HOMESCHOOLED

As criticism of the U.S. education system grows among parents, so does the appeal of homeschooling. In 2010, shortly after moving to Woodstock, New York, with my husband and baby girl, I met a mother who was homeschooling her 5-year-old daughter — True. I've never heard about homeschooling before and, being a new mother, naturally I was intrigued. I began to photograph True and soon I was connected to a small number of families living in the region who follow this path. 

While much of the discussion about the subject tends to revolve around parents and their beliefs, I chose to focus particularly on the lives and routines of the children, in an attempt to capture their spirit, and the meaning of growing up outside the conventional four classroom walls. While working on this project, I was constantly forced to re-examine my initial opinion of this phenomenon and, for a few hours each time, I allowed myself to follow the children into their mysterious, magical world. 

I devoted two years to my photographic research and the result is a quiet meditation on the home education movement, from the children's perspective, encapsulating a cultural movement in a distinct time in history. 

BOOK