As a homeschooling mom, I like to keep an eye on homeschooling and education trends in the media. I use Google Trends and Google News Alerts. Here's a summary of what I've found over the past 12 months.
Most Popular Homeschooling News Articles
You may have caught these articles when they came out. If not, now's your chance. The most popular homeschooling news articles listed by Google Trends over the past 12 months were:
- Homeschooling: Right Choice for Your Child? Fox Business, June 13, 2011
- The Evolution of Homeschooling Our Kids Fox News, Feb 9, 2011
- Homeschooling Provider Pleased with Bill Gates San Francisco Chronicle, Nov 1, 2010
- Two of Michael Jackson's Kids Trade in Homeschooling for Exclusive Private School Herald Sun, Aug 27, 2010
Common Themes in Recent Homeschooling Media Coverage
Well, obviously anything having to do with a celebrity is going to make the news, hence the popularity of the focus on Michael Jackson's two formerly homeschooled children (The youngest is still homeschooling).
Otherwise, however, I've noticed a focus on the changing face of homeschooling, including the controversy over homeschooling verses online and distance public school programs. For example, the "Homeschooling Provider" pleased with Bill Gates is an accredited distance education high school. I discussed this issue in What's in the Name?
The changing face of homeschooling also includes a general increase in homeschoolers as well as an increase in unconventional homeschooling approaches such as unschooling. Homeschooling in general is easier for parents in recent generations due to the ease and accessibility of information both online and through community outreach programs.
Who is Searching for Information on Homeschooling?
In the U.S., people in Alabama, Arkansas, and Maine are searching for information on homeschooling more than folks elsewhere in the country. In Canada, it's Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick. South Africans are searching even more than North Americans and the top language was Indonesian.
The top searchers for "unschooling" are in New Zealand, followed by the U.S. and Canada.
What About Unschooling?
The top unschooling-specific news articles were:
- The Politics of Unschooling National Post, May 28, 2011
- Unschooling: Homeschooling Without the School ajc, April 22, 2011
The "Politics of Unschooling" subtitle sums up the polarity of focus in unschooling coverage: "Raising independent trailblazers or lazy free-floaters?" I like the way the ajc article describes unschooling: "It eschews standardization of education in favor of customization."
You might also like: A Survey of Recent Studies on Homeschooling
Source: "Google Trends: Homeschooling" and "Google Trends: Unschooling," Google.com, Retrieved 15 Aug 2011
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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