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 l...

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 t...

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: How to avoid comparing our children to ot...

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 expecta...

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 ...

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 tha...

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 ...

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 ...