Homeschooling families rarely appear in the report and it does not identify
the number of them. The Educational Authority responded to our inquiry that
they were not able to provide more information for the public about this
topic. Despite the lack of official data and information, we can estimate
the number of homeschooling families. For certain, the modern home
education movement shows growing a tendency in Hungary. Imre Szőke, who
taught his children at home and set up an informal homeschooling community
15 years ago, told us that he estimated that there were 800-1000
homeschooling families in Hungary. With his leadership, the Hungarian
Homeschooling Association was registered this year with the aim to promote
homeschooling in the country.

There is much literature available on homeschooling. However, all the used
information is international, mainly U.S. research data (Benyovszky, 2013;
Berényi, 2002; Fóti, 2007; Jánossy, 2015; Klicka, 2008; Mészáros, 2015;
Mihály, 2006; Nágel).

Home Schooling: The Right Choice: An Academic, Historical, Practical,
and Legal Perspective

, written by Christopher J. Klicka (2001), is the only available book in
Hungarian. Despite the lack of publications on the subject, five theses
were published about homeschooling in the last few years. This fact in
itself shows that home education in Hungary is quite a new movement, and
more and more people are interested in this educational opportunity.

Viktória André (2006) and Zsuzsanna Szilágyiné Nágel (Szilágyiné, 2012)
conducted a questionnaire survey but their data is not representative.
Eszter Pásztor-Ambrusz (2012) deals specifically with the theoretical
possibilities of home education for children with mental disabilities, and
therefore does not contain relevant information for our own research. Gábor
Páll (2015) also inspired our research. He conducted an in-depth interview
with an unschooled child and her mother. His thesis deals with a special
group of homeschoolers: those who are participating at “Clonlara Off-Campus
Program”, an official assistance and evaluation program for homeschooler
families.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this research was to find out what groups and patterns of
homeschooling families are present in Hungary today. Our research questions
are the following: (1) What groups and patterns appear in the Hungarian
homeschooling discourse? (2) What groups can we find among Hungarian
homeschooling families and how do these groups differ from each other? (3)
Can we classify these groups into the “pedagogical” and “ideological”
categories?

Review of Literature

For the purpose of this study we reviewed international literature about
parental motivations and factors on the basis of which Hungarian
homeschoolers can be grouped. Ed Collom states that, as home education
became widespread, we can distinguish at least four categories according to
parental motivations: (1) ideological, (2) pedagogical, (3) general
dissatisfaction with public education, (4) family-related reasons, such as
health care or special educational needs (2005).

The main purpose of “ideologists” is to teach their beliefs, values, and
worldview for their children within the framework of home education.
Usually, they work with traditional textbooks and workbooks; they prefer to
take part in standardized testing and take the year-end results more
seriously than those who are in the “pedagogical” category (Taylor-Hugh,
2010). Romanowski (2006) writes that current pedagogical considerations are
also present in families who start homeschooling for mainly religious or
ideological reasons.

In the pedagogical category, parents are dissatisfied with public
education, or even the whole school system–its methods and effectiveness.
They are usually educators, education scholars, or personally interested in
educational methods. They are usually unschoolers; that is why they
organize the curriculum based on their children’s natural interests and
follow their curiosity. From a political point of view, they are usually
liberal, and they are willing to try different types of learning
(Taylor-Hugh, 2010).

The categories identified in the literature serve to develop the code of
blog posts and to interpret the results.

Method

We can regard thematic analysis as one of the basic methods of qualitative
analysis. The thematic analysis method is used to identify, analyze, and
interpret patterns (themes) within a data set. Our own research is a
theory-driven thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The content of
our analysis was provided by blogs. According to Simmons, “Blogs or ‘web
logs’ are on-line diaries that allow people to post their thoughts on any
topic they choose” (Simmons) Over the past two decades, numerous
researchers have used blog analysis as their main method or as tools for
data collection (Huffaker & Calvert, 2005; Hookway, 2008; Snee, 2014;
Thelwall, 2007; Thelwall & Prawobo, 2007). We used the Weft QDA content
analysis software for our research.

Population and Sample

The target population included those homeschooling moms who live in Hungary
and write a blog about their experiences A small, relatively non-diverse
sample was inevitable, given the scope of this research. The blogs were
chosen from a list provided by the website www.otthonoktatas.info which
listed all Hungarian homeschooling blogs (the website has since been
discontinued. Last download: 2016.11.01). This website is not identified
specifically as Christian. In the time of research there was no
organization, forum, or event that could reach a broader population of
families and which could present greater diversity. Sampling was based on
the popularity of blogs. Based on the metrics, we selected the 3 most
popular blogs out of 12 for analysis. More detail on sampling can be found
in Noémi Eggendorfer’s thesis (Eggendorfer, 2016).

Research process

After exploring the theoretical background and developing the sampling, we
formulated the categories for coding. During the encoding, we worked with
both interpretative (literature-based) and descriptive codes and then we
put them into larger themes. The codes and their groupings can be found in
Table 2.

Results

In the following we present the number of documents, passages, and
characters for each theme; then we introduce the most important results and
quotes related to them. The number of documents, passages, and characters
for each theme are given in Table 3.

The blogs’ interaction between author and reader is regular and frequent
in the form of comments. An average of 3.32 comments was received for the
analyzed entries.

Values

All three blogger families were Christian in the sample. This value –
Christianity – is particularly emphasized by two authors; they use biblical
quotations in many cases to support their messages:

“When we decided for everybody to stay at home, we determined what our
purpose was: we wanted to live as a family, together and with God,
spending more time with joint activities because the school set us
apart from each other. God asked the parents, moreover, He commanded
them, “These commandments that I give you today are to be in your
hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at
home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you
get up.” (Deuteronomy 6: 6,7)” (o15)

As an additional value, the quality and quantity of time spent with the
family also appears:

“Since they have been studying at home, they have a much better
relationship with each other and with their mother and father. There is
time to be together and there is time to get away. There is a way to
laugh a lot and we can take the tears well. We have time to cook,
clean, study chores, and have time to read and relax. There is time to
go hiking, to see the world, and time to visit our loved ones, to get
new friends. (Ecclesiastes 3) “(o15)

Table 2.

Interpretative and Descriptive Codes Grouped by Themes.

Themes	Interpretative codes	Descriptive codes
Values	Christianity; Other religion; Freedom and independence	–
External (social or educational) environment	Higher education; Private exams; Private student status	Attitude of society towards homeschooling; Attitude of host school towards homeschooling
Proceedings and methods	Textbooks, teaching aids; Methods; Methods of worldview education	Using DIY technics in learning; Learning in summer; Learning with a private teacher; Homeschooling at the age of 3-6; Consciousness in child- rearing
Students	Illness; Students with special education needs	Attitude of students towards homeschooling; Academic achievement of students
Parents	–	Effects of homeschooling on parents; Attitude of parents towards kindergarten and schools; Attitude of parents towards homeschooling; Attitude of parents towards legal issues; The need for pedagogical qualification
Socialization	Socialization in schools	Socializing communities; Socialization in kindergarten; Homeschooling communities

Table 3.

Number of Documents, Passages, and Characters Within Themes.

Themes	Number of documents	Number of passages	Number of characters
Values	22	22	19257
External (social or educational) environment)	46	49	81070
Proceedings and methods	113	115	18093
Students	18	18	13205
Parents	36	37	37196
Socialization	23	23	40346

External (social /educational) environment

The “External (social/educational) environment” theme was most represented
in the blogs. According to the bloggers, the attitude of the society
towards homeschooling in Hungary is not homogeneous: some people are
negative, others are more open. A blog post also indicates that negative
judgment is more typical from adults:

“… the majority of people are not open to the matter and judge us
that they are studying at home, while nobody is judging those who go to
school :). Anyway, kids never hurt Zs because she is a private student.
In their first conversation they say: “good for you”, and then there
are no more words about the topic. “(b7)

Authors also express that people in their environment have different views
and attitudes towards homeschooling. Acceptance and rejection can be found
at the same time, and also those who find home education dangerous.
Comments on the role of the school appear: that the school is responsible
solely for educating children.

The attitude of schools and teachers towards home education is also very
diverse. Blog posts show that parents face different reactions: some people
are simply not informed about home education, some are open, and there are
some who completely reject and oppose home education.

Lack of information among teachers and clerks is also discussed:

“I hope it helps many people in their decision (…) I also met teachers
who were not aware of how someone could be a private student. They
wondered and asked, “Are you a teacher?” “Are your children sick or top
athletes?” I also met a clerk at the child welfare service of the local
council, who thought (argued) that only the children of artists in the
traveling circuses were private students.”(o5)

The negative attitude:

“I met the head teacher of my daughter. She said that at the school
events how clever and prepared Zs was … and recognized her other
virtues which would be beneficial for any child. Then she asked which
school she went to. At that point she realized that Zs is homeschooled.
Then, she told me about twenty times that we “should send her back into
the community” although she recognized the virtues of Zs which,
according to the misbelieves, sticks to children in schools.” (b7)

Learning process and methods

According to blogs, homeschooling families used number of methods and
strived to work with a wide range of teaching aids. They were happy to
express their views on teaching methods, tools, procedures, and they
developed their own tools, such as the so-called “Pager.” A “pager” is a
few pages long, large-format book that helps children how to learn with new
cards and game packages.

“The system provided by the pager encourages children how to extend
their knowledge using different sources…” (b52)

One mother reported that they initially worked with traditional school
methods and tools but later they moved away from these and became more open
to new methods and tools. This phenomenon appears in the research of Gábor
Páll (2015), too.

“When we chose home education, we started learning about new
opportunities, and figured out how we would like to use them, we clung
to workbooks. After more than a year of reading and gaining experience
we moved away from this view. The workbooks are linked to the
educational form of school, so we could not imagine the education
process without them because we always used them before. We had to
recognize that homeschooling is not a school at home, but something
quite different.” (g6)

Homeschooling families in the sample study organize learning in different
places: libraries, museums and wildlife parks, too. They use variety of
teaching tools: methodological handbooks, classic literature, written
alphabet on the wall, creative tools for DIY projects, and websites are all
integral parts of everyday learning of the families.

All three families worked with at least one private teacher. Their private
teachers typically have pedagogical qualifications, but not all of them are
ordinary teachers:

“A math-chemistry-physics teacher (…) Uncle J. is Gypsy, although he
does not seem to be (sic!), but he is not ashamed. At his age
thirty-five, he became ill, having spent a lot of time in hospitals,
and during the treatments he was reading a lot. For example, math
books. (…) He realized that he always loved it, but he did not deal
with it because of his life and work condition. He was so embarrassed
that at his age 39 (!) he started his university studies full-time
among young people. I cannot describe the peace he showed, I also
wanted to sit down there and learn from him. Somehow, he can transmit
his knowledge pragmatically and logically. He produces success stories
like in the movies: lazy, young people are beginning to be interested
in learning (…) And this man is unemployed. (…) He loves to teach,
he likes to see the results and the glittering eyes. “(o7)

Students

Based on the parents’ posts the attitude of students toward home education
is very positive. They are willing to learn at home with their parents and
siblings. Their relationship to exams is quite positive, too.

“She never went to school. While she recognized that the school was
only about “10 minutes,” she sometimes asked when she becomes a
schoolgirl. Ever since she regularly meets with schoolchildren during
the afternoon sessions and has a realistic picture about the schools,
she does not ask for it anymore, but she says more and more often that
it is good that she can study at home. “(b8)

Social life of children

The “Social life of children” theme was most represented in the blogs.
Families participating in the research take part in several socializing
events in different environments on a regular basis: local kindergarten and
school events (e.g., harvest festival), playground, sports training,
visiting a wildlife park or a museum with other homeschooling families,
visiting friends, or participating in religious communities. Mothers are
keen to write their views and experiences on the socialization issue:

“I do not think that my kids need company, they are now surrounded by
in public institutions…

(…) They learn how to behave, eat, use the toilet, and adapt to
family members at home. A long time ago, when big families with many
generations lived together, it worked very well. The kids learned how
to cooperate with older ones, adapt to the slower, sometimes sick
family members, listen to tales, songs and most importantly they
experienced that the family is the strongest bond, where they always
have a place to return to.

…Remember, we always heard in our childhood at school that the school
was our second home. I hated it … I never felt at home in an
institution without truth and especially love. “(o2)

Findings

The following section describes the conclusions we have drawn from the
results.

Although all three families are Christian, two families clearly belong to
the “ideological” category, while the third family often reports
pedagogical considerations, too. The main motivation of “ideologists” is to
share their beliefs, values, and worldview with their children within the
framework of home education. Usually, they use traditional textbooks and
workbooks; they prefer to take part in standardized testing and take the
year-end results more seriously than those who are in the “pedagogical”
category (Taylor-Hugh, 2010). Romanowsky (2006) writes that current
pedagogical considerations are also present in those families which start
homeschooling for mainly religious or ideological reasons. There were not
any families in the sample which chose homeschooling because of the
academic achievement of homeschoolers or because of dissatisfaction with
educational institutions. However, they often write about their school
critical thinking; therefore, we concluded that pedagogical considerations
have also played a role for them in choosing home education. It is an
interesting fact that all three families are Christian, and they also write
about their religiousness in the blogs. There are at least three possible
reasons for this: (1) sampling, (2), mainly those homeschooling mothers
write blogs who are religious, and (3) Christianity is very common between
Hungarian homeschooling families. Further studies are needed to explore the
real cause.

Regarding the methods, we can conclude that Hungarian homeschooling mothers
in the sample frequently used tools and methods with reform-pedagogical
roots. Analyzing their blogs, it gives the impression that constructivist
pedagogy and self-regulated learning play more important role in their
children’s learning than in the case of students studying in the Hungarian
public schools, but further research is also needed here.

The average homeschooling child is not disadvantaged in socialization and
has an active life outside home, in sports clubs, art classes, or during
volunteering or scouting activities (Ray, 1997, cited by Romanowsky, 2006).
Hungarian children participating in the research also take part in
different activities and communities.

Discussion

In our research, we analyzed the blogs of Hungarian homeschooling mothers
using the thematic analysis method. The strength of our research is that
both the subject and the method are quite unique, especially in the
Hungarian context. The aim of our research was to find out what groups and
patterns of homeschooling families are present in Hungary. To our first
research question (What groups and patterns appear in the Hungarian
homeschooling discourse?), the main themes and codes give the answers. The
analysis identified the following themes: religiousness of homeschoolers,
the attitudes of society and schools towards homeschooling, the methods of
homeschooling, the attitude of parents towards schools, and socialization.

The answer to the second research question, – what groups can be created
between the Hungarian home education families and the differences between
them – is partially answered. The “ideological” group clearly exists in
Hungary today and within this group only one subgroup is likely to be a
Christian group. However, we did not receive data for any other subgroups;
so the distinction between groups lost its meaning in this research.
Families participating in the research chose home education for religious
reasons. The society, host school, and teachers are sometimes open, though
they are more likely to be suspicious of these families’ learning form. The
attitude of homeschooling students and parents are clearly positive towards
home education. Parents often formulate negative criticisms of educational
institutions, but they also write about their positive experiences, and
homeschooling families are involved in several socializing events in
different environments. We have partly answered the research question
whether these groups can be categorized as “ideological” and “pedagogical.”
The “ideological” category clearly exists, but we did not see an example of
the “pedagogical” category in this research. However, according to our
informal, personal information (e.g., homeschooling meeting), this category
exists. too.

The main weakness of the research is that those who are blogging from the
Hungarian homeschooling families may be a special group of homeschoolers.
This is probably due to the problem of sample selection, so it is an
important result for later research that the reason for homeschooling
should be considered during sampling process. The main limitations of our
research are the small sample and the lack of Hungary-specific research;
therefore, we cannot compare our results to other Hungarian results.

There has been little research about Hungarian homeschooling. The
regulation of home education – and the private student status in general-
is vague and needs further clarification. Home education in Hungary is a
growing movement and more research has to be done in the future about the
phenomenon.

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Note:
This research was supported by the ÚNKP-17-2 New National Excellence
Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities awarded to Noémi Eggendorfer.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Erika Kopp,
Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Room 409,
23-27 Kazinczy Street, Budapest, 1075. E-mail: kopp.erika@ppk.elte.hu ¯HSR¯