The neat-o website How Stuff Works has a really nice article answering the question How Does Homeschooling Work? One of my favourites bits:

When you get curious about something and come to a place like How Stuff Works to learn about it, you are participating in a form of homeschooling. This is sometimes called interest-motivated education or self-motivated education. You get interested in something for whatever reason, that interest motivates you to learn about it, and you do learn about it by doing your own research.

The article makes the point that ‘school-at-home’ is one kind of homeschooling, but not the only kind.  Following one’s own interest leads to knowledge in a variety of areas, such that:

Over time, all of the topics covered in “normal” schooling get covered, but they happen in a much different order and at the child’s own pace.

The author was at one time a college professor in computer science, who while not a homeschooler himself, has encountered homeschooled children in his profession.  In one notable instance, he tutored a 12-year-old homeschooled boy who wanted to learn computer program, while also teaching a class of 300 freshmen.  He found that:

… this 12-year-old learned the material faster and better than the majority of the 18-year-old students in the class did. The reason for that is obvious: the 12-year-old really wanted to learn the material and was ready for it, while many of the freshman were being forced to take the class and had absolutely no desire to learn computer programming at that point in their lives.

The article closes with a letter from that young boy, tracked down 8 years later as a successful college student, with his reflections on growing up homeschooled:

Speaking from personal experience, as a homeschooler I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to pursue an alternative form of education. I was able to become involved in quite a wide range of activities, which has helped define who I am as a person. I think many of these things would not have been possible if I were in a traditional school environment simply because of time constraints.

Not a bad endorsement at all!

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