Homeschooling the Gifted: What Do We Know from the Australian, Chilean and US Context?

Abstract

The homeschooling movement has steadily developed in the last couple of decades, especially in the USA. In Australia and Chile, the movement is still growing as an alternative to school education. The social growth of homeschooling entails visions of support and criticism. Some consider it an approach to meet and foster children’s interests and needs, and others consider it a private movement against public education and democratic societies. Motivations for homeschooling are mostly related to ideological and pedagogical conceptions in the way families approach homeschooling. In terms of research, in the last two decades, there’s been a growth in peer-reviewed publications to better understand its motivations, implications, educational provisions and outcomes. Homeschooling for gifted students in particular has little research, and the findings from the few studies that are available suggest that these families start homeschooling for different reasons compared to the general homeschool population. While research on homeschooling gifted students from the USA dominates, not much is heard about homeschooling research in Australia and even less is evident from the Chilean homeschooling experience. In this scenario, more research is needed about gifted homeschooling and the inner experiences these families and children face. This chapter presents findings from a theoretical review in an effort to contribute to the understanding of this educational provision for gifted children and delve deeper into the options these families have in the context of Australia, Chile and the USA.