Thank you for reading our guide, “5 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier in Our Homeschooling Journey” (and if you haven’t yet, here’s the link). We hope you’re here because it was helpful and you’re ready for more.

I covered a lot in the guide and didn’t want to overwhelm or distract our readers by also adding a bunch of links to other things. There’s so much information out there, but we’ve found it most helpful to be able to take it one step at a time.

So here’s the next step: links to a handful of the specific free resources I mentioned in the guide. We encourage you to dig deeper on the things that resonate with you and not worry too much about the rest of it. It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) that just because we recommend a resource doesn’t mean we necessarily agree or align with all opinions or of the creator. It means that we got something out of their content, and we hope you will, too.

Let’s get to it:

In the guide, we mentioned that early in our journey we came across an article that resonated deeply with our beliefs about education in a home environment. It confirmed that we could indeed have the freedom to create an education unique to our children. We could take our time figuring out what that was going to look like, and there were countless possibilities for making it work in the way that felt best for our family.

You’ll realize how old the article is when the author describes YouTube as “...an interesting video site that you might not have heard of” – and you realize he’s not kidding. Also, for clarity, we’re not huge fans of the term “unschooling” but it in the home education world, it’s more or less synonymous with other less popular terms like natural learning, life learning, Self-Directed Education, interest-led learning. We like to call it homeschooling that doesn’t look like “school at home”.

The Beginner’s Guide to Unschooling, Leo Babauta

In the next two sections of the guide, we talked about podcast episodes that helped us to focus on “teaching our kids, not a curriculum” and the value of being able to move slowly through our days.

Those thoughts were inspired by two episodes from the same podcast called Virtual Kitchen Table. A heads up that the style of these episodes is long and conversational. They’re at least an hour long and recorded to make you feel like you’re sitting at the table with your friends. They aren’t performing, they’re having a real conversation about what’s meaningful to them in a life without school.

The hosts and guests are getting as much value out of it as you will. I love listening when I’m in the car, on a walk or folding laundry!

I’v gotten so much value from many of the episodes, but these two helped shape our days and speak to others about what home education could look like for their families.

In section four of the guide, we talked about keeping your head in the long game and suggested the simple exercise of creating a North Star for your family: digging deep into your why and putting your mission into words. Taking the time to do that was such a game-changer for us, that we just created a blueprint to help you do the same for your family.

That idea (and more!) was inspired by this episode of the Life Without School podcast. These episodes are shorter and scripted. A lot is packed into a short amount of time. I’ve listened to my favorite episodes at least twice!

In the final section of the guide, I spoke about the rapidly growing home education communities and opportunities for connection on our journey.

The online community I joined is connected to the podcast mentioned above and is called the Virtual Kitchen Table community. Like many things, I don’t get to participate as often as I’d like, but I’ve gotten tremendous value from the bi-monthly zoom conversations. The opportunity to talk to people who are actually living this life alongside us gave me the confidence I needed to speak publicly about our journey and recognize that I have something to offer other parents and families.

I recommend checking out their homepage and bios to see if the group sounds like a fit for you. And if it’s not, keep exploring! There are many online homeschooling communities out there and lots of options for every family. Take your time and find the one that’s a fit for you.

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge that we use the word “trust” a lot on this journey.

We know that in order for this lifestyle to work, we have to work hard to build trust around important things like our intuition, our kids and the natural learning process.

The work of research professor of psychology Dr. Peter Gray, and the collection of essays that showcase the findings of his lifelong work found in this tiny book were instrumental in helping me to establish mine. At a little more than 100 pages, it’s a quick and easy read packed with unforgettable lessons:

Amazon affiliate link (we get earnings from qualifying purchases that help support our work).

Thanks for reading!

If you found any of this helpful, please drop us a comment and share this post with your friends. And please let us know what other topics are of interest to you or specific questions you have.

We’re here to help!

Companion Resources for Our Guide

What is Modern Homeschooling?