Johns Hopkins Homeschool Connections

Episode 8: How Florida is Transforming Homeschooling and Public Education with Keith Jacobs

In this in-depth interview, Keith Jacobs, Director of Provider Development at Step Up for Students, discusses the ways to homeschool in Florida and the innovative landscape of the personalized education program (PEP). Topics include the PEP program, unbundled services for homeschoolers, district partnerships, and the future of customized education options.

Episode 7: Advanced Learners and Home Education with Jonathan Plucker and Annie Connolly-Sporing

In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Plucker and Annie Connolly-Sporing delve into the challenges facing gifted education, highlighting the fragmented policies and unreliable data that cause many gifted students to be overlooked. They discuss the promising role of homeschooling for advanced learners, emphasize the value of peer connections, and explore how innovative resources like the National Research Center on Advanced Education are paving the way for the future of advanced learning.

Episode 6: The Intersection of Classical Education and Homeschooling with Albert Cheng

In this episode, we explore the intersection of classical education and homeschooling with Dr. Albert Cheng, an education policy scholar and quantitative methodologist. Drawing on the latest research, Dr. Cheng shares insights into the historical roots of classical education, its recent expansion, and what empirical evidence reveals about its reach and impact. We discuss how classical education fits within the broader homeschooling movement and what these trends may mean for educators, families, and education policy.

Episode 4: Contexts of Rural Home Education with Timberly Baker

In this conversation, Dr. Timberly Baker discusses her research on rural home education, particularly focusing on the experiences of Black families in the American Southern Black Belt. She highlights the unique challenges faced by rural home educators, including limited resources, the impact of local school districts, and the intersection of race and educational policy. Dr. Baker also connects her work to broader issues such as the school-to-prison pipeline and calls for more inclusive research in the field of home education.

Episode 3: Lessons to Learn from Black Home Education with Cheryl Fields-Smith

This conversation with Dr. Cheryl Field-Smith delves into the diversity and dynamics of Black home education, exploring universal lessons, challenges, and opportunities. Dr. Fields-Smith also highlights the evolution of the homeschool research field, the use of intersectionality and phenomenology in research, and implications for minority communities in homeschooling. She also shares her motivations for her research, upcoming projects - including plans for a documentary on Black home education - and a list of who's who in the field.