child-led learning

For twenty years, I homeschooled with my three kids. Before that, I was an elementary school teacher. My teaching experience did not exactly prepare me to be a homeschooling parent; more often than not it got in the way, let me tell you!

Over time I learned to loosen my teaching expectations and came to trust the kids, letting them guide their learning more and more, while still embracing the structure of a regular time working together. I share my struggle to find a homeschooling style in this post.

The “kids” are now adults. H homeschooled until he was 16, when he decided to go to high school as a junior. He started making films as a teenager, studied film in college and is now pursuing life as a freelance cinematographer in Los Angeles. L homeschooled until high school. The girl was born knowing her own mind; she wrote her own major in college and is now an analyst in community-based planning and policy. Mr. T also homeschooled until high school, and is currently an undergrad in Chicago, double-majoring in History and Comedy Filmmaking (with Second City!) —no surprise if you’ve read about him here over the years.

There are a lot of posts here, going all the way back to 2008, with a particular focus on helping kids love writing. I’ve tried to organize the highlights for you. Thanks for poking around! And please consider joining my free webinar series for parents.