Homeschooling

HOME SCHOOLING AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT:

IDENTIFYING THE DETERMINANTS OF

HOMESCHOOLERS' PERCEPTIONS

Ed Collom

Department of Sociology, University of Southern Maine,

Portland, Maine, USA

Douglas E. Mitchell

Graduate School of Education, University of California,

Riverside, California, USA

This article seeks to estimate the extent to which home schooling parents

perceive themselves as social movement participants and to identify the

factors contributing to such beliefs. The impact of collective action

frames, feelings of efficacy, social network ties, and home schooling motivations

are considered. Regression models are employed in an analysis

of original survey data from an organized group of Southern California

homeschoolers. Home schooling motivations are most salient in determining

whether one interprets their activities as part of a larger movement.

Social network tie indicators are largely unimportant in the models. The

findings highlight the important role of organizational affiliation and

integration. Homeschoolers without affiliations and those who are less

integrated into their support organizations are not likely to feel as if they

are part of a larger movement. Organizational integrationÐ'--specifically

This article was presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological

Association in Atlanta, GA. While the charter school where this research was conducted will

remain anonymous, we would like to thank the administration for their cooperation and the

parent=teachers who shared their experiences and opinions with us. Also, thanks to Ziad

Munson for comments on an earlier draft of this article. This research was supported by the

University of California-Riverside School Improvement Research Group.

Address correspondence to Ed Collom, Department of Sociology, 96 Falmouth St, PO Box

9300, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 04104-9300. E-mail: collom@usm.

maine.edu

Sociological Spectrum, 25: 273Ð'-305, 2005

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Inc.

ISSN: 0273-2173 print/1521-0707 online

DOI: 10.1080/027321790518807

attitudinal affinityÐ'--also appears to make home schooling parents become

more narrowly focused upon their own children rather than the welfare of

all children. Implications for future home schooling and social movement

research are discussed.

Home schooling is both a means of educating children according

to parental standards and an alternative social movement embracing

a unique set of cultural norms and values. Little is known about the

movement aspects of parents' choosing to abandon the public schools

and teach their children at home. In this article we analyze survey

data from a substantial home schooling sample in an effort to assess

the extent to which these parents perceive themselves as social movement

participants and to identify the factors contributing to such

beliefs. Homeschoolers are, to be sure, a quite heterogeneous population

with a variety of reasons for taking this significant step. While

previous studies have identified key elements in the motivational pattern

that leads to teaching children at home, researchers have only

begun to consider the larger social movement implications of their

actions (see Sikkink 2001; Stevens 2001). While home schooling can

be defined as a social movement, researchers have yet to directly

ask homeschoolers themselves.

After estimating the degree to which homeschoolers see themselves

as social movement participants, the primary research question is

addressed: What factors lead homeschoolers to perceive their activities

as part of a larger movement? Micro and meso hypotheses of

social movement participation are operationalized and tested. The

extent to which theory that was formulated for Ð''Ð''oppositional'' social

movement participation applies to participation in this Ð''Ð''alternative''

movement will be assessed. The analysis is based on data obtained

from an original survey instrument administered to a concentrated

group of Southern California parents who home educate their children.

This study offers detailed analyses in an effort to better understand

this substantial, growing group of people for whom

misperceptions and stereotypes abound.

We begin with an overview of home schooling in the United States.

The prevalence, motivations, and characteristics of homeschoolers