Music Education and Homeschooling

This post reviews Jeananne Nichols, “Music Education in Homeschooling: Jamie’s Story” in Margaret S. Barrett and Sandra L. Stauffer, Narrative Soundings: An Anthology of Narrative Inquiry in Music Education (2012), pp. 115-128.

Nichols, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Music, here uses the experiences of one Arizona homeschooler to get leverage on the options homeschoolers have for music education. 

Read Full Post »

A Young Scholar looks at Homeschooler Attitudes toward Tests and Socialization

This post briefly reviews Lisa Bergstrom, “What Effect Does Homeschooling Have on the Social Development and Test Scores of Students?” (M.A. Thesis: U of Wisconsin-Superior, 2012). [available here]

This Master’s Thesis covers very familiar terrain in the world of homeschooling research.  Bergstrom begins with a very cursory and idiosyncratic lit review, revealing that when she first started looking into homeschooling she was going to focus on its negative aspects.  But reading some literature made her more positive about the phenomenon. 

Read Full Post »

A Peek Inside of Four Homeschools

This post reviews Kenneth V. Anthony and Susie Burroughs, “Day to Day Operations of Home School Families: Selecting from a Menu of Educational Choices to meet Students’ Individual Instructional Needs.” in International Education Studies, 5, no. 1 (February 2012): 1-17. [Available fulltext here]

Anthony, an instructor at Mississippi University for Women, and Burroughs, a professor of education at Mississippi State, here describe the daily activities of four homeschooling families, all of whom are part of the same classical education co-op in a “southeastern U.S.” state, which I presume to be Mississippi.

Read Full Post »

Austin Mahone–teen hearthrob, homeschooler

I just came across this interesting article about rising Youtube phenom Austin Mahone.  He’s yet another example of people choosing homeschooling when celebrity creates problems at school.  Money quote:

He moved to San Antonio that spring, when his mom and stepdad divorced (his biological father died when he was a toddler), and his celebrity quickly spread through the school. “Day one was pretty good,” he said. “I was the new guy. Second day, people were like, ‘Aren’t you that kid on YouTube?’ Third day, tons of people were asking me questions. Fourth day, I couldn’t eat lunch, so many people had questions. ‘How did you get started?’ ‘Will you follow me on Twitter?’ It was crazy. The guys hated me ’cause the girls wanted me. By the fifth day, I was eating lunch and they wouldn’t leave me alone, so I went into the bathroom and called my mom; I was like, ‘Mom, get me out of here.’ She got a call from the principal, who said, ‘Is there something about your son you want to tell me?’ Apparently she told him, ‘He’s on YouTube. I didn’t think it was any big deal.’ But it was all around school. Girls would call their friends and have me talk to them on the phone or take pictures of me from behind, and I’d see them later on Facebook. So I left on the fifth day and now I’m homeschooled.

Read Full Post »

Homeschooling in Albania

This post reviews Timothy Hagen, “Free to Learn: The Rationale for Legalizing Homeschooling in Albania” in Central European Journal of Public Policy 5, no. 2 (December 2011): 50-85 [available fulltext here]

Hagen, a professor of economics at Epoka University in Albania, here offers what is I think the first ever article about homeschooling in that country. 

Read Full Post »