Alan Thomas has carried out the first major investigation into how parents go about the day-to-day task of educating their children at home. His findings, based on a detailed analysis of learning in a hundred families in Britain and Australia, have profound implications for the wider educational community.

When parents embark on their task they generally find that it does not turn out as they envisaged. Standard educational methods do not transfer into the home. They fashion methods suitable to their particular circumstances, often trying out approaches which would be impossible even to attempt at school. In so doing, their experiences provide new and sometimes striking insights into the fundamental nature of children's learning.

The book deals in great detail with a range of approaches from highly structured through to completely informal. There is also a section on the development of literacy which challenges received wisdom regarding how children should be taught to read and at what age. Social development is also dealt with.

* Dr. Thomas is Visiting Fellow at the University of London Institute of Education. The research for the book was undertaken whilst he was a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Final chapter of the book may be read here.