Social Isolation Meets Technological Innovation: Towards Developing A Model Of Communication Among Parents Who Homeschool

The purpose of this study was to understand how a sample of homeschoolers were using blogs. In this study of homeschoolers and their blog use, a content analysis of 25 blogs with entries from September 2006, February 2007, and June 2007 were studied. The subjects were homeschoolers who blogged; 19 were females, three were males, and six did not clearly identify themselves as male or female. Seven themes emerged through a content analysis: resources, succeeding at homeschooling, homeschooling and fun, advice, questioning homeschoolers, current events, and socialization. These themes were verified through a word count listing from the software used to collect the data from the sample of blogs. The findings indicate that homeschoolers are not using blogs in the traditional sense, as an online journal. The findings also support that homeschoolers are posting openly about their teaching. The homeschoolers in this sample are sharing resources with each other