By Ong Hui Pheng

Home-schooling has gained popularity in recent years. According to the "Home-schooling in the United States: 2003" survey report conducted by the National Centre for Education Statistics, " approximately 1.1 million students (1,096,000) were being home-schooled in the United States in the spring of 2003", with the percentage of the entire student population who were being home-schooled increasing from 1.7 to 2.2 percent 1. The main reason for home-schooling was concern about the environment of schools and issues such as safety, drugs, and negative peer pressure (85%). Other commonly cited reasons include: provision of religious or moral instruction (72%) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68%)2. Some parents chose to home-school their children with physical or learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, to give them more attention.

Singapore has yet to catch on to the home-schooling movement in the United States. The number of home-schooled children is relatively small, albeit on the rise. The home-schooling programme in Singapore officially started in 1996. In 2008, 607 year-olds were educated away from schools, double that in 2003 and there was a total number of 280 primary school-aged children being home-schooled4. The parents of home-schooled children in Singapore are generally middle class, well-educated Christians who want their children's education to focus on values and character development5. They usually adopt curriculum packages designed for home-schoolers from other countries. Home-school parents also make use of the abundant home-schooling resources available online.

According to the Singapore Compulsory Education Act (which commenced on 1 January 2003), although home-schooled children are exempted from compulsory education, they have to meet a certain Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) benchmark and sit for the National Education Quiz before PSLE6. Parents are also required to obtain the Ministry of Education's approval to home-school their children. More information can be found from the Ministry of Education (MOE) website

The following are some resources from the National Library Singapore on home-schooling.

The writer is a librarian at the National Library of Singapore.

Books

All rights reserved, Harvard Business Press, 2009

Kingdom of children: Culture and controversy in the homeschooling movement Author:Stevens, Mitchell L. Publisher: Princeton, N.J.; Woodstock: Princeton University Press, 2001. Call Number:R 371.0420973 STE (Available for reference at the National Library) This book provides an in-depth analysis of the modern day home-schooling movement that has swept across the United States. Stevens interviews a mix of parents from fundamentalist Christians to pagans and educational radicals and discovers two very diverse kinds of home-school education, one that is secular in nature and the other which stems from the Christian day school movement. Both can be traced back to the same era - the 1960s. A must read for those interested in home-schooling.

All rights reserved, Gower, 2009

More Charlotte Mason education: A Home schooling how-to manual Author: Levison, Catherine. Publisher:Beverly Hills, Calif.: Champion Press, c2000. Call Number:R 371.042 LEV (Available for reference at the National Library) Charlotte Mason was a British educator who invested her life in improving the quality of children's education. Mason's philosophy of education is best summarised in one key motto: "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life" and her motto for students is, "I am, I can, I ought, I will.". The Charlotte Mason Method was widely adopted by homeschool parents I Britain. Although some parts of this book can be highly opinionated, Levison offers an overview of Charlotte Mason's philosophy and provides advice on how to implement the method, while providing quotes from Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series.

See also:

You may also be interested in these books from the National Library and the public libraries. To check on the availability of the listed books, you can do a search on our online catalogue at http://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/

Learning without school: Home education

Author: Mountney, Ross
Publisher: London; Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009.
Call No.: R 371.042 MOU For Reference Only

A Charlotte Mason education: A Home-schooling how-to manual

Author: Levison, Catherine.
Publisher: Beverly Hills, Calif.: Champion Press, c2000.
Call No.: 371.042 LEV

The homeschooling option: How To Decide when it's right for your family

Author: Rivero, Lisa.
Publisher: New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Call No.: 371.042 RIV

Journal articles

My Parents, My Sensei: Compulsory Education and a Homeschooling Alternative in Japan

Author: Kemble, Benjamin G.

Publisher: Texas International Law Journal. Austin: Winter 2005. Vol. 40, Iss. 2; pg. 335, 17 pgs

Full article available from ProQuest Central database

Kemble provides an overview of the history of compulsory education in Japan and suggests the exigency for official recognition of home-schooling as an alternative to public schooling. While the compulsory education law implies the exclusion of children of foreigners living in Japan and handicapped children, home-schooling is not a clearly defined option in Japan. The school refusal syndrome and rampant cases of school bullying in Japan's education system however has propelled some Japanese parents to home-school their children.

Home Schooling and Developmental Education: Learning from Each Other

Author: Bannier, Betsy J.

Publisher: Research & Teaching in Developmental Education. Canandaigua: Spring 2007. Vol. 23, Iss. 2; pg. 62, 7 pgs

Full article available from ProQuest Central database

The findings of various independent studies show that home-schooled students consistently outperform their classroom-schooled peers. Bannier interviews 11 home-schooling parents to find out the home-schooling practices that developmental education practitioners can adopt into the education framework. The home-schooling parents' emphasis on complete mastery of subject materials, long term retention of concepts, curriculum evaluation and learning style accommodation were identified as practices worthy of further attention.

All the above articles can be viewed from the National Library Digital Library. Visit http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg then search or browse for "ProQuest" and "EbscoHost" You are required to login to the eResources before using the databases.

Websites

National Home Education Research Institute
http://www.nheri.org/

National Home Education Research Institute is the leading research institute on home-schooling. Its key publication, "Home School Researcher", chronicles current research on home-schooling. Its website provides access to some basic facts and in-depth research findings relating to home-schooling.

Holt Associates: Growing without schooling

http://www.holtgws.com/

Holt Associates Inc. publishes the works of John Holt, the author of ten books about education, including the classic text of the 1960's school reform movement, How Children Fail. He founded Growing Without Schooling magazine in 1977. The magazine ended with the November/December 2001 issue. This organisation is secular in nature and supports home-schooling families of various religious backgrounds.

Simply Charlotte Mason
http://simplycharlottemason.com/

Charlotte Mason, the British educator whose philosophy of education has been widely adopted by home-school parents, advocates the use of living books instead of dry, factual textbooks. "Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style." This website, set up by home-school families, shares information on the Charlotte Mason (CM) philosophy and explains how the CM method can be adopted, along with a suggested list of living books.

New Arrivals

All rights reserved, Kogan Page, 2008

The homeschooling book of lists Author: Leppert, Michael. Publisher:San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, c2008. Call Number:R 371.042 LEP (Available for reference at the National Library) Written by experienced home-schooled parents, this book provides useful and practical resources on home-schooling. Leppert shares essential background information on home-schooling and provides an overview of the various home-schooling methods, resources and curricula available.

Please check the availability of the materials at: http://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg

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