Should home schooling be renamed "Family Based Education"?

Question

Considering the number of outside activities most homeschoolers are involved in and that homeschoolers are able to use the whole world as their classroom, shouldn't homeschooling be renamed to reflect what it really is: Family based (as opposed to institution based) education?

This might help resolve the misconception that most homeschoolers are socially isolated and that they spend all of their time at home, which in most cases is the opposite of the truth.

I choose family based because the family decides what, when, where, how, and by whom the child is taught as opposed to an institution.

FYI: The supreme Court has ruled that once a child is enrolled in a public school the parent relinquishes any right to make those decisions.

Glurpy
I actually worded that kind of poorly. That ruling applies during the time the child is enrolled in public schools.

Parents can still choose to pull their child from school and use a private school or homeschool.

I don't know if it's the same in Canada or not. You could check the Home School Legal Defense Association for Canada. They are likely to have that info on their website. Here is a link in case you don't have it:

http://www.hslda.ca/

John M

I can see that you have really been thinking about this. And I like the idea fo home-based learning too.

Unfortunately, the phrase Community-based learning is already taken by the public school system. (I know because my dad was a public school teacher for many years)

They use the term for programs which they want to look like attempts to involve the community as a whole in schools. (Most of the time however, those programs are simply excuses to bring the viewpoints of special interest groups into the schools undetected.

The other concern is that the use of the word community implies that the community at large should have a say in how parents educate their children.

Many have you have expressed the idea that the words we use in referring to homeschooling doesn't matter and won't change public perception but such statements are in accurate.

Public schools were initially called common schools implying they were only for the common (poor) people. Thus rich and middle class families rarely sent thier children sent their children to government funded schools. Later when they changed the name from common schools to community schools it bcame more common for children from middle class families to attend.

When the schools were called community schools the people still had a lot of say in what was taught at those schools.

After the community schools were renamed public schools individuals slowly withdrew from the day to day decision making and the ability of parents to have a say in their children's education was slowly chipped away one piece at a time.

A name is not just words. It can have a dramatic influence on public perception.

Answer 1

Yes, lets start a campaign to change it. I will start using it and clarify the difference to anyone who inquires.

"No, we are a Family-Based Educational set-up. We go on field-trips at least once a week, I know your public school can't afford that. We also get our winter PE skiing, summer kayaking, and manage to rock climb this year too. There is piano, guitar, taekwondo lessons, soccer teams, ballet and Scouting too, and we don't have to choose just one of them to fit after our school time."

They'll say they thought home schoolers all stayed in their homes with the shades down all day being antisocial! Give me a break! The name says it all, home is just a base for their learning.

Answer 2

Yes, homeschooling should certainly be renamed. The name is definitely not "just words" as Craig said. It does help continue the awful stereotype of lonely kids chained to the kitchen table, doing traditional school-type stuff.

I've thought quite a bit about what a good name would be, and "family-based education" and "home-based education" are two that I've thought of. But I prefer the word "learning" rather than "education", and I also prefer something broader than "home" or "family". One that I came up with is "world learning", but that's too vague. I think the best I've come up with so far is "community-based learning".

Answer 3

I like your term, family-based education. It's certainly more accurate than Home schooling....
But we don't use the term homeschoolers very often. We usually say home educators, or we learn at home, life learners or even " almost unschoolers". We do child led learning and lots of hands on stuff, so I've never liked homeschool as a way to describe what we do. It sounds like we do school at home, and that's not the way we do things at our house. If that was what was best for us, the kids would be in school, not here.

Answer 4

I like that! "Family-Based Education." Has a nice ring to it. I didn't know that about the Supreme Court ruling. I wonder if it's the same here in Canada...

ADDED: I understood what you meant. It's just that here, parents do all kinds of things to make sure their kids get a certain teacher, they can refuse to have their kids undergo standardized tests and more! It's always been an issue among parents as to whether or not parents legally have the right to do those things...

Answer 5

I agree that home schooling is misleading, but so is family based education - that says that it has to be a family member doing the teaching. What about when its a group of home-taught children being taught by a tutor? Maybe calling it "home-based education" instead of just "home schooling" would work better.

Answer 6

There is a difference between SCHOOL and LEARNING, so the word "homeschool'' is NOT a word that describes my family. I like "natural learning," "child-led learning," interest driven learning" or "family learning."

I want to focus on the LEARNING even if that means avoiding SCHOOLY things.

I like that quote by John Holt: "Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns.Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all we need to do, is bring as much of the world as we can into the school and classroom (in our case, into their lives); give children as much help and guidance as they ask for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."

I even like the word UNschooling better than homeSCHOOL...

Answer 7

First of all, it should be "Family-Based" not "Family Based".

Second, it's just words. "Home Schooling" is a well-established term that identifies what we do.

Third, your attempt to contrast family-based with institution-based is not helpful for two reasons. First, "family" and "institution" are less comparable than "home" and "institution". Second, public education is not called "institution-based" so there's no point creating a parallel term to describe home schooling.

So if public education was called "professional teacher based", then "family based" would be a good alternative. But it's not.

Finally, I think you're understanding of the supreme court decision you cite is a little off. It's not that you give up your right to "decide what, when, where, how, and by whom the child is taught" when you put the child in a public school, but rather you HAVE decided what, when, where, how, and by whom the child is taught and you can't expect to go in and micromanage the way that decision is implemented.

I like the description of home schooling as "family based" but I don't think it's necessary to press for a change of terminology.

Answer 8

sounds good to me, I like it.
but as far as the term being able to resolve misconceptions? That simply won't happen because most of those that do not understand "family based" (sans the hyphen, lol) education choose to not understand.
Those that want to understand will ask questions and actually listen to the answers no matter what you call it.
but still, it's nice, very modern, I like it.

Answer 9

But what about socialization? (LOL, only kidding)

Yes, "Family Based Education" sounds good to me. Our learning is family learning. Our family has learned since we brought our son out of the institution.

Answer 10

I think that naming it Family Based Education is incorrect. I myself am in homeschooling, but my parents don't teach me. A certified teacher comes to teach at my house.