Essays  ·  For parents

Essays for parents deciding about school

Every figure is sourced. Each essay ends with what it does not claim. Nothing here is for sale.

1. Deciding  ·  14-minute read

   I’m Afraid to Keep Sending Him. I’m Afraid to Bring Him Home.

   The fear on-the-fence parents carry, and what the numbers say back

2. The considering year  ·  14-minute read

   The Year Between Noticing and Deciding

   Who considers switching schools, who actually does, and what finally moves them

3. Who homeschools  ·  14-minute read

   Who Homeschools Now: The Numbers Behind the Doubling

   Income, politics, religion, work and state, from federal surveys, state counts and a 2024 parent survey

4. Trying it  ·  14-minute read

   Many Homeschool Spells Last a Year or Two. That’s Not Failure.

   What national surveys say about trying it, and how to keep the way back open

5. Working parents  ·  13-minute read

   Can You Homeschool and Work Full Time?

   The honest answer in the numbers, and what the families who do it arrange

6. The second year  ·  15-minute read

   You Signed Up to Teach. You Got Five Jobs.

   What the research says about homeschool exhaustion, and what helped the parents who came through

Nontraditional vs traditional

Where the school day came from, and what the research says about each piece of it. Read in order, or start anywhere.

1. Where the classroom came from  ·  14-minute read

   The Factory Story Puts a True Chapter in the Wrong Century

   Your child’s grade level dates to the 1840s, decades before schools were proudly called factories.

2. Time  ·  14-minute read

   A School Day Runs on Three Clocks. Only One Rings.

   The bell, his attention, and the work clicking. A seat-hour is not a learning hour.

3. Mixed ages  ·  15-minute read

   Will Younger Classmates Hold My Eight-Year-Old Back?

   In grade school, barely. Planned tutoring, not the mix, helped tutor and tutored.

4. Freedom  ·  14-minute read

   Age Sets the Floor. Readiness Sets the Pace.

   For the library ride, “twelve” stood for a route, two crossings and a call

5. Learning to learn  ·  15-minute read

   He’s “Not a Self-Starter,” and You’ve Become His Calendar

   In 67 school studies, children taught to plan, check and look back did better

6. Argument  ·  14-minute read

   The Opposite of Talking Back Isn’t Silence. It’s a Reason.

   In one school’s argument classes, essays weighing the other side rose from 35% to 79%.

7. Real work  ·  14-minute read

   The Play Kitchen Can Stay. The Real One Doesn’t Have to Wait.

   Results topped preschoolers’ reasons for the real thing; older kids may want work that counts.

8. Weighing the evidence  ·  17-minute read

   Every Program Says It Works. Ask What It Was Compared To.

   Montessori, a microschool, your homeschool plan: what each can show, and what it can’t

By George Weber, father of five.