- Taylor Moran was working as a school teacher when she felt uncomfortable with the regime placed on kids
- As she was pregnant with her first child, she wanted to do something differently
- Taylor and her hubby, Nick, decided unschooling would be the best way to parent and teach their kids
- Taylor Moran, 33, shares her story below…
Slumping down on my sofa, I cradled my pregnant belly and sighed.
“Everything okay?” my husband, Nick, asked.
I was working as a teacher, and had been questioning whether school was the right place for kids.
“A nine-year-old girl was suffering terrible anxiety in the classroom today,” I told him. “I just don’t think it’s natural for kids to be cooped up inside all day.”
From what I’d seen, it stifled their creativity and stressed them out.
“We’ll do things differently,” he assured me.
I’d already been thinking about how I wanted to raise our children.
Read more: My son couldn’t go to school, so a robot went in his place
“I’d love to work from home and home-school our children in the countryside,” I told Nick.
“That sounds perfect,” he said.
In time, I gave birth to our son, Hudson, and we started putting our plans into place.
Nick worked at the post office and I studied marketing. When Hudson was six months old, I started freelance marketing remotely.
In 2021, we grew our family, welcoming Thom into the world.
Then, in 2022, we discovered an abandoned Boy Scouts’ den next to a creek.
We loved it, and after buying the land, we began turning it into our dream home.
Once settled, I started to research different education models online. I found one that suited my values.
“I’m going to unschool our boys,” I told Nick.
Unschooling lets kids learn through their interests rather than forcing them to learn core topics like Maths and English.
“I’m fully supportive,” Nick said.
When Hudson turned five, I sat him down.
“What do you want to learn in kindy?” I asked.
“I want to improve chess and gardening,” he chirped.
“Okay, buddy, let’s do it!” I enthused.
He’s obsessed with music and woodwork, which has helped him learn maths.
For an hour a day, he sits down and completes classes online from a home-school program.
Then, in the afternoon, Nick and I teach him hunting and fire-building.
We take him to a running club every weekend to see his friends, and we also have regular meet-ups with a local home-schooling group.
Last September, I started posting about Hudson’s home-schooling journey on TikTok.
I was shocked when heaps of trolls started attacking me.
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This is child abuse. Send your child to school, one woman commented.
Feeling threatened, I deleted my account.
“I wish I had thicker skin,” I sobbed to Nick. “I hate that people are attacking our kids.”
“They’re just bitter and angry,” he consoled me.
Thankfully, in between all the messages of hate, there were messages of support.
You’ve inspired me to unschool my kids, one mum told me.
Wanting to teach people there are other education options, I now share our life on Instagram.
We’ve since had our third son, Gus, who is 16 months old, and we’ll unschool him and Thom, three, when the time comes.
If they want to take final year exams at 18 or go to university, we’ll fully support them, but for now, we’re doing what suits our family best.
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