Natalie McDonald—the “happy guinea pig” who attended 7th and 8th grade from home—graduated with honors from Pomona College in 2019. She continues to love learning as much as she did when studying in her backyard schoolhouse ten years ago. She is one of the authors of The Schoolhouse Experiment: Reimagining School at Home and in the Classroom.
When We Play, We Learn
“The play activity feeds a curiosity that may lead to a quest for knowledge…” Dr. Stuart Brown, National Institute for Play When I was homeschooled for 7th and 8th grade, I began each day by donning my straw hat and venturing out to the backyard where I would spend half an hour watering my vegetable
“The Skylarks’ War” by Hilary McKay
“The historical stories we tell have a profound impact on the world.” Dana Goldstein, New York Times journalist Both my mom and I loved this book so much that we purchased five copies to give away over the holidays. I recently read an adult novel that covers the same period (World War I) and said
Learning Should be Fun; Laughter Helps!
“Humor improves student performance by attracting and sustaining attention, reducing anxiety, enhancing participation, and increasing motivation.” Brandon M. Savage et al., Advances in Physiology Education 2017 (41:3) This is a photo of sixth-grade me. I’d been sitting at the kitchen table puzzling over my pre-algebra textbook, which had a penchant for asking ridiculous (but supposedly
How I Became the Happy Guinea Pig
“[Learning] is the only thing that never fails… the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.” —T.H. White Ten years ago, I began middle school in my family’s backyard, in an 8- by 10-foot garden shed that would be