The First Pages
My sisters and I are our mother’s life’s work – this is a thought that hit me with some impact when I first articulated it. She is a fiercely capable, opinionated and intelligent woman – who grew up in the height of the women’s liberation movement of the 60s and 70s — but she made the decision to quit her job, be a stay at home mom, and homeschool three kids for 20 years… When she decided to journey into homeschooling in the 1980s, it was anything but mainstream. It was map-less.
The catalyst of this project was a journal of notes my mom kept over the “school year” between the fall of 1987 through spring of 1988. I was three years old, and my older sister was five. My mother was babysitting and homeschooling the daughter of a close friend who worked as a librarian part time. The journal was originally a way for my mom to keep track of our projects and activities to relay to the other homeschooling mom. Much of the journal is pages of handwritten bulleted lists of things we did. My mom marked “child initiated” activities with a star next to the description — nearly everything described is marked with a star!
Throughout the journal, my mother writes with a sense of real interest in the unfolding process of our learning. She often notes the exchanges between us kids as we navigate play, or work together on projects. My mother writes, at times, like a scientist observing the fascinating behavior of her test subjects. And at times like a tired mom.
I am nearly the age my mother was when I was born. And I have been looking back at her choices, her experience as a parent. I have been looking at myself and my sisters. Who we are, now, as shaped by the unconventional approach to our education.
I am writing this blog to ask the question: what is the difference between the first generation of homeschooling parents to bring the idea into the mainstream, and the first generation of homeschooled and unschooled adults to reach parenting age? In that space and time between generations, what have we learned? How have we changed? What would I do differently from my mom?
I am writing this blog to ask my own big-picture questions, starting with the story of my own family. Starting with what I know.

Friday, Sept 4, 1987 – the first page of the journal of notes my mother kept during our first “school year”
The cast of characters in the journal includes me, Lindsey, my older sister Mindy, and our dear friend Camille, born just a day after my sister. Our mothers became close friends in Mommy-And-Me class.
Excerpts from the first page of the journal:
* initiated by children
1) Calendar
2) “playing school” lesson on letter D
→ guessing what a drawing is on the chalkboard – all objects start with D…
→ * copying words off board
DINOSAUR
DOOR
DOUGHNUT
→ * drawing
Camille drew only on chalkboard – a very original dinosaur coming out of an egg, a turtle and a lake (from a suggestion from Mindy)…
Mindy wanted to draw on paper so she could keep her drawing… She drew a dinosaur & egg & then asked how to spell egg.
→ * Lindsey is putting magnetic letter on the board while the big kids finish their activity. Mindy suddenly joins her. Discussion includes –
“you put letters here, & I’ll put numbers here…”
“I need a D for my name…”
Right away in the journal, we begin by “playing school.” I was three years old at this time, but the two older girls would have been starting Kindergarten that fall. September of 1987 was the moment that we were actually beginning another path.
From talking with my mom and older sister, I now know there was a sense of thrill for the two five year olds about being school-aged. Lunch boxes were purchased in celebration. Playing school was an early fascination, maybe this even surprised my mom.
At the top of the first page, as I mentioned, my mom wrote that an asterisk will symbolize child-initiated activities. Throughout the year in the journal, there is little recorded without an asterisk. It seems to me that, despite her intentions to explore child-led learning, this little denotation choice was a hangover from her schooling years (both as a student and a teacher)…
Excerpt from second page:
* → Reading Candyland Legend
Afterwards, Camille asks eagerly “Is it noon?”
I say “No, it’s still early – but it’s RECESS!” (It’s 9:00 am)
Excerpt from third page:
* → Free Play: Tiger attack & Indians
→ Books: Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki
Dinosaurs – A Pop-up Book by Dot & Sy Barlowe→ Nature walk: at the end of the walk, Lindsey wanted to climb up to the Secret Passage. She was nervous to do it by herself, but she did it. She seemed competent and proud. Then she led the two big girls… picking tomatoes from garden
→ Lunch. The girls are going to starve. They each ate a little bit of healthy food. (Camille ate 2-3 spoonfuls of yogurt, half a plum, some juice, ½ a small tomato)
* → Assorted play… Placemat mazes
Camille quickly put together number rod puzzle. Then Mindy.
Lindsey did ABCs halfway through.
Balancing & tricks in the living room.
→ SWIMMING with Delia, Kiki, Eric.
There has been a lot of regression for Camille & Mindy.
(Not so much for Lindsey.) But they both put their faces in, occasionally venture into deep water, Mindy & Lindsey still go down the slide, they still go on their back some, & they still swim under water (especially Mindy). They had a GOOD TIME!
* → Lots of snacking – Camille ate 2 yogurts! Mindy & Lindsey & Camille all had yogurt and sandwiches!
* → Lots of activities – computer, top, pretend play, etc.
These three pages — unremarkable as they may be, represent a recording of our day. Activities like practicing words that start with the letter “D” are recorded alongside “Balancing & tricks in the living room.”
My mom records the odd moment at the end of our “nature walk” where I overcome my fears of climbing somewhere on my own, and then lead the older girls as well.
All of these things are noted with equal weight: academics, play, small moments of personal triumph. Looking back, even having lived it first hand, I am floored by the amount of trust my mother had in the holistic and child-led learning approach we took.
Your new blog was mentioned on the Always Learning Yahoo Group and I am so glad I came to check it out! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your first post and looking forward to more. Your Mom’s notes are incredible! I am touched by your obvious admiration for her. Best wishes on this endeavor!
meant to say “…look forward to more.” : )
This is a fascinating idea for a blog. I’m looking forward to hearing more of your insights, Lindsey!
I love this idea and I’m very interested in all of this. I am homeschooling our 4 kids now and we love it, but there are a ton of resources and classes and curriculum and such out there now that just weren’t around in the 70’s and 80’s. I can’t wait to read more.
lindsey, you arrived here to apprentice with us so many years ago. (2007?) i was just beginning my home school journey back then, my oldest just 8 and my daughter 4. you were an inspiration to me, a reminder that i was on the right path with my children and their education. you gave me much needed confidence and i am forever thankful. this blog is a gift to so many, for even now, with so many resources out there compared to what was available to your mother in the 1980’s, we homeschool families are still thirsty for more. thank you, how fun!
What a lovely, affirming post. Your mom’s notes remind me of my earliest days of homeschooling, when keeping track so carefully helped me to trust a child’s ability to learn when and how it’s right for the child.
WOW – thank you. I love this. We are just starting out on our homeschooling journey and it really reminds me and affirms that I should continue to note and reflect on all the different ‘learning’ my children do. SO looking forward to more! Thank you for sharing and the inspiration
What a great idea! I’m so keen to hear your whole story. My son has always been unschooled. He’s 13 and I’m going to be reading your blog to him. He’s already now started to appreciate my journal keeping since reading about your lovely mum and her notes:) Thanks for taking the time to make this blog. It’s going to make a lot of people happy, I can tell you:) x
Ever since my daughter first conferred with me about this project, I was excited–but I am blown away by all of these lovely comments! Thanks to everyone for their support.
This seems like such a great project Lindsey. I have long wondered what schooling choices our “RK kids” would pursue with their own kids when the time presents itself. I have also thought a lot about how you would all view your unschooling, looking back on it from an adult perspective, since the choice was not initially yours. It will also be interesting to see the similarities and differences in how other unschooled young adults relate as well. Should be a great dialogue. Thank you so much for giving your time and such thought to this.
Thanks for picking this project up again, Lindsey and Auntie Cathy. I enjoyed the last blog and look forward to seeing how this one unfolds!
Thank you for sharing! I am just starting the journey to unschool my kids and it’s so reassuring to hear from someone who lived it! I can’t imagine doing it without all the support available now, though! You’re mom was very strong and brave! Wonderful that you see that.
What a wonder ideal this is! I wish that I had written more about our unschooling lives, it has been/is such a rich and fulfilling journey so far and it has gone by so quickly! This blog makes me want to dig out some of my own writings from when we first started unschooling. Thank you so much for sharing this, many, many families will benefit from your writings!
ErikaDP ♥