A Phenomenology of Homeschoolers’ Parents’ Experiences of Teaching Mathematics

Abstract

The objective of this thesis study is to learn and understand more about a topic that is not very familiar to many people. This study will develop a greater understanding of the phenomenon of homeschooling to better understand the experiences of parents who home school. Methods of inquiry include a phenomenological reflection on data compiled from interviews of parents who home school their children, in the Western NY area. There were thirteen participants included in this study total. This inquiry is important because it adds to the body of knowledge in secondary mathematics education. Homeschooling is another method of education in the United States and other countries, and is considered by many standards, a phenomenon. Any information collected about homeschooling direct from the source (the homeschoolers or their parents), illuminates an unknown field of education. Homeschooling is unknown and unfamiliar to many educators, unless they were homeschooled themselves or homeschooled their own children for a length of time. Possibly from this research colloquial school educators will gain insight into different teaching methods, which they can implement in their own classrooms to motivate and better educate students.