When families come to me wanting to leave traditional school and “come to the dark side,” my first bit of advice is almost always to do a deschooling period, and I am almost always met with confusion and worry. Unstructured time? Won’t they fall behind? What do mean do nothing? For how long? But, won’t they fall behind? Before we get into what deschooling is, I think it’s important first to discuss why it’s necessary. Why should I Deschool? Traditional education models, inclu

My kids and I have embarked upon our first year of homeschooling. The journey actually started in 2018, when my son’s health began impeding his ability to attend school consistently. Since then, I have traveled through the five stages of beginning to homeschool. It’s been fun. Join me, won’t you? Stage 1: No Way In early 2020, when Covid was still a thing in another part of the world, my son was hospitalized and missed six weeks of school. I started to consider homeschooling,

What grade are you in?” It is an innocent question that frequently reminds us our choice to homeschool is not the same choice the majority makes. It is a question that can fill you with doubt and fear if you let it. It is a question that makes us cringe when we’re feeling insecure and smile when we’re feeling confident. Why does this seemingly harmless question, and others like it, have so much power? They trigger the homeschool comparisons. There are three types of homeschoo