Understanding the Initial Stories of Families Preferring Homeschooling: A Narrative Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the story underlying the preference of parents (mothers–fathers) for home school in Turkey and to determine the main points in this story. For this purpose, this study was conducted according to the narrative study model, one of the qualitative research designs. Within the context of this study, the opinions of mothers and fathers of three children receiving their education in the same home school during their preschool period were elicited. As a result of the analysis of the interviews conducted within the context of this study, three super themes and seven different codes gathered under these themes were obtained. As a conclusion, the reasons for the parents’ choice of home school instead of a formal education institution were found to be “Inconsistency between the parents’ expectations and what is offered by the education system, negative effects of formal education on the child, family ideal, school experiences, educational philosophy and employment status, developmental reasons/concerns, negative social interaction at school, and their encounter with the proposal for home school.”