A Brief History of Homeschooling - Coalition for Responsible Home Education

The modern homeschool movement began in the 1970s when John Holt, an educational theorist and supporter of school reform, began arguing that formal schools’ focus on rote learning created an oppressive classroom environment designed to make children compliant employees. Holt called for parents to liberate their children from formal education and instead follow a method today known as “unschooling.” Early Holt followers connected through Holt’s newsletter, Growing Without Schooling, which was founded in 1977.Soon after Holt’s arguments inspired the first homeschoolers, Holt’s friend educational theorist Raymond Moore added his voice, arguing that early schooling was detrimental to children and that children should be schooled at home until age eight or nine in order to give them a firm educational, psychological, and moral foundation. Moore’s 1981 Home Grown Kids quickly became popular and was often the first book homeschoolers read.When Holt and Moore first began advocating homeschooli...