Different reasons for one significant choice: Factors influencing homeschooling choice in Israel

Homeschooling is an alternative to conventional education in many countries all over the world, though legal regulations vary. This article examines why parents opt for homeschooling. The large body of research on the topic (especially from the United States) points to a variety of reasons for making the choice to homeschool. The most common reasons are of a pedagogical nature, but in many cases they are also family-related. What has not yet been investigated in depth is the relationship between the different reasons for choosing homeschooling and the way in which homeschooling is practised. There is also a lack of research on the relationship between the reasons for choosing homeschooling and the parents’ personalities, educational background and attitudes towards both homeschooling in particular and the education system in general. Using a mixed methods design in order to examine these relationships, the authors of this article questioned 62 homeschooling families in Israel. The findings indicate that some parents chose to homeschool for pedagogical reasons only and others for both pedagogical and family-related reasons. Furthermore, the latter group held more positive views of the effect of homeschooling on children – and the mothers in that group, on average, were more educated compared with those who cited pedagogical reasons alone. The reasons for choosing homeschooling were also found to be associated with the character of the homeschooling practice, with families whose reasons were pedagogical only devoting more hours, on average, specifically to studying.