A love of learning!! Isn’t that what every home-educating family is hoping they’re able to instill in their children? Absolutely!! 

Yet, many find that the act of doing school is actually hurting their relationships while having the opposite impact on their children. On this episode, David and Leslie will talk about what often hinders that love of learning and how we can overcome it in a way that will actually strengthen the relationships you care most about.

In Leslie’s new book, Heart School: How Amazing Parents Become Excellent Home Educators, she talks a little bit about how many are afraid that homeschooling will actually hurt their relationships with their children. In chapter 8 of that book, she encourages families, especially ones that are coming out of a different educational environment, that they may want to employ a deschooling strategy for a time.

Deschooling is a term that Ivan Illich coined. He wrote a book in 1971 called Deschooling Society, where he was very critical of the institutional approach to education, which gives children a very narrow understanding of things and doesn’t give details of both sides to consider. He noted that for many, “the right or appreciation of learning is curtailed by the obligation to attend school.”

Topics Covered In This Episode:

• What “status quo” education looks like today.
• How education is defined and approached in today’s environment.
• What a parent’s goal for the education of their children should be.
• How deschooling can help parents achieve their goals while ushering in a way of approaching home education that brings freedom and confidence.
• How Deschooling can be a great tool for strengthening relationships at any point in your homeschool journey.
• How our previous discussion about wisdom comes into play in a discussion about Deschooling. (See episode 170 to learn about the Wisdom of Putting things Together.)
• And More.

Additional Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• Heart School: How Amazing Parents Become Excellent Home Educators.
• The Heart School Master Class.
• Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Events.