| Although the history of homeschooling can be | | | | debate. |
| traced back for many hundreds of years, and | | | | |
| you will often here Aristotle quoted as being | | | | Raymond Moore for example, a devout Christian |
| the father of homeschooling for his efforts | | | | and ex-missionary, voiced the concerns of |
| in tutoring Alexander the Great, it was not | | | | many parents about the lack of spiritual and |
| really until the second half of the twentieth | | | | moral guidance being given by our public |
| century that homeschooling as we know it | | | | schools and about the growing level of |
| today was born. | | | | violence. Moore proposed that parents should |
| | | | take control over the education of their |
| During the 1960s people began to speak out | | | | children and should focus not simply upon |
| openly about the problems of the public | | | | academic achievement, but should also upon |
| school system and three people in particular | | | | ensuring that their children are taught the |
| were heard above the crowd. | | | | values which they will need if they are to be |
| | | | productive and valued members of our society. |
| The first was an Ivy League graduate who had | | | | |
| sought to change the system from the inside | | | | There was also a third extremely influential |
| but, when he discovered that this a case of | | | | voice raised at this time. Ayn Rand, a |
| bashing his head against a brick wall, he | | | | novelist and philosopher, did not speak or |
| began what was to become a twenty year period | | | | write specifically on the subject of |
| during which he wrote extensively on the | | | | homeschooling at any length but gave birth to |
| subject of education in general and | | | | the modern libertarian movement. Out of this |
| homeschooling in particular. | | | | movement a political party was born which, |
| | | | amongst other things, opposes a state |
| John Holt was perhaps the most influential | | | | sponsored education system and espouses an |
| voice in those early days and his many books, | | | | education system which focuses on the child |
| starting with 'How Children Fail' in 1964, | | | | as an individual and seeks to develop that |
| are still in print and are widely read today. | | | | child's innate creativity. |
| Proposing a system which moved away from the | | | | |
| authoritarian attitude of the public schools | | | | These three voices together, while stemming |
| and the importance of curricula and | | | | from very different philosophies, were all |
| schedules, John Holt focused his attention on | | | | singing from the same hymn book and gave |
| the innate curiosity of the child and sought | | | | birth to the idea behind modern |
| to structure learning around the interests | | | | homeschooling. This is s simple idea which |
| and talents of each individual child. | | | | places the intellectual and moral development |
| | | | of our children at the center of modern |
| But John Holt was not a lone voice and others | | | | education. |
| too made a valuable contribution to the | | | | |