Abstract
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It is a crucial topic for the discussion of legalization of homeschooling that how appropriately homeschooling contributes to the goals of public education system. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the effects of homeschooling, a social movement emerged as a form of resistance to public schools, in terms of the goals of public education system, i.e., social equality, social integration, manpower production, and educational experiences. In order to accomplish the research purposes, a kind of meta-analysis was used. Previous literature including journals, newspapers, magazines, and books was re-analyzed according to the frame of reference for the study. Results showed that all the functions of the public education except social equality were properly played by homeschooling, comparable to public schools. This implies that homeschooling might be legalized in the near future. However, it should be noted that homeschooling has some limitations with regards to social equality, which requires policy measures to provide financial assistance to homeschooling families from low socio-economic status. Finally, it is recommended that more reliable research methods need to be employed including a quasi-experimental design, a large sample, a longitudinal study, and a regression model controlling for family background variables to influence academic achievement or socialization in order to say the genuine effects of homeschooling.