If you’re a home educating parent, September might stir up some surprisingly familiar feelings—maybe even a bit of anxiety or pressure to “get organised,” buy new supplies, or mark the start of a new academic year. But what if you didn’t have to? In the latest episode of the Big Home Ed Conversations Podcast, hosts Kelly Rigg and Ashley Vanerio get real about back-to-school rituals, social conditioning, and how home educators can choose a path that feels right for their families.

“We cut through the noise and focus on what really matters to home educating families.”

“I keep getting the urge to buy the kids a new lunch box. I looked at the pens yesterday and it’s like, oh, they could do with some new colouring pens… It’s obvious when you start to think about it that September back to school was always the time for new stationery, new pencil case, new stuff, new books.”

Back-to-School Pressure (And Letting Go of It)

“All the marketing and the shouting at you to get them new resources or to sign up to a new curriculum or to get them into new classes… do what feels good.”

“I remember my mum always feeling quite frantic… there’s like an under hum of stress about the cost associated with it and the anxiety that then built about getting back to school.”

Mindset Shifts and Authentic Traditions

“If there’s a ritual there that you love, then how do you recreate it, home ed style, or just taking away some of the pressure or the expectations or the doing it for somebody else?”

Undoing Generational Pressure

“We spent most of our childhoods being told that we’re too big, be smaller, you’re too loud, be quieter, right? You’re asking too much, ask for less. And so we spend an awful lot of our adulthood trying… I mean, I’m definitely trying to undo that: to be bigger and to be louder and to talk more and to put myself out there and to not be ashamed of it and to not feel guilty about it.”

Practical Tips and Gentle Reassurance

“If one little tiny thing that you’re worried about gets out of your head because of this then great. Let us know if it does.”

“Just avoid those shopping aisles… it sounds so easily said. I get that it’s so easy to be said and it isn’t always easy to do because there’s so much wrapped up in the fear of judgment in our world and I think we just have to recognise where that’s coming from.”

 

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This summer, Outschool have offered us a sponsored opportunity to use—and honestly review—their learning platform right here on the podcast.

Go listen to what we have to say! If you’d like to take advantage of the offer we mention, head to www.outschool.com/HOMEED and use code HOMEED35 to get $35 off your family’s first month!

 

Listen Now: The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast