Homeschool: An American History [Paperback]

Milton Gaither (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0230606008 | ISBN-13: 978-0230606005 | Publication Date: June 24, 2008 | Edition: First Edition

This is a lively account of one of the most important and overlooked themes in American education. Beginning in the colonial period and working to the present, Gaither describes in rich detail how the home has been used as the base for education of all kinds. The last five chapters focus especially on the modern homeschooling movement and offer the most comprehensive and authoritative account of it ever written. Readers will learn how and why homeschooling emerged when it did, where it has been, and where it may be going.

Please visit Gaither's blog here: http://gaither.wordpress.com/homeschool-an-american-history/

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a thoughtful, capacious account of what is surely among the most important educational movements of our time. Home education is not only or even primarily about the quality of children's academic instruction. It illuminates far larger problems in American society: the contradiction between home and work for contemporary mothers; disagreements about the proper place of religion in civic and political life; and the puzzle of cultural difference and its ethical accommodation in formal organizations of all kinds. Gaither understands all of this and makes it clear by locating home education within the broad coordinates of U.S. cultural history."--Mitchell L. Stevens, New York University; Author of Kingdom of Children

"Set within the broad contours of educational, religious, political, cultural, and economic history, Homeschool describes in rich detail home-based education in early America and the forces and individuals that have shaped the modern homeschool movement. General readers and scholars alike will find this finely crafted, informative, and at times provocative work an invaluable resource for understanding why a growing number of parents are choosing to teach their children at home."--James C. Carper, University of South Carolina

"While compelling quantitative research on homeschooling remains rare, quality scholarship in this area does exist.  The finest example of such work is Milton Gaither's Homeschool: An American History. Besides being the best historical analysis available, Gaither's text deserves recognition as the most thoroughly researched, comprehensive look at the topic altogether."  --Robert Kuzman, Books & Culture

About the Author

Milton Gaither is Associate Professor of Education at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. He has published several articles and one book, American Educational History Revisited: A Critique of Progress.  He resides in Mechanicsburg, PA, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children Rachel, Aidan, Susanna, and Macrina.

Please visit Gaither's blog here: http://gaither.wordpress.com/homeschool-an-american-history/

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230606008
• ISBN-13: 978-0230606005
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating History, March 3, 2009

By 

T. Hough (Carlisle, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeschool: An American History (Paperback)

Well-written, the research in this book is great, and the incorporation of what I would call anecdotal historic trivia makes the book wonderfully approachable and applicable and accessible. The book is laid-out well and focused, and is a really fast read, which is an impressive feat when you're tackling such a potentially dry subject. The author, as noted, is a professor, and, if he teaches anything like he writes, his students are mighty fortunate.

My only complaint would have to be the cover. It belies the author's witty, congenial and accessible writing style.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great History of Homeschooling!!!, January 12, 2009

By 

A. Baia "abdesigns" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeschool: An American History (Paperback)

This book was so much more than just the history of Homeschooling, to me it seemed to also be a great history of the American family as well. It's amazing how the American family, and educational system has changed so radically. I have a new understanding of how family worked at the beginning of our nation. This book also gives the reader a new understanding of the different thoughts and reasons for homeschooling in our current times. Not only did I glean a new understanding of the homeschooling world and it's history, the writing was extremely well thought out, well planned, easily understood,and poignant for a time when the face of homeschooling is on the verge of changing yet again.

So many books about homeschooling are filled with nothing but opinion or beliefs, it's been hard for me to find a book that takes a scholarly look at homeschooling with out showing a clear bias, Milton Gaither has done this and done this well. I would recommend this book to not only homeschoolers but also those that are in the business of education as well!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, enjoyable read, April 25, 2010

By 

K. ben Avraham "Kay.benavraham" (Oakhurst, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homeschool: An American History (Paperback)

Homeschool: An American History may be the single most extensively researched and accessibly written resource of its kind on the market. Milton Gaither has done all the leg work for his readers in this thoughtful, subtly witty book, outlining with grace the nuanced developments within the "homeschooling movement" over several centuries of American educational experiments. I know of no other book supplying such an even-handed and objective treatment of a stream within education so often either demonized or deified.

You will find Gaither's writing engaging and streamlined, enriching his subject matter: a far cry from generic textbook style prose. This superb volume will be of indispensable use to those interested in the modern homeschooling movement, in American history, in educational theory and practice, or even in religion's influence within the political sphere. Petition your local library to carry a copy if you can't get it any other way!