In Victorian Britain, education truly did begin (and often ended) at home. Though the rate of schooling increased slowly during the mid-Victorian period, it wasn't until 1870 that a law was passed that actually required children between 5 and 10 to attend school. Prior to that, upper-class boys were often taught at home until age ten, after which they might go to a public school such as Eton. Many girls were never educated outside the home, where they might be taught by a governess or tutor. (However, given the number of stories, serials and novels about girls' schools, obviously quite a lot of girls did go to boarding schools in England!) Even by the late Victorian period, many parents clearly felt that a great deal of the responsibility for a child's learning, especially in the early years, rested upon them.

From Cradle to College (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1875)

How a father managed the education of his sons on a tight budget.

How We Got Up Our Spelling Bee, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Little Children: How to Teach Them (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Early Education and Early Impressions (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

How My Children Were Drilled, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

On the education of younger children

Art-Educational: Mother and Child, by Florence Duncan (Demorest, 1879)

Tips on inculcating artistic tastes in children.

A Few Practical Words on Home Teaching (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1881)

How to Train a Child Mentally (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Our Family of Boys, and How We Started Them in Life (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1891)

The Training of Children, by Mary Harrison McKee (Ladies’ Home Journal, 1892)

A New Departure in Education; Or, The Child: What Will She Become? by Alfred T. Schofield, M.D. (Girl's Own Paper, 1893)

A lengthy and somewhat technical treatise (by the Chairman of the Parents' National Educational Union) on the development of character in a child, with considerable discussion of how the brain develops. Useful to anyone interested in Victorian child-development theory!

Teaching a Little One to Read, by Edith A. Turner (Ladies Home Journal, 1896)

Teaching Children Housekeeping, by Alice Stronach (Windsor Magazine, 1898B)

The early days of teaching domestic skills and home economics to girls.