School shapes our views about education and learning. Most of us have been to school and have heard the messages on repeat about the need to pay attention, get top marks, and pass exams. It is culturally part of our society, governs our days and family life, and for the most part is our only experience of education. School was built and designed for a reason and there have always been signs that school isn’t for everyone. Children up and down the country are telling us that school is stressful, and irrelevant, and parents are questioning behavioural policies and the developmental appropriateness of some of school’s requirements. It doesn’t change the fact that choosing to do something different, to take full responsibility for your child’s education, is a big decision. Chapter One starts at the beginning: why does school exist? how can you know that school isn’t for your child? And is it possible for you to do something different?

My book, School isn’t for Everyone (and what you can do instead,) is a book that opens up the world of self-directed education and unschooling to parents. It combines theory and practice whilst being grounded in the reality of being with your child day in and day out. It addresses the key concerns and questions that parents have when they first discover unschooling and at the same time provides the tools that are needed for parents to begin following this approach at home. Ultimately it leaves parents confident in their own abilities to educate their children in a way that (I believe) is quite magical.

When parents begin to look at their options and they discover home education then a door opens into another world. A whole world of possibilities, and one of those is unschooling, a way of living and learning together as a family without the influence of school.