My kids don't go to school - they don't need to because I can teach them

"I dispute most conventional wisdom and socially accepted ways of living," says dad-of-three, Billy.

Billy Morris, and his wife Emma, have three school-aged kids who've never been to school.

 

Billy strongly believes in self-directed education, so the kids are in charge of how and when they learn.

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"School can crush creativity"

The decision to home-school his kids came from Billy's opinion that traditional schooling can crush creativity.

He told Caters: "I dispute most conventional wisdom and socially accepted ways of living, of which school is a large influencer. So it isn’t just the educational side of school I oppose, it’s also the moulding of conformist thinking, consumer-based citizens that also compelled us to seek an alternative.

"In my opinion, practical learning is inseparable from the more traditional academic subjects. All of modern life requires a literary and mathematical knowledge, and as our way of teaching our children is through immersion in real life, they are always exposed to, and building these important skills.

"I was always labelled as 'bright' and did very well academically when I desired, but I was always very rebellious to the inbuilt control within the educational system, and this rebelliousness increased as I got older, until I eventually barely participated."

Source: Caters

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"We take full responsibility for our children"

Billy explains his stance further:

"As humans, we are living unprecedentedly isolated lives, and as a consequence of this, the pressure on parents like us - who choose to take full responsibility for their children, including their learning - is intense.

"We must provide for our children that which has traditionally been provided by a dedicated community made up of family, extended family and friends. This can be exhausting and it's why we are working on building community.

"There is another family here on the farm who have two similarly aged children who attend school. They play regularly together. Most of our kids' friends are home-educated children."

Source: Caters

What a day looks like for the family

Billy's unconventional opinions often attract negativity on social media, but it hasn't changed his mind.

Billy added, "School has instilled the mindset of learning being a separate activity, done in isolation from actual life, but it isn’t. Children are always learning. If we go to the dump, they are learning.

"If we walk in the woods, they are learning. If they come to a meeting with me, they are learning. They also spend large parts of the day immersed in deep imaginative play with each other. We play lots of games as a family - cards, physical roughhousing, checkers and so on.

"A large portion of society has been conditioned to believe that learning only takes place in schools. In dedicated institutions, at dedicated times and under the guide of teachers. This isn’t the case."

A day in the life for the family includes: farm chores, meet-ups with other home-educated families, building projects, caring for animals, and all meals together.

This story was published in June 2023 and republished in July 2024.

Originally published as My kids don't go to school - they don't need to because I can teach them