The Life Without School Podcast

About The Life Without School Podcast

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 - for your child, and for you.

Publisher

Stark Raving Dad

Category

education · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Sept 2021

Latest episode

21 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

7 of 31 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   21 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Why school is failing more children than ever

   Host Blake Boles explains how formal education is disrupted forever, revealing why school fails more children today.

2. 

   15 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT

   When Our Unschooler Tried School

   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 agreed to it. How we prepared. What the transition into a classroom was actually like. How she went socially. What happened academically. What sort of overall impact it had on her. And whether, in the end, it lasted. If you’ve ever found yourself wo...

3. 

   5 Aug 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Why home educating is the most important work there is

   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 say that with no judgement at all. Because I’ve done that too. As has my wife, Kate. In fact, she’s my inspiration for this episode, because as she’s worked hard on that internal messaging over the past couple of years she’s realised how little...

Inside a recent episode

Why school is failing more children than ever

Published 21 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Keep that brain hooked for one more swipe. New stimulus. New reward. New stimulus. New reward. Over and over, faster than any book, any conversation, almost anything in the real world could ever hope to match. And we are no longer stabbing in the dark about what this may be doing to our attention. Developmental research is very clear that the brain systems responsible for sustained focus, impulse control, self-regulation and behavioral control are still maturing right through childhood and adolescence. Which means this age group is not just using these platforms heavily, they're using them during the years their attention systems are still being built. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

465 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

478 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 23 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

9

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

91

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  Brave Writer

• 

  The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

• 

  Read-Aloud Revival ®

• 

  The Simplicity Parenting Podcast with Kim John Payne

• 

  Simple Farmhouse Life

• 

  Minimalist Moms