Construction of Homeschooling Models in Families with Working Parents

Ida Nur'aini Noviyanti; Ernawati Ernawati; Uyu Wahyudin; Asep Saepudin; Yanti Shantini

doi:10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.9814

Construction of Homeschooling Models in Families with Working Parents

Ida Nur'aini Noviyanti, Ernawati Ernawati, Uyu Wahyudin, Asep Saepudin, Yanti Shantini

Abstract

Homeschooling has become an increasingly diverse form of family-based education; however, limited research has developed a theoretical explanation of how families with working parents successfully organize and sustain homeschooling while balancing employment responsibilities and children’s learning needs. This study aimed to construct a substantive grounded theory model explaining the adaptive processes through which working-parent families coordinate homeschooling. This study employed a constructivist grounded theory approach following Charmaz. Ten homeschooling families with working parents participated through purposive and theoretical sampling. Data were collected through 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews, 20 systematic observation sessions, and document analysis of learning schedules, portfolios, learning logs, and digital progress reports. Data were analyzed using initial coding, focused coding, constant comparison, and memo-writing until theoretical sufficiency was achieved. The analysis generated an adaptive homeschooling model centered on adaptive coordination as the core integrating category. The model comprises four recursive stages: (1) mapping family conditions and learning needs, (2) designing flexible weekly learning plans, (3) implementing blended and distributed learning activities, and (4) conducting reflection and revision. Four supporting mechanisms—distributed roles, digital mediation, scaffolded autonomy, and reflective revision—enabled sustainable homeschooling within varying contextual conditions, including work patterns, family capacity, child characteristics, digital access, and support networks. The findings contribute a substantive family-system model that integrates homeschooling, parental involvement, digital learning, and work–family conflict theories within a single explanatory framework. Rather than merely coping with competing work and family demands, participating families actively reconstructed temporal, relational, and instructional arrangements through adaptive coordination. Although the model is context-specific and based on ten self-selected families, it provides a theoretically grounded framework that may inform future research, policy development, and support programs for working-parent homeschooling communities.

Keywords

adaptive homeschooling; working-parent families; constructivist grounded theory; adaptive coordination; family-based education

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.9814