Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Charles S. McElroy

Abstract

Homeschooling has become a viable educational choice for families; however, limited research has been conducted on the instructional strategies homeschooling parents use to instruct their children and whether these reflect a learner-centered teaching approach. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the learner-centered instructional strategies homeschooling parents use to teach their children mathematics. The conceptual framework for this single-case study was based on Weimer's learner-centered teaching model. Participants included 4 parents who homeschooled students in Grades 6-12 in a Western state and who received instructional support from a private school. Data were collected from interviews with homeschooling parents, online reflective journals maintained by homeschooling parents, and documents related to the homeschooling mathematics program. Data analysis included coding and examining emerging themes and patterns and discrepant data. The results indicated that the homeschooling parents aligned only a small amount of their instructional strategies with Weimer's learner-centered teaching model by trying to make mathematics fun, interesting, and relevant to their children's lives. They also differentiated instruction and chose curriculum that included some critical-thinking problems. The homeschooling parents taught using more traditional methods in which they were the primary instructors and made most of the decisions about the instructional content. The results of this study can contribute to positive social change by aiding curriculum designers and educators in their exploration of learner-centered and other instructional strategies they can use to design curriculum and instruct their students.

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