Secular Homeschool Revolution

Your library card might be one of the most useful tools in your homeschool and you may be using only a fraction of what it offers. In this episode, Ashley talks about using libraries for books, audiobooks, documentaries, research, programming, homeschool meetups, study spaces, and more. She also shares why she has seven library cards and how homeschoolers can look beyond their local library for di...

When educational systems fail Black children, who absorbs the cost? Ashley connects her daughter’s unmet service needs and her family’s financial and relational sacrifices to her mother-in-law’s experience desegregating San Antonio schools. This episode explores homeschooling as protection, the unequal access to educational alternatives, and why individual escape is not the same as collective libe...

Co-op Q&A: Building an Inclusive Homeschool Community Is starting a homeschool co-op hard? How do you attract diverse families, navigate conflict, and keep your community sustainable? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley answers the questions you dm'd her about building a secular, diverse, and inclusive homeschool co-op. We're talking parent-led classes, leadership, nonprof...

What does a secular, parent-led homeschool co-op actually look like? In this episode, Ashley shares how For the Culture Homeschool Co-op serves about 40 families through parent-taught classes, mixed-age clubs, community traditions, and a shared commitment to inclusive education, honest history, and evidence-based science. She also talks about FTC’s shift toward community-led leadership, her Fairne...

How do you know if your child is actually learning? Ashley shares how completing an online homeschool curriculum failed to reveal major writing gaps—and what she learned from it. Discover four practical questions to evaluate homeschool progress, recognize learning gaps, assess curriculum effectiveness, and decide when to adjust or seek support.   If you would like to support the podcast, visit buy...

Podcast Show Notes: How to Create an Affirming Homeschool Environment What does it actually mean to create an affirming homeschool environment? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, I’m sharing simple, intentional ways to make your homeschool a space where your kids feel seen, supported, and involved in their own education. We’re talking about why I put my kids’ pictures on their homes...

Our 2026–27 Homeschool Curriculum & Activities What are we actually using for homeschool this year? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, I’m sharing the curriculum, enrichment, sports, and outside programs we chose for my 14-, 10-, and 5-year-old and, more importantly, why we chose them. We talk about outsourcing high school classes, choosing curriculum that fits each child, letti...

How young is too young to talk about race? In this episode, I answer a listener’s question about talking to a five-year-old about race and share what racial literacy looks like in my own home from melanin and identity to those unexpected “ouch moments.” We also talk about how these conversations should grow with our kids, from simple conversations about fairness and belonging in early childhood to...

How has your summer been going? In this episode, Ashley shares how her family’s supposedly slow summer turned into a full season of camps, friendships, learning, and new responsibilities. Her oldest daughter completed her first summer job as a camp assistant and began learning about investing through a financial-literacy course for teens. But after receiving several messages and reviews criticizin...

Homeschool kids need more than curriculum, co-op, and activities — they need third spaces where they can belong outside of home and academics. In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley talks about why third spaces matter for homeschoolers, especially in a world that is not always kid-friendly. We discuss how libraries, parks, youth groups, art spaces, co-ops, sports teams, community...

In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley challenges the polished version of the Fourth of July and asks the question every secular progressive homeschool family should be asking: freedom for who? We break down why July 4th cannot be taught as a simple story of American freedom when Black people were still enslaved, Indigenous nations were being displaced, women were excluded from p...

In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, host Ashley breaks down how anti-LGBTQ+ messaging shows up in homeschool spaces and how it is often packaged through softer language like “parental rights,” “protecting children,” “traditional values,” and “just biology.” This episode connects to the larger conversation about the SAHM-to-homeschool mom-to-trad wife pipeline and how conservative mes...

I Made a Juneteenth Unit Study  In this mini episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley shares the heart behind her new Juneteenth Unit Study and why this resource is such a meaningful next step for the brand. Ashley talks about creating homeschool lessons informally for years, working with her husband to fine-tune the curriculum, and building a resource that helps families teach Juneteenth...

In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley explains what Juneteenth is, why it matters to Black families, and how secular progressive homeschoolers can teach it with honesty and care. Juneteenth is not just a holiday or a craft day. It is a reminder of delayed freedom, the ugliness of American history, especially Texas history  and the power of Black survival, resistance, family, and...

What does it really mean to be educated in 2026? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley explores why education has to mean more than grades, test scores, memorization, and compliance. For progressive secular homeschoolers, being educated is not just about being “good at school.” It is about raising kids who can think critically, ask better questions, understand history honestly,...

In this Pride Month special, host Ashley digs into the connection between queer liberation, racial justice, disability justice, immigration justice, and gender justice. Because the first Pride was a riot. And the people who started it deserve to be named. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: ♿ The connection between disability justice and queer liberation 🌍 Queer and trans immigrant experiences and wh...

As a homeschool parent and community leader, I'm bringing five hot takes that range from unschooling, all-in-one curriculum programs, indoctrination in secular spaces, who homeschooling is actually for, and the dark side of our community that we need to stop avoiding.  Let'ts get into the convo!   In This Episode Why unschooling without intention and accountability crosses a line What all-in-one p...

Homeschooling has impacted me in ways I expected flexibility, freedom, and the ability to build an education around my kids’ interests and our values, but this episode is about the part I didn’t expect. In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, I’m sharing a personal reflection on how homeschooling has become an unexpected journey of inner child healing. What started as an educational choi...

What is mastery-based learning  and why does it matter for homeschoolers? After referencing it in last week’s episode, Ashley realized not everyone may be familiar with what mastery-based learning actually means. In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, she breaks it down in a clear, practical, and supportive way. Mastery-based learning shifts the focus from finishing the curriculum and c...

Presidents’ Day gets packaged as “celebrate great leaders,” but the way it’s commonly taught is basically nation-branding: hero worship, sanitized harm, and “respect power don’t question it.” In this mini episode, we flip the script with a decolonized, equity lens asking who benefited, who was harmed, and who resisted. We also shout out the students walking out and organizing right now because tha...

Do homeschoolers need grades? Can you homeschool without grades and still prepare for college? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, we unpack whether grades are truly necessary or just part of a conditioning system built around ranking and compliance. We cover: How traditional grading systems shape behavior Why mastery-based learning works in homeschool settings What assessment withou...

Black History Didn’t Start With Slavery: Teaching Black History the Right Way Most of us learned Black history out of order and that wasn’t an accident. In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, host Ashley breaks down why the way Black history is taught in schools is incomplete, sanitized, and designed for comfort rather than truth. This conversation explores why Black History Month exist...

This episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution is a direct call-in for white and progressive allies during this moment of ICE expansion and state violence. Drawing from Malcolm X’s The Ballot or the Bullet, Ashley challenges performative allyship, the centering of white discomfort, and the harm of “kind” white people who value politeness over action. From the misuse of Say Her Name to selective out...

In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, Ashley explores why representation in homeschooling is not about checking boxes but about shaping identity, belonging, and alignment with power. This episode challenges homeschool parents, especially secular and progressive ones, to stop focusing on good intentions and start examining outcomes. Because homeschooling doesn’t exist outside of systems...

I was made aware that I uploaded the wrong episode for last week! Apologies!    What does decolonized literacy actually look like in a secular homeschool beyond book lists, reading levels, and grammar worksheets? In this episode of Secular Homeschool Revolution, host Ashley breaks down how dominant literacy practices often prioritize polish, compliance, and respectability over meaning and voice, a...