When it comes to the education of children we have been conditioned as a society to assume that the word education refers primarily to schooling. Discovering that is does not have to, and can refer to something else as full-time practice, is a revelation for many people. They discover new possibilities. In this book I have tried to elucidate some features of home education which are ripe for development. The work here presented is part of a start in this direction and it sits within a rich body of excellent research and commentary on the phenomenon and fact of EHE (see for example and as an overview Kunzman and Gaither, 2013). Further work would inevitably develop understanding of parenting in relation to EHE as education and look at philosophies of care, the feminine, the dynamic of couples as educationists and much more. I see this work usefully done in and through theory and philosophy, but empirical research of a kind that follows a ‘gold standard’ research approach, according to rules respected by a policy mainstream is also a territory for development.

Despite many excellent features (including legality), the UK shares with perhaps all countries around the world the status of an educational state provider acting prejudicially against EHE. This prejudice is largely tolerated, not significantly contested and causes havoc for many families. In the past it was outright and open prejudice. Now it is, I would suggest, closer to implicit bias – an unconscious prejudice that operates like an open prejudice in its effects. I have called this situation educationism. I hope identifying – as a named concept – bias and prejudice against EHE and other educational alternatives will raise awareness about the limited vision of education we currently have. This vision imposes limitations upon society and the upbringing of children. Schooling is not enough for the formation of vibrant citizenry and caring individuals. The value of the home as an educator, and especially when full time, is something to which we need, as a society, to pay much more attention. Although schooling can be loving to a degree, for many it is not loving at all or loving enough. Homes are more likely to be better able to offer and develop love than institutions.