While it may seem like home schooling is a recent phenomenon, learning at home used to be the norm. Before the mid-19th century, it cost money to attend public school and most kids in the United States learned basic education at home.
Activists began campaigning for education reform in the 1840s and '50s, prompting individual states to make elementary school education mandatory. However, it wasn't until 1918 that every state had laws requiring children to complete elementary school.