I'm beginning some research on homeschooling tonight. Eric has led me into the wide world of academic research, and I'm having some fun.
First article:
TI: The Development of Children's Motivation in the Homeschool Setting.
AU: Apostoleris, Nicholas H
SO: 9p. Apr 1999
AN: ED465412
This was a study in MA with 60 homeschooling families, to look at (1) motivation for learning, and (2) psychological need fulfillment. Ok, now this is messy. Parents who were supportive of their children's autonomy tended to have children who were internally motivated to learn, among other things like length of time homeschooling and the age of the children. In the Discussion, it says that, in contrast to children in schools, these homeschooled families had older kids who were intrinsically motivated to learn, especially in families where the parents were supportive of their kids' autonomy. Generally, support of the child's autonomy and the child having a range (this is not necessarily an accurate translation, but I'm trying) of relationships were found to be positive. However, there was some problem with assuming that the child was competent wasn't always a good thing. As Eric said, saying "why don't you try it" is better than "you can do it" sometimes. There's also stuff about an "intellegence personality factor," but I'm not too sure what that's about.
Summary for tonight:
It's good for homeschooling parents to (1) support their childrens' autonomy, (2) provide connections with the wider community for their children, and (3) not just assume that the kids can do everything by themselves, but be a helpful presence.
