Homeschooling � also called home education or home school � is the education
of children at home, typically by parents or guardians, rather than in a
public or private school. Prior to the introduction of compulsory school
attendance laws in the 19th century, most childhood education worldwide
occurred within the family or community, with only a small portion of the
population attending schools or employing tutors. Currently, the majority of
children in developed nations receive their formal education at a public
institution.
Homeschooling is an option for parents who wish to provide their children
with a different learning environment than exists in public schools. It is
also an alternative for those families who are unable, for practical or
personal reasons, to comply with the regulations of a public school.
Homeschooling may refer to instruction in the home under the supervision of
correspondence schools or umbrella schools. A curriculum-free philosophy of
homeschooling may be called unschooling, a term coined in 1977 by American
educator John Holt in his magazine Growing Without Schooling.
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nonpub/homeinstruction.html