Homeschooling: Something New or Something Old? This history of homeschooling in Minnesota was taken from early newsletters published by groups at the forefront of the modern homeschooling movement:
Institutional Schooling: A Brief Overview
The education system we know today is not the “long-standing tradition” you might think. Laws compelling children to attend institutional schools are a very modern development in human history, originating in Prussia around 1820. The Prussian model was transplanted to the United States shortly before the Civil War. Compulsory attendance laws were not universally adopted by the states until about 1920, and not universally enforced until roughly the 1940s.
Many alive today, especially from rural areas, remember the one-room schoolhouses where siblings attended side-by-side. Only in more recent generations did schools begin to segregate by age and to bus children in from surrounding areas. Adults in their 50s can probably recall the era before “kindergarten” was part of the school system. Even today, state compulsory attendance laws do not apply to children under the age of seven years - most parents don’t realize that kindergarten isn’t mandatory.
Well-known homeschoolers from prior generations, like Abe Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Margaret Mead clearly pre-date the current wave of modern homeschoolers, but homeschooling pre-dates modern institutional schooling by thousands of years. So I guess the answer to the question “Is homeschooling something new or something old?” is “Both.” It has truly always existed, but modern-day homeschooling has certainly achieved a new level of notoriety.
Homeschooling in Minnesota: The First Wave
The current homeschooling movement in Minnesota is about 25 years old. It began during a time in our state’s history when the only “legal” homeschoolers were licensed teachers. In June 1982, according to the Minnesota Department of Education, there were about 1000 children being educated at home.
The movement began as a way to organize homeschoolers - for support and for defense. It began with a newsletter called The Minnesota Home School Network in June 1982. Sharon Hillestad and Maggie Woods were its early editors. Sharon was a licensed teacher and was homeschooling her children. She could be public about homeschooling while many were still fighting in court for the right to homeschool.
By May 1983, the group was meeting regularly and was using the name Minnesota Home School Association. The newsletter shared information about homeschool friendly lawyers and which school districts were easiest to deal with. Homeschoolers across the country were apprehensive about organizing. They worried that it would draw unwanted attention from the state government and school districts, causing more trouble for them. Raymond and Dorothy Moore urged homeschoolers to stand together or risk getting picked off one by one.
Late in 1983, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled that the State’s compulsory attendance law was unconstitutional because it was “impermissibly vague.” This allowed many homeschoolers to avoid prosecution there. At that same time, Montana laws specifically permitted homeschooling - requiring certain courses to be taught, but allowing parents to choose the materials. There was no requirement for testing. South Dakota also allowed homeschooling, but carried a testing requirement.
By January 1984, The Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE) had splintered off from the original group. The Minnesota Home School Association changed its name to Minnesota Home School Network, hoping to avoid confusion. It was at this time that the group clearly defined itself as “open to all” and separate from the newly emerging groups of those who homeschooled primarily for religious reasons (which was a defense with some success in the courts at that time). The Minnesota Home School Network believed strongly that parents should have the right to homeschool their children for “educational reasons,” and should not be harassed by their school districts or the courts.
Homeschooling was emerging in the media. Dr. Raymond Moore appeared on the Donahue show in January 1984, and local homeschoolers were appearing on radio shows around the state. Seventy families belonged to the Minnesota Home School Network and were struggling to secure educational freedoms for all.
Homeschoolers met with legislators about their plight in March of 1984. The legislators were cordial and supportive, but they advised homeschoolers not to push for a homeschool law until the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on two homeschool cases pending before it. The legislators suggested, instead, that homeschoolers gather a committee to work with them on the specifics of a homeschool bill.
By August of that year, the MACHE group had over 270 families signed on. They scheduled workshops which included “defending yourself in court.” Over the next two years homeschoolers would show up for hearings at the capital and deluge their representatives with their views on pending education legislation.
In 1986, homeschooling was legal in 39 states. A task force was formed in Minnesota to develop new education laws in response to the Minnesota Supreme Court’s finding that existing law was unconstitutional. Interim laws had been established which would expire in June 1988. These interim laws required parents to report to their school districts, and prohibited public authorities from requiring more than the law specified.
In October 1986, the Network again changed its name, this time to the Basic Learning Network. This group pledged to support homeschooling and also to work to improve public education. Their emphasis was on educating the public about the reasons behind the plague of illiteracy.
By January 1990, Vivienne Edwards was editing the Grapevine newsletter for homeschoolers. From that mailing list grew the Minnesota Homeschoolers’ Alliance (MHA), which incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1991. The new group’s focus was placed squarely on support and networking opportunities for all homeschoolers regardless of religion, educational philosophy or reason for homeschooling. MHA also sought to provide a link among the smaller subsets of specialty groups to keep homeschoolers united and informed. The prior organization’s effort to improve public education was dropped in favor of the many other groups working in the public sector.
Today and Beyond
And now, by the year 2005 we have 17,000 children reported as homeschooling in Minnesota. (This is a conservative figure compiled by the Minnesota Department of Education, which only tracks children between the ages of 7 and 16 who formally report to their school districts as homeschoolers.) Local and regional homeschool support groups are commonplace. Homeschooling cooperatives have emerged across the state. Minnesota businesses are targeting the homeschool population with their marketing dollars. Bookstores and other businesses selling educational materials offer discounts to homeschooling parents.
The average “person on the street,” who ten years ago was likely to have heard of homeschooling, is now just as likely to know someone who homeschools - a neighbor, niece, nephew, or someone in their close circle of family and friends. The public is largely aware that you don’t have to be a teacher to homeschool, though some still assume that materials are provided by the school district. The general public worries about “socialization” and is comforted that Minnesota requires annual standardized testing for homeschoolers.
It would not be surprising if some day public schools have no more power over parents than the modern daycare system. We do not “report” to our local daycare center that we intend to care for our newborn at home. We are not “tested” annually to see that care is being given in precisely the same way that the government mandates for daycare centers. And we do not worry that changes in the daycare laws will affect our family or our home life.
Where it goes from here is largely up to homeschoolers themselves. As the state struggles to reform public schools, the education laws constantly come under scrutiny. There is always the potential for change that will impact homeschooling. We must remain diligent in the defense of our right to homeschool, and committed to our support of each other regardless of our differences.