Podcast · Kids & Family
by Stark Raving Dad · English · Kids & Family
The Life Without School Podcast is your grounded, research-backed companion for homeschooling, unschooling, and raising your kids outside the system. Hosted by Issy (aka Stark Raving Dad), a home educating dad of four, each episode offers clear, honest guidance to help you build a life that works -
21 Jun 2026 · 58 min
A lot of parents are sensing that the gap between school and the real world has become very large. But many are having a hard time pulling all the threads together to work out why that gap feels so vast, and what the impact on their children might end ...
E30 · 15 Jan 2026 · 41 min
What actually happens when an unschooler decides they want to try school? In this episode, I’m sharing the story of our 9-year-old daughter choosing to go to school. Before that day, she had never once stepped into a classroom. I talk about why we agre...
E29 · 5 Aug 2025 · 26 min
I want to put something to you. If you’ve chosen to home educate your children - whatever form that takes, however structured or unstructured you are - there’s a good chance you’re not valuing yourself, or your role, nearly as much as you should. And I...
E28 · 9 Jun 2025 · 50 min
For all of human history, childhood has been a time of preparation for an adulthood you could see, and understand, and picture yourself living. You could look ahead and see the kind of adult you were likely to become. You could picture the work you'd d...
E27 · 1 Apr 2025 · 47 min
In this episode, I’m unpacking one of the biggest questions home educating families face: how do I know this whole thing is actually working? I explore: Why the “gaps” in your child’s learning might be their greatest strength. How traditional benchmark...
E26 · 20 Jan 2025 · 40 min
In this episode, I'm digging deep into what could be the most important commitments we make as home educators this year. I explore: How to confidently reject any and all expectations that don't serve your family Building genuine confidence as your chil...
E25 · 19 Oct 2024 · 1 hr 19 min
In this episode, I’m digging deep into one of the biggest challenges facing homeschooling families today: finding balance with tech and screen time. I explore: What the latest research really says about the impact of screens on our kids (it's not as si...
E24 · 21 Mar 2023 · 26 min
In this episode, I spend some time examining three common perceptions that are unique to unschooling: That unschooling is 'unparenting' That unschooling will create lazy children And that unschooling means you have no rules or structure whatsoever It’s...
E23 · 20 Oct 2022 · 24 min
In this episode, I'm sharing six ways you can overcome any feelings you have about not being 'enough' as a home educating parent. Not smart enough, organised enough, social enough, qualified enough... I wrote a post recently that started scratching at ...
E22 · 29 Jun 2022 · 32 min
In this episode I'm talking more about something this podcast was literally born from: the idea of children falling behind where they should be. First, I talk about how the world generally views progress in childhood, and why it’s so problematic and br...
E21 · 4 May 2022 · 23 min
In this episode I'm going to do something that might feel a bit uncomfortable. But if we want to move education forward in any real meaningful way, the kind of thinking I’m about to take you through is incredibly important. I’m going to take some of th...
E20 · 31 Mar 2022 · 35 min
With so many families making the decision to leave the formal education system and take their own path through life, it also means there are a whole lot of grandparents out there going... Hold on, what’s happening here?! We have a comprehensive, effect...
E19 · 14 Feb 2022 · 34 min
The definition of education is being taught, and the learning that results from it. A process that happens, for a child, in a classroom. But if you read that a couple of times, does it sound interesting and inspiring? Does it really sound like it’s cen...
E18 · 3 Feb 2022 · 32 min
Will your children be sheltered? How will you educate them properly if you're not a qualified teacher? How will they get a good job when they grow up? Everyone who chooses a life without school will be asked these kinds of questions at some point. In t...
E17 · 27 Jan 2022 · 28 min
We're back with another question and answer episode, where I take a few of your questions and talk my way through them. I really love working on this episode each month, because your questions always reflect the struggles, the worries, and the hopes an...
E16 · 20 Jan 2022 · 37 min
Today, I want to talk about why I believe it’s so important that we - as home educating parents - play the role of coach, and mentor, and guide to our children. I want to take you through the simple, but powerful, framework Kate and I have used to help...
E15 · 13 Jan 2022 · 33 min
Happy New Year, everyone! The Life Without School Podcast is BACK. For the very first episode of 2022, I’m taking you through seven things that will help set your family up for the best possible home educating year. These are all things that, through y...
E14 · 30 Dec 2021 · 5 min
The global home educating community has grown like crazy in 2021. More families are choosing a life without school than ever before, and it’s never been more important - as we go into the new year - to lift each other up, and encourage, and support, an...
E13 · 14 Dec 2021 · 30 min
In this episode I want to help you build your de-schooling muscle. The process of taking everything you know about education, wiping your mental slate as clean as possible, and coming at the whole idea of how children learn as fresh as you can. To do t...
E12 · 6 Dec 2021 · 19 min
Welcome back to another question and answer episode - where I take some time to dig into things you all want to hear more about it. They might be things you’re personally struggling with, or worried about, or planning for...and I really love having the...
E11 · 29 Nov 2021 · 23 min
Home educating parents often put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to perform the role of being a teacher, and in this episode I want to talk through why I believe the stress, tension, and feelings of failure that so often come from that are unne...
E10 · 21 Nov 2021 · 14 min
Asking our children to all learn the same things, at the same times, in the same groups, in the same spaces, with only the same ages… …is effectively asking them to become the same as everyone else. It’s asking them to think less about their true selve...
E9 · 14 Nov 2021 · 21 min
In this episode we're looking at a philosophy that underpins how Kate and I approach life with our kids, their education, and our relationships with them. It's very different to the way formal education is approached, and is based on the power of trust...
E8 · 7 Nov 2021 · 22 min
In this - the first of many episodes where I'll spend some time answering listener questions - I talk through: 1) How do you respond to people saying ‘life is hard - if you don’t force your child to do things they don’t want to do, how will they be pre...
E7 · 29 Oct 2021 · 27 min
A lot of you have asked for a day-in-the-life style episode, so...here it is! I think there's a stack of important context that should always be shared as part of this kind of conversation, though, so this episode is made up of three parts (if you list...
E6 · 22 Oct 2021 · 18 min
This week I want to talk about what to do when this home education path starts feeling hard, because what we’re doing here isn’t easy. As parents, we’re taking on a huge responsibility by choosing to live a life without school, and there’s not always t...
E5 · 15 Oct 2021 · 18 min
One of the things we often underestimate when we decide to live a life without school - regardless of how excited about it we are - is how our family and friends will respond to it. How we’ll talk to them about it, and answer the questions that they’ll...
E4 · 9 Oct 2021 · 20 min
In this week’s episode I want to talk about how a good home education lifestyle doesn’t just happen...it needs to be designed. Because it’s one thing to decide that a life without school is the right thing for your family, and the path you’re going to ...
E3 · 29 Sep 2021 · 32 min
For this episode I want to dig into two of the biggest misconceptions about home education that I, personally, have experienced over the years that I’ve been an unschooling dad. Despite it being a rapidly growing form of education, especially over the ...
E2 · 17 Sep 2021 · 30 min
The very, very squiggly story of how we became a home educating family, including: • How we ended up at financial rock-bottom as 30 year olds (with two young children). • How despite that we’ve made it possible to always have at least one of us not wor...
The Life Without School Podcast is your grounded, research-backed companion for homeschooling, unschooling, and raising your kids outside the system. Hosted by Issy (aka Stark Raving Dad), a home educating dad of four, each episode offers clear, honest guidance to help you build a life that works -
The Life Without School Podcast is a English kids & family podcast from Stark Raving Dad. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
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