Homeschooling: The Ultimate Personalized Environment

We are living in the Information Age—an era in which teachers appreciate the need for personalized education more than ever before (Fraser, 2007). As part of this trend, educators are inquiring about homeschooling advantages because they demonstrate the ultimate personalized schooling environment. For the purposes of this chapter, a personalized education means adapting instruction to each individual student so that it varies according to the student’s needs. This individualization may affect pace, time, and/or place of learning. Homeschooling, by definition, is an environment where personalized learning can thrive (Orr, 2003). One of the reasons for homeschooling’s increased popularity is that it is perceived as the ultimate personalized educational environment. In addition, unlike education in public schools, there is no negative relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES), parental education level, and the academic outcomes of their children. As Short (2010) states: