
#98 There is no one right way to live, with Stephanie McDowell in Texas
From The Unschool Space by Esther Jones
January 6, 2026 · 43 min · Season 1 · Episode 98
About this episode
Esther Jones talks with Stephanie McDowell about her journey from high-school teacher to homeschooling her daughter and addressing personal trauma.
In this episode, I am talking with Stephanie McDowell. Stephanie lives in the US with her husband and five-year old daughter and is a former high-school teacher. Burnt out from her teaching career, she and her husband chose to homeschool their daughter, but Stephanie found the structure and school-focused ways of the homeschooling community an uncomfortable mismatch. She realised that she needed to focus first on herself and began to unpick some trauma from her childhood and her relationship ...
People in this episode
Host: Esther Jones
Guest: Stephanie McDowell
Topics covered
- homeschooling
- personal growth
- trauma
- education
- family dynamics
Keywords
- homeschooling
- burnout
- education
- trauma
- family
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Texas, US
More episodes of The Unschool Space
- #107 Tending the relationship and tending ourselves, with Megan Arevalo in Michigan, US · June 10, 2026 · 42 min
- #106 Navigating the recovery from burnout, with Carey Kirkella in New York City · May 26, 2026 · 40 min
- #105 Community, trust and growth—two self-directed learners’ experiences, with Victor and Eitan of Alcove Learning, Los Angeles · May 12, 2026 · 34 min
- #104 Trusting in the teen years, with Munira Adenwalla in London · April 29, 2026 · 40 min
- #103 Embracing a different kind of learning, with Zahra Lightway and Patricia Sprenger · April 15, 2026 · 43 min
- #102 From soccer mom to unschooling coach—changing the stories in our heads, with Sue Patterson in Austin, Texas · April 1, 2026 · 47 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Unschool Space podcast page.