The Genesis of Guardianship: Historical Rhetoric in Evangelical Homeschooling and the Contemporary Language of Parental Rights

This study investigates the historical rhetoric of American homeschooling and its impact on contemporary discourses over educational choices and parental rights. Through textual analysis of rare homeschooling periodicals from between the 1980s and 2020s, the research traces the homeschooling movement’s evolution from grassroots activism to a national force advocating for parental autonomy. It details how fears of changing gender norms  shaped the early activists’ resistance to public education. Central figures like Michael Farris and organizations such as the Homeschool Legal Defense Association are shown to have shaped the homeschooling movement’s ethos and its parental rights language. By dissecting their rhetoric’s evolution, the paper renders the movement as both a product and a catalyst of major educational and political trends, and reveals its lasting impact on educational policymaking in the United States.