We’d like to welcome you to the Virtual Kitchen Table. We are Hayley from Taking a Kinder Path, Erin from Ever Learning and Ashley from Ashley as Mama and Storytime Shelves. We’re gathering to have conversations about family life and home education, most specifically unschooling, which is sometimes known as self-directed education or, as we sometimes refer to it, whole life learning, consent-based education or natural learning. We’ll be sharing experiences and ideas, learning as we go through relaxed conversation. We hope you’ll pull a chair up to the table and join us.
Episode 61: How to Answer Common Homeschool Questions - Honest Talk and Deciding When to Say What, Part 1
In this conversation, we think through some very common questions that homeschool parents receive and consider them from different angles.
We take into account questions in situations that just call for a short answer versus ones for which there is more time and interest in fuller detail.
We also look at the distinction between answering questions of people in our lives who are interested in or concerned about what we’re doing versus questions of families who are interested in or new to homeschooling. We’d love you to have a listen and share anything from your own experiences!
Questions We Cover:
Is homeschooling legal?
What kind of oversight do you have?
What questions do adults who were home educated receive?
How will they learn to read?
How will they learn to do math?
What curriculum do you use?
How do you know what to teach?
Will they have friends?
Resources:
Do Adults Who Homeschooled as Children Reflect Upon the Difference in their Education? - Erin, Ever Learning (https://www.everlearning.ca/blog/do-adults-who-homeschooled-as-children-reflect-upon-the-difference-in-their-education)
How Do Unschoolers Learn to Read? Does Reading Need to Be Explicitly Taught? Episode 60 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/how-do-unschoolers-learn-to-read-does-reading-need-to-be-explicitly-taught)
Unschooling Math - What Does Learning Math/s Naturally Look Like? Episode 36 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/unschooling-math-what-does-learning-maths-naturally-look-like)
More Unschooling Math/s - What Does Learning Mathematics Naturally Look Like, Episode 38 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/more-unschooling-maths-what-does-learning-mathematics-naturally-look-like)
The Rich Experience of Unschooling Science, Episode 30 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/the-rich-experience-of-unschooling-science)
Socialization and Homeschooling, Exploring it from Different Angles - Part One, Episode 13 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/socialization-and-homeschooling-exploring-it-from-different-angles-part-one)
Socialization and Homeschooling, Exploring it from Different Angles - Part Two, Episode 13 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/socialization-and-homeschooling-exploring-it-from-different-angles-part-two)
Homeschool Community - Finding, Sustaining and How it Evolves, Episode 15 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/homeschool-community-finding-sustaining-and-how-it-evolves)
18 Aug 2026
Episode 60: How Do Unschoolers Learn to Read? Does Reading Need to Be Explicitly Taught?
On our 60th episode, we are finally talking about Learning to Read! This can be a loaded topic with some proponents of self-directed education and unschooling taking the stand that reading will happen in its own time, versus reading research that strongly suggests otherwise, citing the complexities with learning to read requiring explicit instruction. When our experience doesn’t match the advice or research on either one of those, it can be confusing.
As we discuss this, we try to keep various angles in mind but full disclosure: we do have a lot of trust in a child’s inherent process. The distinction is likely that we also believe that parents and life itself are rich parts of a child’s literacy process and in some cases a child themself may request a supportive or formal resource.
We are grateful to have found a list by Sue Elvis (Stories of an Unschooling Family (https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/)) from her post,Sharing Some Thoughts on Learning to Read (https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/blog/sharing-some-thoughts-on-learning-to?rq=Sharing%20Some%20Thoughts%20on%20Learning%20to%20Read) which we used to guide the order of our discussion.
Resources:
Sharing Some Thoughts on Learning to Read - Sue Elvis, Stories of an Unschooling Family (https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/blog/sharing-some-thoughts-on-learning-to)
Evoke Learning (https://www.evokelearning.ca/blog/why-does-reading-need-to-be-taught/)
Unschooling and reading: my daughter’s journey so far - Cyrille Tignard, Unschooling and Thriving (https://www.instagram.com/p/DVJlss9ieYD/?img_index=1&igsi=a2ljOWs1MDVkZmpu)
How Pokémon Sealed our Unschooling Fate - Missy Willis, Let ‘em Go Barefoot (https://www.self-directed.org/tp/pokemon-sealed-unschooling-fate/)
Spot the Learning - Virtual Kitchen Table (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/spot-the-learning-how-our-children-are-learning-more-than-we-might-think)
Learning to Read 1 - Esther Jones, A Place on a Hill (https://aplaceonahill.com/2019/10/01/learning-to-read-1/)
Reading Doesn’t Need to Be Taught - Sara, Happiness is Here (https://happinessishereblog.com/reading-doesnt-need-taught-unschoolers-learn-read/)
Unschooling and Learning to Read - Sue Patterson, Unschooling Mom 2 Mom (https://www.unschoolingmom2mom.com/unschooling-learning-to-read)
8 Benefits to Learning to Read Later - Hayley, Taking a Kinder Path (https://takingakinderpath.com/benefits-learning-to-read-later/)
5 Aug 2026
Episode 59: What is Unschooling? Part 3: Myths and Misconceptions, Continued
We finally wrapped up Hayley’s What is Unschooling? (https://takingakinderpath.com/) blog post series in this conversation. Sue Elvis of Stories of an Unschooling Family (https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/) joined us again as we had a second look at the Myths and Misconceptions related to unschooling.
While we do continue “busting myths,” ultimately we burrow deep into the beauty of living and learning curiously and respectfully with our children because, as we came to realize again through sharing our experiences, it’s so much more than just defending this remarkable way at life against the status quo.
Part 1 - Episode 56 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/what-is-unschooling-part-1-a-framework-of-ideas)
Part 2 - Episode 57 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/what-is-unschooling-part-2-what-unschooling-looks-like)
Part 3 - Episode 58 (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/what-is-unschooling-part-3-myths-and-misconceptions)
Resources:
What is Unschooling? Part 3: Myths and Misconceptions - Taking a Kinder Path (https://takingakinderpath.com/misconceptions-about-unschooling/)
Stories of an Unschooling Family (https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/)
Degree Free (https://podcast.degreefreenetwork.com/)
8 Benefits of Learning to Read Later (and taking a more natural approach) - Taking a Kinder Path (https://takingakinderpath.com/benefits-learning-to-read-later/)
Unschooling Math - What Does Learning Math/s Naturally Look Like? - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/unschooling-math-what-does-learning-maths-naturally-look-like)
The Rich Experience of Unschooling Science - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/the-rich-experience-of-unschooling-science)
The State of Flow in Learning - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/the-state-of-flow-in-learning)
Spot the Learning! How Our Children are Learning More Than We Might Think - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/spot-the-learning-how-our-children-are-learning-more-than-we-might-think)
What Do Our Unschooling Days Look Like? - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/what-do-our-unschooling-days-look-like-part-1)
Unschooling A-Ha Moments - Virtual Kitchen Table Podcast (https://www.everlearning.ca/virtual-kitchen-table-podcast-1/unschooling-a-ha-moments)
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Engagement
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