Homeschooling, worldschooling and unschooling are all progressive forms of education, gaining popularity in the modern world. Unschooling and worldschooling are types of homeschooling, also known as home education. Other forms of education outside school also exist, for instance, wildschooling, lifeschooling, and farm schooling. In this post we break down homeschooling, worldschooling, unschooling, online schooling, wildschooling […]
What is the Purpose of School?
Ask the man in the street “What is the purpose of school?” and you’ll get a pretty straightforward answer. It’s to educate children, right? Without school they’d all be illiterate, numerically inept and wouldn’t know all that important stuff that only school can teach them. Or would they? The Purpose of School When I was […]
Should We Homeschool? Reasons to Homeschool.
Should we homeschool? My husband and I asked ourselves that question so many times in the months leading up to taking our child out of school. We knew nothing about homeschooling really, but it was very clear that school wasn’t working out for our family. We needed an alternative and we needed it fast, nobody […]
Homeschool Kindergarten
If you’re Googling for that term “Homeschool Kindergarten” you’re new to our world. Hi, welcome, we’re glad you’d like to homeschool. We need to start at the beginning and explain homeschooling to you so that you can best homeschool (home educate, home school, world school, wildschool, unschool ) your kindergarten-aged little one. There are a […]
Pulling My 7 Year Old Out Of School
I’m writing this post today to help you with the mental anguish and turmoil you’re suffering about pulling your child out of school. I did it and it’s all worked out perfectly. I was able to take my child out of school, legally and permanently, when he was 7 years old and it was one […]
What is Deschooling?
Deschooling is a term you’ll often hear in homeschooling, unschooling, or worldschooling circles. It’s a common term, but one you need to grasp before moving forward with a homeschooling career. Both the parent and the child have to be deschooled. Some give ratios and schedules, one month of deschooling for every year the child was […]
Experimenting With Project Based Unschooling
I am not a total unschooler, we tried it, we dabble in unschooling but it’s not what we do all the time. Every now and then there is structure because my kids and I just aren’t the unschool type. But this month, just for a change, we designated Project Based Unschooling Month. The kids would […]
Milestones and Homeschool
One of the most beautiful things about homeschooling my boys is being around to see the milestones as they happen, the big and the small, and to see first hand how pleased they are with their own achievements. It’s quite magical. We’ve had a couple in the last few days that I wanted to share. […]
New Homeschooler Mistakes I Made
My elder son is 13, the younger 11 and they’re doing great on life. One went to school briefly the other never, so we’ve been doing this homeschooling thing for a long time. Every new homeschooling parent learns as they go along and I was no exception. So here for you, are my new homeschooler […]
Making Homeschooling Easier on Everyone
Are you met with resistance every time you mention that maybe, just possibly, they might want to do some written work of some sort? I am, but I have a secret weapon or two in making homeschooling easier on everyone. I’ve had a lot of practice. I have the sort of boys who will occasionally […]
Homeschooling Ideas for a 15-Year-Old
Hi there, how’s your day going? So you Googled “Homeschooling Ideas For a 15-Year-Old”. Guess what, I have a homeschooled 15-year-old and we’ve been homeschooling forever so I’m full of handy tips and ideas that, hopefully, will help you out. Homeschooling a 15-Year-Old 15-year-olds are very different to their younger siblings. Of course, they’re all […]
Why We Didn’t Opt Out of School (Reasons to Homeschool)
Hi, good morning from a rainy Romania. Occasional wet days are a great excuse to stay in and write blog posts so I want to explain today why we opted out of school and why we opted out of normal, or rather why we didn’t. It’s something that’s been on my mind since Jessica wrote […]
Homeschooling in Houston Texas
Can you homeschool in Houston Texas? Yes, you can. To find out more about homeschooling in Houston we talked to a local mum (and former teacher) responsible for her own 3 homeschoolers in Houston, Harris County, Texas. This homeschool mum tells us how she homeschools, why, what facilities, groups, and field trips exist in and […]
Should I Homeschool?
Should I homeschool? Questions you should ask yourself before taking the decision to homeschool your child. Homeschooling is a wonderful option with good outcomes for kids, but not everyone should, and could, do it. Take a look at our questions below. If you can answer a confident yes to each one, then there is a […]
Thoughts on Homeschooling Highschool
If, like me, you have a homeschooled child approaching highschool age, well done! Give yourself and your child, heck, give your whole family, a big pat on the back. Not many of us make it this far. Have you noticed that most of the mums in the online groups have tiny tots? Did you spot that […]
How Do Homeschooled Kids Sit Exams?
Firstly I’d like to say that exams are mostly not compulsory nor really necessary, there are many ways to do life and the regular school system is just one of them. Should the child (or parent) feel they need paper qualifications similar to regular school leavers, there are ways. So how do homeschooled kids sit […]
How to Convince Your Parents to Homeschool You
“How to convince your parents to homeschool you?” A lot of kids, just like you, want to know how to convince their parents to homeschool them. I homeschooled my kids, and it was fantastic for all of us, so I’m here to help you to convince your parents to let you stay home and be […]
Growing Up With No Rules – Self Regulation
When I was a child there were strict rules which had to be adhered to on pain of death. Sit at the kitchen table to eat, all together, with knife and fork, at the necessary time “Thank you for my dinner” and “Please may I be excused” were necessary after meals Go to bed at […]
Myths About Homeschooling
There are myths about education that necessarily become myths about homeschooling because they are closely related. We’ll debunk the following myths about homeschooling in this post The Biggest Myths About Homeschooling Most myths and misconceptions about homeschooling come from a lack of understanding of what homeschooling is and what it is not. Homeschooling is simply […]
There is An Alternative to School – Don’t Tell the Kids !
We hear it so, so often. If we get chatting to parents of school system kids they’ll either tell us that they couldn’t homeschool or they’ll say ” Don’t tell my child or she’ll want to leave.” We hear how children hate school and would far rather be doing something else. But they have to […]
We’re Homeschoolers, We Don’t Do Times Tables
A month ago we were summering in Richmond Upon Thames, London and my two boys were spending a lot of time with the two boys downstairs. As they discussed the finer points of Pokemon Go in the garden below my window, I overheard the conversation below. This is a post about how we, as homeschoolers, […]
Make Homeschooling Fun
It is vitally important that you make homeschooling fun for your kids, if it’s not, your family’s educational journey will be a hard one, filled with resentment and frustrations. Always remember that you are mum ( or dad), educational facilitator, not teacher, there is no requirement at all for you to teach your kids. If […]
Homeschooling Sucks Sometimes
If you’re new to homeschooling, I want to reassure you that you’re not the only one having bad days. Things go wrong, it all gets too much, the kids won’t cooperate and nerves get frazzled. On those days homeschooling sucks bigtime. I’ve been homeschooling a long time. The boys are 11 and 9 now and […]
Homeschooling a 12 Year Old
My elder child was 12 last week. It’s not one of the big milestones, he didn’t become a teen and didn’t pass from junior school to high school, but he’s changed so much I thought I’d tell you about it. Homeschooling a 12 year old is very different to homeschooling an 11, 10, or, obviously, […]
There is No Right Way to Homeschool
The right way to homeschool doesn’t exist in that there is no, one, definitive right way. You can consider yourself a homeschooler, unschooler, worldschooler or home educator and I’ll bet you won’t find another family doing it the same way as you. This week we’ve been staying with and visiting 3 other homeschooling families, in […]
My 7 Year Old Can’t Read
Hi, glad you’re here, my 7-year-old can’t read either. In fact, go back a couple of years and my first 7-year-old couldn’t read. It seems to be an epidemic, this non-reading 7-year-old thing, and it seems to worry mums of 6-year-olds and 8-year-olds too. I’m here to make you feel better and maybe help you […]
Homeschooling Pros and Cons
Homeschooling pros and cons, honestly. Families homeschool for many good reasons, but there are negatives to our way of educating and raising kids. Seeing those negatives, the cons, as big or small totally depends on you, your lifestyle, your finances, your needs, and your kids’ personalities. Before choosing homeschooling for your family (and it has […]
Homeschool Resources
This page is the hub of our website for finding homeschool resources. We have posts on this site detailing homeschool science resources, geography resources and so on. Below we also give you some useful links to online learning resources, curriculum, supplies, and books. If you can’t find the resource or topic you need below, do […]
School is the Worst Place to Get an Education
Deep thought is something I suffer from, often the 3 am lying awake variety. This morning’s episode brought me to an idea that I felt big enough to share. I apologise if somebody, somewhere has said this same thing before with figures, statistics and research. It’s new to me, and I hope to you. My […]
5 Reasons Not to Send Your Child to School
When my son was just four years old I dropped him off at school for the first time. It hurt both of us. But that’s what you have to do, children need to get an education and school is where education happens. Teachers facilitate that education and education is the purpose of school. If you […]