): 369-395.

Klein,  a Teacher on Special Assignment in Anaheim, CA, and Poplin, Professor of Education at Claremont Graduate University, here offer the results of a survey Klein conducted of parents whose children are enrolled in the California Virtual Academies (CAVA). 

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Jones on Religious Schools and Homeschools

This post reviews Steven L. Jones, Religious Schooling in America: Private Education and Public Life (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008).

Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology at Grove City College, here offers a fascinating book about the history of private religious education in America.  It’s not a straightforward chronological history but rather a thematic look, showing in chapter after chapter how common themes have animated the Catholic school movement of the 19th century, the Jewish day school movement of the mid 20th century, and the Protestant day school and homeschool movements of the more recent past. 

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Uecker on Homeschooling and Religious Commitment

This post reviews Jeremy E. Uecker, “Alternative Schooling Strategies and the Religious Lives of American Adolescents” in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47, no. 4 (December 2008): 563-584 [Abstract available here].

Uecker, a Ph.D. candidate at the U of Texas at Austin and author of many interesting articles on young adult religion and sexuality, here examines data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to determine whether Catholic schooling, Protestant schooling, or homeschooling have any impact on the religious lives of American teens. 

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Malcolm Gladwell’s OUTLIERS and Homeschooling, part 2

In my previous post I briefly described Gladwell’s thesis and drew some implications for homeschooling out of some of the examples from his new bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success.  Here I’d like to do more of the same.

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Malcolm Gladwell’s OUTLIERS and Homeschooling, part I

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success(New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2008 ) aims to debunk the common mythology of self-made greatness, arguing instead that behind every great man or woman is a host of factors we often don’t think about that made his or her success possible.  The book is not directly about homeschooling at all, but many of its examples and insights are highly relevant to homeschooling.  

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