Written by contributor Rachel Wolf of Clean and Lusa Organics

I can’t speak for you, but I do not have a degree in elementary or secondary education.

Though I am teaching my children, I have no certificate to prove my qualifications.

Indeed there is plenty that I do not know.

I have not memorized the names of our forty-three past presidents, all 196 countries, or the periodic chart of elements.

I am neither a math whiz nor a spelling genius.
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Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool, also blogs about motherhood at Steady Mom

I want my kids to have a childhood. A living, breathing, mud-between-toes, romping-in-woods, staring-at-the-sky childhood. A secure foundation setting the stage for a secure life.

The gift of childhood. I allow my kids to slowly unwrap it each day within our homeschool.

But as I look around–at influences, at media, at society–I see childhood disappearing, evaporating further with each passing year. Are we all okay with that?

I’m not. For the good of our children, for the good of our society, for the good of the world we need to reclaim it.
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Written by contributor Rachel Wolf of Clean and LuSa Organics

There are as many different ways to parent as there are kids.

And while some of us hit our groove on day-one, others struggle to find that just-right fit for years.

Many find a turning point in the act of simply putting pen to paper and jotting down the answer to one simple (yet challenging) question: “What is my parenting mission?”

My business has a mission statement. Why not my home?

Because sometimes we forget our goals. Or we lose our way.

When we do our mission statement can help put us back on track.

I shared my parenting mission statement here.

And simply jotting down those words helped my direct my parenting (and yes, homeschooling) path. I make choices each day with these goals in mind.
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Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool, also blogs about motherhood at Steady Mom

I am a big fan of Seth Godin. He inspires me–and much of the world–to think bigger, to embrace change, and to consider new ideas. For these reasons, I eagerly downloaded and read his recently released free manifesto on education, Stop Stealing Dreams.

In blog-sized chapters, Godin outlines his ideas about how schools can and should be reformed so they allow kids to thrive while learning and to graduate prepared for a new and connected world. On all this, I couldn’t agree more.

I have doubts, though, about Godin’s thoughts on homeschooling. It’s not that he portrays it negatively. On the one hand, he acknowledges this educational path:

“Thousands of caring and committed parents are taking their kids out of the industrial system of schooling and daring to educate them themselves.”

But on the other hand he states:

“There are several problems, though–reasons for us to be concerned about masses of parents doing this solo.”

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Written by Toni Anderson of The Happy Housewife

I have a child who hates school.

This is hard for me to admit because it feels like I failed. I failed my son, my family, and the homeschool community.

The bottom line… ten years ago I tried to force a square peg into a round hole, and it didn’t work. Instead of focusing on what he could do I worried about all the things he couldn’t.

Now I’ve spent the past eight years trying to undo the first two.

Four years ago another son started school, and like his older brother he wasn’t eager to learn. Thankfully I’ve learned a thing or two over the years and took a different approach with this child.

It’s working.
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Written by contributor Rachel Wolf of Lusa Organics and Clean

When my son was two our life took an unexpected and terrifying turn.

An unrelenting seizure, a flight-for-life, and a week in the pediatric ICU would forever paint how we remembered his second year.

Though he survived and life returned mostly to normal, that single event was defining for how we would remember his toddlerhood.

Some years later I sat down to begin writing my son’s story.

Starting with our pregnancy, I would share highlights of each year of his life.

Pregnancy, birth and his first year were easy.

But I got stuck on two. I didn’t want his seizure to become his story.

So I made a mindful choice.

I would tell the story of what I wanted to remember.

Instead of writing “When Sage was two he had a terrible seizure and was in a coma. We were so afraid,” I wrote this:
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