A growing number of indjviduals in this country, who share a common background, are gaining academic success, accessing work-related training, further and higher education, and entering rewarding occupations. Their common background is home-schooling. They have received all or part of their 'compulsory' years of education at home. This is a study of a small number of such individuals aged sixteen and over. I include case studies of their family's home-schooling experiences and focus on the legacy that this 'alternative' education has provided for their transition into 'institutionalised' learning - at school, college, university or workplace. I explore political, historical and philosophical perspectives of the 'movement', which has escalated rapidly in the USA over the past twenty years and is gaining impetus in the UK. Views expressed by Education Authority officers, teachers and employers also help me to frame my inquiry into whether this educational provision presents an appropriate rather than (as I initially viewed it ) a radical alternative to school. As well as revealing the development of my understanding of this multifaceted, alternative form of 'child-centred' education, this study also examines the methodological complexities of the inquiry.