Home schooling in Slovenia

Gita Mateja de Laat

Summary:  This article examines home schooling in Slovenia. The article first presents the history of home education in Europe and the United States and then describes the Slovene laws and regulations concerning the same. Taking notice of the criticism in Slovenia towards home schooling, a brief review of international literature that deals with parental motivation, academic achievement and development of social skills in home schooled children follows. The purpose of the research presented here was to find out the motivations of Slovene parents that choose to home school their children. How is their cooperation with schools? Do home schooled children reach the demanded academic standards? Do parents provide enough possibilities for the development of social skills in children? We found that the motivations of Slovene home schooling parents differ from those of parents in other countries, that home schooled children in Slovenia successfully meet the academic standards set by schools, and that their parents provide enough possibilities for development of social skills. Parents also report that their cooperation with school is positive.