ABSTRACTA QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF PARENTAL DECISION-MAKING IN REGARDS TO HOMESCHOOLINGByPamela Lou Rogers CampbellResearchers have spent a relatively small amount of time focusing on homeschooling. The few studies which have been completed regarding homeschooling have skirted the question of the decision-making process taken by parents as they choose to begin or discontinue homeschooling. The void in the academic knowledge regarding this growing trend in education has been filled with the data and analysis of this study. By using a qualitative methodology I was not only able to gain insight into the thoughts and experiences of homeschool parents, I was able to hear their passion for their children's education and see their excitement as they described their familiarity with the twists and turns and emotions of the pathway to their final decision. This study addresses the questions: "What process do parents go through when making the decision to begin or discontinue homeschooling their children?" And "What circumstances precipitate a parent's decision to move their children to homeschool or to end homeschooling?" Fourteen families were interviewed and data was collected and analyzed to determine the answer using a decision-making model made up of six different processes. Additionally, the precipitating circumstances were collected and categorized into sub-groups to clearly view the outcome of the evaluation of the data.The results of this study indicate that two decision-making processes, convergence and insightful, dominated the corridor to the final choice of the initial child's educational placement. All of the parents in the study had friends who homeschooled and regardless of their background, were concerned about beginning to homeschool their own children.
Read
