These last few months have seen a change in attitudes on homeschooling to some extent. More and more parents responding with curiosity rather than knee jerk prejudice at the idea of not sending children to school. Part of it may be related with the frustration of adults with the state of economy and employment along with reports of increasingly low effectiveness of education in preparing students to be competent at whatever the certificates profess.

Another part may also be the new kind of politics that is sweeping the country that has led to increased introspection and interest in making choices rather than merely going with disillusioned defaults.

Whatever it is, I find more and more parents interested in knowing more about homeschooling and curious about whether it is possible to raise and educate children better by investing time and effort to provide them with extremely customized opportunities for learning.

In my limited experience with my own son, I find that the best answers for his learning and development in extremely challenging circumstances have come when I have made an effort to seek knowledge that address his specific needs. He has learned best when allowed to chase what interests him. I have also had the first hand experience of seeing a family disturbed by reports of their very young son in pre-school developing hyperactive behavior and bullying take a break from pre-school and find him a “much more stable and purposeful person” (their words).

Perhaps the world is indeed readying for a change that puts children first.

I hope this interests goes beyond parents exploring alternatives to school, to educational institutions taking an interest in intentionally providing environments for children to thrive and be diverse and unique in ways that come naturally to each.