The Accidental Homeschooler is a term that we started using as we spoke to homeschoolers and listened to their stories.
Homeschoolers seemed to fall into two groups:
As I started to create some materials on this subject, I found a few things:
The best description of accidental homeschoolers, and I quote: Accidental homeschoolers is a term coined to describe how large groups of homeschoolers seem to have started homeschooling....We coined the "Accidental Homeschooler" term to describe those starting to homeschool motivated by a process of elimination, not because homeschooling is their primary choice. There was one particular conversation that got us thinking about these families and the process of suddenly jumping into homeschooling....They have the impression that all other homeschoolers are philosophically dedicated to homeschooling and that they are one of the few who are doing it only because it's the best option for their kids.
My impression is that there are alot of homeschoolers who intended to have their children in school and started by putting their children in school. But... it didn't work. There are many reasons that it didn't work relating to schools, children, family etc.
As they considered their options (many people first tried changing schools), they found that homeschooling was the best option.
The online homeschool blog has good articles on accidental homeschoolers
There is a great discussion you could follow or join about why and how people started to homeschool.