Who am I?
I'm a mum, a researcher, and a teacher and I'm interested in learning about, publishing about and blogging about why parents choose to homeschool.

I've written about choice before in teacher journals and in peer-reviewed journals. I've also written about students' experiences of education in peer-reviewed journals. I have written about homeschooling in teacher professional journals and I write for The Natural Parent (Australia and New Zealand).

What do I want to do?
I want to interview homeschool parents and ask them why they chose to homeschool, how they are finding it, what they are doing and also whether it relates to their parenting philsophies.

From this data, I will publish articles, in professional and scientific journals, on blogs and also reports for government on why parents choose to homeschool. I've made contacts with some amazing homeschool mums, I've read a lot about the field and now I want to add to the field.

What am I asking for?
Please help me meet my goal of $2,000 for help with literature searching and review ($800) which involves a researcher using computer data bases to find other studies that have also looked into this area. After that, they have to provide summaries of that work, so I can say how my research adds to what we know already.

I also need some money for transcribing ($1,200) which involves someone providing a written summary of the interviews I conduct.

I'd also gladly accept any help you can offer!

The results will be used to:

Help women and families who are deciding to homeschool to make that choice. It will help them by increasing the number of areas where they can get information on homeschooling. Specifically, I will:

• Publish in peer reviewed journal building on the work of:

- Nind, Flewitt & Payler whose 2009 study, Social Constructions of Young Children in ‘Special’, ‘Inclusive’ and Home Environments was published in Children and Society (paywall)

1. - Spiegler's 2010 study describing the reasons US parents are choosing homeschooling
2. - Gaither's (paywall) 2011 study of the history of the homeschool movement in the USA

• Contribute to the vast repository at The International Centre for Home Education Research


• Publish articles for The Natural Parent


• Prepare reports to The Home Education Units of each state and territory (eg Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria)


• Write blog posts for homeschool blogs in Australia

- for example the Homeschool Australia facebook page and the Get into Homeschooling facebook page
- the Our Home learning journey blog
- the Our Home Schooling Days blog

• Write blog posts for homeschool blogs overseas

- for example Penelope Trunk

• And, of course, add to my own blog!