Explore every episode of the podcast The Life Without School Podcast

A lot of parents are sensing that the gap between school and the real world has become very large. But many are having a hard time pulling all the threads together to work out why that gap feels so vast, and what the impact on their children might end up being if they ignore it. In this episode, I’m going to put words to why formal education has been now disrupted forever.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly research-backed episodes to help you design and live your best possible life outside school, sign up to my full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

What actually happens when an unschooler decides they want to try school?

In this episode, I’m sharing the story of our 9-year-old daughter choosing to go to school. Before that day, she had never once stepped into a classroom. I talk about why we agreed to it. How we prepared. What the transition into a classroom was actually like. How she went socially. What happened academically. What sort of overall impact it had on her. And whether, in the end, it lasted.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering whether school might be “worth a try”, or you have a child asking about it and no real sense of how that would play out, this episode will give you a grounded, objective, lived perspective from the inside.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly research-backed episodes to help you design and live your best possible life outside school, sign up to my full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

I want to put something to you. If you’ve chosen to home educate your children - whatever form that takes, however structured or unstructured you are - there’s a good chance you’re not valuing yourself, or your role, nearly as much as you should.

And I say that with no judgement at all. Because I’ve done that too. As has my wife, Kate. In fact, she’s my inspiration for this episode, because as she’s worked hard on that internal messaging over the past couple of years she’s realised how little credit she’s given herself for what she’s taken on. And she would very much like to make sure that the same thing does not happen to you.

Because somehow, despite the enormity of what you’ve taken on, it doesn’t feel like a recognised role. A respected role. Not in the way the world treats work. There’s no title. Status. Career path. No salary. Just you, doing the job every day, while the people around you move through careers that are culturally validated.

Today I want to show you why I believe you’ve taken on a level of professional responsibility and weight that most people never will. I want to talk about why you probably don’t believe that right now, what affect that’s having on how you see yourself (and how you show up for your children), and how to step back and reframe your role. Your importance. Your value.

I believe that what you’re doing deserves to be recognised as a *career-level responsibility*. And I also believe that once you see it that way, it will change your life.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly research-backed episodes to help you design and live your best possible life outside school, sign up to my full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

For all of human history, childhood has been a time of preparation for an adulthood you could see, and understand, and picture yourself living.

You could look ahead and see the kind of adult you were likely to become. You could picture the work you'd do, the way life would look, the shape it would take. Things would always get more modern, but between your childhood and your adulthood they didn’t change all that much. Not really.

That has been true for every generation in human history. Until right now.

Because now, for the first time in our history, children are growing up without a future they can clearly see. 

This is the impact AI has had on the world. We’re at a very significant turning point - one that anyone working in software or technology can see clearly, but one that most parents don’t yet fully understand.

So, as someone with a platform like this that a lot of parents listen to - and as someone with access to the technology conversation that can sometimes feel a bit inaccessible - I believe I have a responsibility to lift our collective awareness of what the coming years are going to look like for our children.

If you know my work, you’ll know I’m the furthest thing from alarmist and click-chasing. But I promise you - we’re facing a huge change to the world, and our children are not prepared.

Please listen, and please share it with every parent you know.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly research-backed episodes to help you design and live your best possible life outside school, sign up to my full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this episode, I’m unpacking one of the biggest questions home educating families face: how do I know this whole thing is actually working?

I explore:

• Why the “gaps” in your child’s learning might be their greatest strength.
• How traditional benchmarks can (no, will) hold your child back.
• What real signs of growth and progress look like, and how to spot them.

If you’ve ever found yourself second-guessing your approach, or wondering if your child is learning enough without all the usual school structures, this episode will give you clarity, encouragement, and a completely new way of making sure you're on track.

You'll find all my weekly episodes right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/tag/mini-episodes/

And the episode I mention on genuinely preparing your kids for adulthood, here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/what-really-prepares-your-child-for-adulthood-because-academics-wont/

In this episode, I'm digging deep into what could be the most important commitments we make as home educators this year. I explore:

• How to confidently reject any and all expectations that don't serve your family
• Building genuine confidence as your child's primary educator
• Breaking free from the pressure to make learning look "educational"
• Setting goals that actually matter to your family
• Protecting your own energy to create a sustainable journey

Whether you're feeling the weight of expectations at the start of this year, or you're ready to build a clearer, more intentional path forward - this one's for you. 🎯

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this episode, I’m digging deep into one of the biggest challenges facing homeschooling families today: finding balance with tech and screen time.

I explore:

• What the latest research really says about the impact of screens on our kids (it's not as simple as 'good or bad').
• How to create screen-free boundaries that actually stick.
• How my family found our own balance with technology, and what you might want to borrow for your own.

If you’re struggling to make screens a positive part of your life without them taking over, or want some help dialing your balance, this one's for you! 👏🏼

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

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In this episode, I spend some time examining three common perceptions that are unique to unschooling:

• That unschooling is 'unparenting'
• That unschooling will create lazy children
• And that unschooling means you have no rules or structure whatsoever

It’s a super interesting discussion that leads us through areas like life rhythms, autonomy and motivation, and regardless of whether you’re unschooling or not I think you’ll find this episode really useful!

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

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In this episode, I'm sharing six ways you can overcome any feelings you have about not being 'enough' as a home educating parent. Not smart enough, organised enough, social enough, qualified enough...

I wrote a post recently that started scratching at the surface of this. Today, we're digging deep.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this episode I'm talking more about something this podcast was literally born from: the idea of children falling behind where they should be.

First, I talk about how the world generally views progress in childhood, and why it’s so problematic and broken. And then second, I present a different view of that. A different idea of measurement and benchmarking and progress for our children.

Wherever you are in your journey right now, I hope this way of looking at things brings you and your children some comfort, some reassurance, and some *confidence*.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this episode I'm going to do something that might feel a bit uncomfortable. But if we want to move education forward in any real meaningful way, the kind of thinking I’m about to take you through is incredibly important.

I’m going to take some of the main questions that home educators are traditionally asked - some of the main worries people express when they hear you’re a home educating family - and then I’m very simply going to turn them around.

I’m going to ask them of the formal education system that’s currently in place almost globally. And I’m going to put some pressure on that system to give us honest answers to those questions.

I think you’ll find this conversation, and the questions it asks, both interesting and challenging - whether you’re home educating or not!

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

With so many families making the decision to leave the formal education system and take their own path through life, it also means there are a whole lot of grandparents out there going...

Hold on, what’s happening here?! We have a comprehensive, effective school system designed specifically to educate us in all the areas we’ll need to fully prepare for life. Why on earth would anyone walk away from that? And...what’s going to happen to my grandchildren now that they’ve had the opportunity to go through that system taken away?

It...just seems a bit crazy.

Grandparents, I hear you. So today, in this episode, I’m sitting down to have a chat with *you*.

p.s. if you enjoy this episode, I've written a guide on this topic called The Home Schooling Guide for Grandparents. There’s lot of the same material covered, but the process of reading and reflection is quite different to listening. Take a look :-)

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

The definition of education is being taught, and the learning that results from it. A process that happens, for a child, in a classroom.

But if you read that a couple of times, does it sound interesting and inspiring? Does it really sound like it’s centered on our children, designed to help them become independent, life-long learners, who know how to get the best out of themselves?

I don’t think it does. So today, together, we’re going to give education a new definition. We’re going to take the entire concept, and everything that sits within it, and look at it all with fresh eyes.

You might find some of what we discover here surprising.

And I *know* you will find it enlightening.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Will your children be sheltered? How will you educate them properly if you're not a qualified teacher? How will they get a good job when they grow up?

Everyone who chooses a life without school will be asked these kinds of questions at some point. In this episode, we chat through the nine most common ones a home educating family will hear, with the goal of empowering you to confidently frame your own answers to them, in your own ways. I hope revisiting this episode from time to time will give you those little boosts of confidence you sometimes need, whenever you need them.

And - because I’ve been asked many times for an episode that speaks directly to your family and friends, to help them understand your thinking behind the questions they will want to ask you - I hope you’ll find this episode a good starting place to share with them. One that is the right balance of thoughtful, and thought-provoking.

Thank you for listening!

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

We're back with another question and answer episode, where I take a few of your questions and talk my way through them. I really love working on this episode each month, because your questions always reflect the struggles, the worries, and the hopes and dreams, of so many of us. A big thank you to Amy, Jacqui and Kate for taking the time to send in their recordings so we can hear, directly, from this wonderful community.

In this episode we talk about:

1. How to avoid comparing our children to others - especially those who go to school.
2. How to navigate slower educational seasons of life when we don't feel we're doing enough.
3. How to explain home schooling and unschooling to our children, as we move away from the school system.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Today, I want to talk about why I believe it’s so important that we - as home educating parents - play the role of coach, and mentor, and guide to our children. I want to take you through the simple, but powerful, framework Kate and I have used to help our children discover, explore, and run with their passions. And I want to talk about some related things, like perseverance and failure.

I’m SO excited to have this conversation. I’ve been sent a lot of messages about this kind of thing over the years, from parents who truly want the best for their children but who haven’t quite been able to help them become the passionate, self-driven explorers they hoped they would.

So, I really hope this conversation speaks to the feelings, and the struggles, and the genuine care and hope that those messages are born from. And, that it gives you a good mix of inspiration, and reflection, and tangible action.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Happy New Year, everyone! The Life Without School Podcast is BACK.

For the very first episode of 2022, I’m taking you through seven things that will help set your family up for the best possible home educating year. These are all things that, through years of experience and reflection, I’ve found contribute the most to balance, personal growth, and fulfilment in our home.

From the importance of time, trust and personal space, to the management of screens, technology and other people’s expectations, there’s a lot in here for you to ponder on. For you, maybe, to take and apply to your own family life.

As you listen, can you let me know what you’re feeling most deeply? What hits home the most for your life, where you’re at right now?

I would love to hear from you as we set out on a fresh new year together :-)

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

The global home educating community has grown like crazy in 2021. More families are choosing a life without school than ever before, and it’s never been more important - as we go into the new year - to lift each other up, and encourage, and support, and inspire one another.

Which is why, in this very short but heartfelt episode, I want to say thank you to YOU. Because you have already spread the Life Without School Podcast further, and wider, than I ever imagined. You have made sure it has grown and become visible to those who need to see and hear it. And together, you and I will keep doing that as we go from 14 to 40 episodes…and then way beyond.

Thank you, truly, for being here with me. Let’s keep supporting this growing community together in 2022.

In this episode I want to help you build your de-schooling muscle. The process of taking everything you know about education, wiping your mental slate as clean as possible, and coming at the whole idea of how children learn as fresh as you can.

To do that, I want to take you through five commonly held beliefs about education and childhood. Through this conversation, you will grow progressively more aware of ideas you’ve probably held since you were a child. Ideas that have far less substance than you think.  And you will grow progressively more empowered to take hold of your own children’s education in a way that works for you as a family. Whether that’s by shedding the beliefs we talk through today, or the many others we often find ourselves holding onto.

My hope is that the way we talk through these things helps you apply it to any other worries that ever trouble you. This list is far from exhaustive, and there are many angles you can and should examine your own beliefs from. Today, I'll give you the spark to go deeper.

Articles mentioned throughout the episode (also linked from the show notes below):

• Literacy in the United States (Wikipedia)
• How do the skills of U.S. adults compare to their international peers? (National Center for Education Statistics)
• Testing Companies Mine for Gold (Rethinking Schools)
• The Business of Standardised Testing (Huffington Post)
• Do ACT and SAT scores really matter? New study says they shouldn’t (PBS News Hour)

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Welcome back to another question and answer episode - where I take some time to dig into things you all want to hear more about it. They might be things you’re personally struggling with, or worried about, or planning for...and I really love having these conversations, because it’s always such a great reminder that we’re not alone on this road.

In this episode, I’m sharing my thoughts on these three questions:

1) What are some key phrases you can use here and there to help encourage your children, to help them find those interests and spend their time there?

2) How do you handle the fear that your children might be unhappy with you - when they grow up - for choosing such an unconventional path for them?

3) How do I work through the worry of no longer being able to home educate if our life circumstances change drastically - like, financially, or through health - and our children have to go back to school?

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Home educating parents often put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to perform the role of being a teacher, and in this episode I want to talk through why I believe the stress, tension, and feelings of failure that so often come from that are unnecessary.

First, we’ll talk through four reasons why I believe it’s a mistake to try and be a teacher to your home educated child. Then, we’ll talk through some different ways of thinking about the role you can play instead.  

My hope is that by the end of this chat you’re able to free yourself of the pressure, expectation and tension that can come from trying to be both a parent and a teacher..

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

Asking our children to all learn the same things, at the same times, in the same groups, in the same spaces, with only the same ages…

…is effectively asking them to become the same as everyone else.

It’s asking them to think less about their true selves, and more about what the most accepted version of it might be. It’s asking them to see their uniqueness as a bad thing, and fitting in as good. No, more than that – critical.

And to me, this fundamentally undermines what being a human being is all about.

See, I believe every child has their own story. And in this episode of the Life Without School Podcast, I want to make a plea to let more of them tell it.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this episode we're looking at a philosophy that underpins how Kate and I approach life with our kids, their education, and our relationships with them. It's very different to the way formal education is approached, and is based on the power of trust. We’ll talk about the process of letting go of that complete control over a child’s education that is so engrained in us. About why it’s so important, how we might navigate it all, and what the results can look like.

About how putting trust in our children has changed our lives. And, how I believe it can change yours, too.

The hole in the wall: self organising systems in education: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50993473_The_hole_in_the_wall_self_organising_systems_in_education

The child-driven education (Sugata Mitra TED Talk): https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education/transcript?language=en

William's Youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW4K1TBtSZ3EB6oeFJfuMTw

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this - the first of many episodes where I'll spend some time answering listener questions - I talk through:

1) How do you respond to people saying ‘life is hard - if you don’t force your child to do things they don’t want to do, how will they be prepared for life’?

2) How on earth do you ever find time for yourself, and your own interests?

3) How do I get my husband to see how beneficial home education can be?

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

A lot of you have asked for a day-in-the-life style episode, so...here it is! I think there's a stack of important context that should always be shared as part of this kind of conversation, though, so this episode is made up of three parts (if you listen in, *please* make sure you go right through - taking any of this in isolation just...won't be as useful):

Part 1 is some of the thinking we went through to arrive at the daily and weekly flow we have.

Part 2 takes you through what that flow looks like for our three older children - who are 6, 11 and 14.

And Part 3 is a few extra thoughts that I think should accompany any day-in-the-life style example. And yes - there is definitely some screen time chat in there.

If you’re struggling to find the right rhythm for your family, I really, really hope there are some things you can take from this!

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

This week I want to talk about what to do when this home education path starts feeling hard, because what we’re doing here isn’t easy. As parents, we’re taking on a huge responsibility by choosing to live a life without school, and there’s not always the support we need, or would like. Either practically, or emotionally. There’s no...set playbook for this stuff.

Today, I’m going to talk through four things that have helped me when the journey has felt tough.

Hopefully they bring you some comfort, some reassurance, and the ability to make your way back to those good days when they start feeling hard to find.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stark.raving.dad/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starkravingdad/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/starkravingdad
Email me: issy@starkravingdadblog.com

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

One of the things we often underestimate when we decide to live a life without school - regardless of how excited about it we are - is how our family and friends will respond to it. How we’ll talk to them about it, and answer the questions that they’ll probably have. Because despite the growth and awareness in home education recently, we are still very much in the minority, and this path is still very misunderstood.

With so many families joining to this path, I want spend some time today building some tools to help with those family and friend conversations.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this week’s episode I want to talk about how a good home education lifestyle doesn’t just happen...it needs to be designed. Because it’s one thing to decide that a life without school is the right thing for your family, and the path you’re going to take...but it’s a whole other thing to work out, practically, what your days and weeks will actually look like.

The beauty of home education, of course, is that you get to decide how you want to approach it. But, that’s also one of its biggest challenges. And more often than not, you won’t find your balance and flow until you’ve experimented, and probably blended together a few different approaches.

You need to find what works for both you and your children, ebbing and flowing with your family’s energy and interests.

That’s not easy, it doesn’t just happen, and it takes some thoughtful work. Today, I want to help you with some starting points and strategies for that.

My de-schooling guides: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/tag/guide/

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

For this episode I want to dig into two of the biggest misconceptions about home education that I, personally, have experienced over the years that I’ve been an unschooling dad.

Despite it being a rapidly growing form of education, especially over the past year or two, homeschooling (or unschooling, hack schooling, home education, world schooling - whatever your personal flavour or term happens to be) - is still a widely misunderstood world.

The reasons for choosing to opt out of school and the approaches home educating families take have all broadened hugely over the years. How it’s all viewed by the wider population, hasn’t really kept pace with that. Common perception is as narrow as it was 50 years ago.

At best, this is causing awkward conversations in the playground.

At worst, it’s holding the world back from advancing how our children experience life (and that goes for their adulthood when they get there, too).

RESEARCH LINKS:

A systematic review of the empirical research on selected aspects of homeschooling as a school choice: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15582159.2017.1395638

Can Homeschoolers Do Well In College? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-homeschoolers-do-well-in-college/

Australian home educating alumni study: https://home-ed.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Alumni-Report-National.pdf

Homeschooling and the question of socialization: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1493091?seq=1

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

The very, very squiggly story of how we became a home educating family, including:

• How we ended up at financial rock-bottom as 30 year olds (with two young children).

• How despite that we’ve made it possible to always have at least one of us not working and at home with the children.

• How we found the experience of attending three different schools across two different countries.

• How a serious chronic illness threatened to derail our life plans, but actually helped keep us on the right path.

• How our first attempt at homeschooling was an exhausting mess.

• How we started de-schooling ourselves, and eventually settled into unschooling.

You know how you look at those families online and say ‘wow, life has been so easy for them - no wonder they can make a lifestyle like that work’?

Yeah, that's not us.

For regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/

In this very first episode of the Life Without School podcast, I'm talking about why it even needs to exist. Why I’m so passionate about shining a light on life paths for children that don’t involve the normal school thing. Why there are millions of children around the world who wake up each day feeling broken, not enough, and believing that the things that come most naturally to them are not important.

Thank you for listening - I hope you're as excited as I am about this podcast becoming a thing!

If you're not already, make sure you're signed up to get my emails so you never miss a new episode: www.starkravingdadblog.com

And for regular encouragement and support just like this, including weekly mini-episodes covering all sorts of helpful things, sign up to the full Life Without School Collection right here: https://www.starkravingdadblog.com/support-my-work-while-i-support-you/