About the Book

Molly was deeply immersed in homeschooling communities before she ever homeschooled Mason. She actually taught in a homeschooling co-op while Mason was in preschool. Then she dabbled in cyber school at home. But what really launched her into homeschooling was history; she wanted it taught chronologically, and it was not being done. So, she found Tapestry of Gracei, a Christian curriculum that followed chronological history as a spine. And she was able to use that curriculum for all her children. She also found The Well-Trained Mind to be a wonderful resource. Molly guided four of her five children through years of school at home. She faced numerous obstacles: caring for the elderly in their family, having a baby in the midst of school, moving to a new house, her husband’s changing jobs and being out of a job. But what stood out most was the challenge they faced with Mason, their eldest and cutting-edge child. He was the one doing everything first in homeschooling, and it was not easy. Molly shared her heartache over her son’s pain, and how they worked their way to his graduation. The most moving story Molly shared with me was about the time she was offered a teaching job that would require her to stop homeschooling her children. Her youngest, Dara, was born when Mason was eighteen, the year he graduated. Molly had already been homeschooling for fifteen years and saw more than another thirteen years if she homeschooled Dara. Many families in the study had stopped homeschooling because their children outgrew it, or they graduated. But Molly was faced with putting her younger children in school, and Dara would never experience homeschooling. The decision was difficult. She explained her reasoning, her sadness and guilt, and even admitted thinking a bit about her own needs and not only her children’s. The pandemic had been hard on them all as well, and so she chose to take the teaching job.

I started homeschooling – not because of any issues with the school – I never planned on homeschooling. I would have told you that homeschoolers are weird, and I never would have done it. 2014 When her son Caleb struggled in first grade, Kim brought him home for schooling despite possible weirdness. She didn’t blame the school; she just realized it was not a good fit for Caleb. She approached this new task with determination. She dug right in, found resources and contacts she needed, and began. She seemed confident in her approach and developed principles to guide her teaching. Kim was very much the teacher and in charge, but overseeing only two students, she could easily adjust the instruction to match their interests, abilities, time schedule, and mastery level. She also loved field trips and scheduled them often. She didn’t employ a lot of digital technology but recognized its role in society and was open to its playing a bigger role. Kim learned about curricula and experiments along with her children. She was both educating herself as a teacher and her children as students. She explained her philosophy: I try to fill their heads with as much general knowledge as possible, figuring down the road they’re going to have to learn the specifics so they can get a job, but you know, the specifics, you get the specifics if you have the general knowledge. 2017 Kim never intended to homeschool and thought homeschoolers were weird, and yet once they started, she was hooked. She said, “And I’ve never looked back. Never questioned the decision. It just keeps getting better and easier and more fun.” 2014

Sofie was an artist who never saw herself as a scholar and was uncomfortable in school. She was very laid back and appeared to let the world unfold around her, making the best choices she could as life came at her: I never really had any preconceived ideas of anything related to having a kid and then oops, having two. Or what that would be like. Parenthood was a hard adjustment for me. I don’t know what I thought it would be. I didn’t think you know. And so, just being a parent, like parenting has been an organic process. 2023 Her experience homeschooling was very organic as well. She was surprised when she realized Kindergarten was just around the corner for Taney, her oldest. What, school already? Is she that old? Maybe I will keep her home one more year. Some parents are so relieved when their children finally can be sent to school, but not Sofie. She wanted Taney home with her, and she slowly and carefully fashioned a lifestyle for her family that allowed that. She explained: I would say if anything, I’ve just become even more comfortable and trusting in the process of their exploring what is meaningful and interesting to them. And just really [being] happy with every day. 2015.

Nina just simply reveled in homeschooling. She had no idea when she began how much she would enjoy the experience. She had some success giving her children choice, but she overflowed with ideas of her own of what they could be doing, of what she could be learning with them. Nina’s story included many life-changing events and the way she managed homeschooling through them all. At the end of 2014, Nina was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. She had a mastectomy right after Christmas. To many, this would sound like a “give-up-homeschooling” and “put-them-in-school” scenario, but not to Shaun and Nina. Through homeschooling, they found a satisfying and rewarding path. Marny, their eldest, discovered a public school offering she could not pass up, and they found themselves on a journey through Cyberschooling, a very challenging experience. Shaun changed jobs the next year, and the family was uprooted from the homeschooling heaven they had found in Philly when they moved to New York. Midway through the study, Kendall transitioned to a boy named Kevin. Nina felt homeschooling may have softened the experience for Kevin, but also worried he might miss out on some helpful offerings. Through all these changes, Nina carried on with bits of her career, sometime little bits, at other time more substantial commitments: I feel like my relationship, our relationship with the kids is so much better than it was when they were in school, and when all of our focus was around making school work. Now I feel like we make our life work, and we do school. 2014 I think we’ve been lucky; we’ve had a lot of opportunities to do things beyond just my leading their education. I will never not be grateful for those opportunities. 2023