Description
Discover the untold story of why homeschooling moved from the margins to the mainstream of American education.
In this groundbreaking study, historian Dixie Dillon Lane traces the rise of homeschooling in the United States, from the modern movement’s beginnings in the 1950s as a fringe activity to its current status as a widely accepted educational choice. Through compelling nationwide data and vivid case studies from Los Angeles County, Lane uncovers a powerful truth: homeschooling taps into long-held American beliefs in local control and parental rights that have shaped our nation’s schools for generations.
Writing in an engaging, accessible style, Lane demonstrates how homeschooling’s rise reflects Americans’ response to the increasing centralization of public education. As public schools have shifted toward consolidation and away from local oversight, parents have rediscovered their voice, choosing homeschooling as an innovative way to renew parental influence in education.
Unlike most authors writing on this topic, Lane writes as both a credentialed historian and an experienced homeschooling parent. As such, she offers an honest, balanced view that acknowledges the homeschooling movement’s challenges as well as its strengths. Skipping School will be of interest to parents, historians, educators, policymakers, and anyone seeking a fuller understanding of American education.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Homeschooling Matters
Part I: Better at Home (1950-1990)
1. How Homeschooling Began (1950-1975)
2. Homeschooling Under the Radar (1975-1990)
Part II: Back to School (1990-2010)
3. Homeschoolers Leave Home (1990-2000)
4. Homeschooling in Public (2000-2010)
Part III: Into the Mainstream (2010-2024)
5. Understanding the New Homeschoolers (2010-2024)
Epilogue: Homeschooling Tomorrow
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Interview Methodology
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Contributor Bio:Lane, Dixie Dillon
Dixie Dillon Lane is an American historian and homeschooling parent who lives in rural Virginia. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame and serves as associate editor of Hearth & Field. Skipping School is her first book.
Publisher: William B Eerdmans Publishing
Author: Dixie Dillon Lane
ISBN: 9780802885517
Format: Paperback
Size: 0.6″ H x 8.9″ L x 5.9″ W (0.7 lbs)
Pages: 216
Published: June 18, 2026
SRP: 28.99
Reviews
“With engaging prose, balanced judgments, and keen historical insight, Skipping School offers a model exploration of an unusually tangled subject. Debates over homeschooling involve complex legal, cultural, political, religious, and (of course) educational questions, questions that are addressed in this book with discerning intelligence. Well-researched general history, focused attention on Los Angeles as a central venue of influential legal decisions, and occasional references to the experiences of the author’s own family shed welcome light where heat too often prevails.”
—Mark Noll, author of A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada
“We used to say that in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, schools replaced families as the primary vehicle for the education of children. Yet in 2026, one in ten American children is homeschooled. Dixie Dillon Lane’s elegantly written and absorbing history of the modern homeschooling movement in the United States is essential reading for anyone attempting to understand this momentous shift. Combining archival research and interviews, Lane has written a book of fundamental importance for policymakers, parents, and citizens.”
—John T. McGreevy, author of American Jesuits and the World
“I could not put this down. Skipping School is the book I wish I had when I began my parenting journey as a young academic mom in 1999. Beautifully written, fast paced, and exquisitely researched. Lane’s book will set the conversation for the next decade.”
—Catherine R. Pakaluk, author of Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth
“Dixie Dillon Lane’s Skipping School is a sympathetic and balanced history of homeschooling that recognizes the movement’s diversity and avoids simplistic caricatures. Lane explains why so many parents both in the past and present have wanted to homeschool their children–and how, in making that choice in such large numbers, they have transformed the meaning of home education. This book is ideal not only for parents who are homeschooling (or thinking about homeschooling) but also for anyone who wants to better understand this movement on its own terms and make sense of its impact on the next generation.”
—Daniel K. Williams, author of The Search for a Rational Faith: Reason and Belief in the History of American Christianity
“Skipping School is a well-researched, easy-to-read history of homeschooling in the United States. Lane shows how diverse families successfully challenged the status quo of education by building on family, individual, and communal connections to reconnect learning and living in their neighborhoods from the 1950s to the present.”
—Patrick Farenga, coauthor of Teach Your Own and publisher of Growing Without Schooling
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