Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- The rationale behind the research -- The scope of the book -- The families -- The research -- 2 Theoretical Background I: Teaching Children Individually -- Attempting to individualize teaching in the classroom -- Experimental studies in small group, adult-child and peer tutoring -- What is wrong with classroom teaching? -- Where do we go from here? -- 3 Theoretical Background II: Learning in the Early Years -- The role of social conversation -- Can children learn during their school years as an extension of the way they learned in infancy? -- The role of individualized teaching and social conversation in the accelerated development of learning in the early years -- Summary of this and the preceding chapter -- 4 Why Do Parents Choose to Educate Their Children at Home? -- Parents who opt for home education from the outset -- Becoming interested in home education -- Perceived limitations of schooling -- The notion of education as a continuation of early learning at home -- Gradually coming to the decision to home educate -- Reasons for withdrawing children from school -- Concern that children are not being challenged -- Concern that children are falling behind -- Bullying -- Sexual harassment -- Behavioural problems in school and at home -- Making the break from school -- Summary -- 5 Teaching at Home -- The school model -- Individualized teaching -- Learning at home is an interactive process -- Learning at home is intensive -- Flexibility -- Shared learning -- Two detailed accounts of more formal learning -- Summary -- 6 Becoming Less Formal -- Adopting less formal approaches -- Modifying structured learning -- Loosening up some more -- Trying to achieve a balance -- Letting go -- How children influence the shift towards informal learning -- 'Turning off' -- Resisting formal lessons.

Children do want to learn -- Two detailed studies -- Summary -- 7 Informal Learning -- A continuation from early childhood -- The parent's role -- Conversational learning -- Informal learning need not be sequential -- Trying to capture informal learning -- Incidental learning -- Informal learning can be sustained as well -- Two informal approaches in more detail -- Summary -- 8 A Chronicle of Informal Learning -- Alice learning maths -- Establishing a baseline -- Maths in context: cooking -- Maths in context: on the road -- Incidental learning -- Learning about money -- Postscript: a year later -- 9 Literacy -- Learning to read -- 'Late' readers -- Reading for enjoyment -- Summary -- 10 Social Aspects -- Social development -- Making up for the lack of social contact -- Mixing with people of all ages -- Social precocity -- Comparing social development at home and in school -- Coming out of school and missing friends -- Going to school -- Other social aspects -- Reactions of family, friends and acquaintances -- On being a home educating parent -- Summary -- 11 A Different Kind of Education -- Different approaches to teaching -- Children's implicit and unacknowledged theory of learning -- References -- Index of families -- Name index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.