Emery is 3.5. Ellison is 17 months. Neither of them is anywhere near kindergarten yet — so this might seem early to be writing about homeschooling at all. But it’s a decision Kelsey and I have already made, and one we’ve been living into for a while now, so I wanted to write down the real “why” behind it.
It Starts With Freedom, Not a Curriculum
Before I get to Emery or Ellison at all, this decision actually starts with us as parents. I work remote. Kelsey works fully remote. We’ve spent years building toward a life that isn’t tied to a single location or a fixed 9-to-5 — the ability to be flexible, to slow down, to not be racing a clock every single day. Moving to Tennessee this fall is a big part of that too — trading pace for peace, on purpose.
Sending our kids to a traditional school puts a fixed schedule back at the center of everything, whether we want it there or not. Drop-off times, pick-up times, a calendar we don’t set, a routine built around somebody else’s plan instead of our own family’s rhythm. We didn’t build a flexible life just to hand that flexibility back over once our kids hit school age. Homeschooling lets our family’s schedule stay ours — slower mornings when we want them, travel when it makes sense, learning that happens on our timeline instead of a bell schedule.
There’s also something simpler underneath all of this: I want to be one of the people who actually raises my kids. Not in place of teachers doing important work everywhere else — but for our own family, Kelsey and I want to be the biggest influence on what Emery and Ellison learn, who they spend their days around, and what values get modeled for them. That’s a responsibility I want, not one I want to hand off.
And honestly, that’s also why we’re not worried about “covering” every subject from a textbook. Why read about the ocean in a chapter when we can drive to the ocean? Why watch a video about different trees in a classroom when we can walk into the woods and put our hands on the bark? Our kids can learn anywhere — that’s the whole point. Life itself is the curriculum, and the world is the classroom.
What I’m Already Seeing With Emery
Here’s the part that’s convinced me this is working, even this early. Emery is 3.5, and she is sharp in a way that genuinely surprises me — because we’re teaching her real things, every single day, not scheduled “lessons.” She helps me with my business. She’s starting to understand how a camera works. She’s picking up little pieces of what running a business actually looks like, and even how to manage her own time. She’s 3. I’m not saying she could run a company — but the fact that she’s grasping the concept of any of this at her age has been incredible to watch.
Her creativity is the other piece I notice constantly. We keep screens out of the picture for the most part, and I think that’s a huge part of it — without a screen to hand her, she has to entertain herself, and that’s exactly where real imagination and independent play come from. It’s not always easy in the moment. It’s clearly worth it.
You Only Need an Hour or Two a Day
One of the biggest misconceptions about homeschooling young kids is that it takes over your whole day. It doesn’t — not at this age. Kids this young genuinely can’t sit and focus for long stretches anyway, so real learning at 3, 4, and 5 years old happens in short, focused bursts, not a full school day compressed into a living room. An hour or two of actual hands-on time is plenty. Kids that age are sponges — they pick things up fast, and most of the “school day” in a traditional classroom is spent on transitions, lines, and waiting, not actual learning time anyway.
Homeschooling Isn’t What It Used to Be
I remember homeschooling having a certain reputation growing up — it wasn’t exactly considered cool. That’s changed a lot. Today it’s a real, thriving community with real infrastructure behind it, not a handful of families figuring it out alone. It’s become something I’m excited to be part of, not something we’re settling for.
Why Tennessee Makes This Even Better
The move to Tennessee this fall isn’t just about the mountains and a slower pace of life for us as parents — it’s also one of the best states in the country for homeschooling. Tennessee gives families multiple legal paths to homeschool with minimal red tape, and just as importantly, it has a real, active homeschool community already built out — co-ops where kids meet up with other homeschooled kids and teachers a couple of days a week for group learning and activities, plus homeschool-specific sports leagues, arts programs, and social events like dances and graduation ceremonies through those same co-ops and umbrella groups. Emery and Ellison won’t be doing this in isolation — they’ll have the same social rhythm, teammates, and things-to-look-forward-to that a traditional school offers, just built around a homeschool community instead of a public school one.
Why We’re Doing This
If there’s one thread through all of this, it’s freedom. Kelsey and I worked hard to build a life that doesn’t run on someone else’s schedule, and we don’t want to trade that away the moment our kids are old enough for school. We want slower mornings over rushed ones, real-life learning over worksheets, and to be the two people most responsible for shaping who Emery and Ellison become. Homeschooling is how we get to keep all of that — for us, and for them.
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