Have you ever been in a relationship with a narcissist? It begins with charm. At first, they seem to care, to adore you, to know exactly what’s best for you. They flood you with attention, promises, little tokens of affection, and you are swept up in the glow of belonging. But slowly, almost imperceptibly, the performance fades. The warmth gives way to control, the affection to manipulation, the love to conditional approval. Our schools operate in much the same way. The love bombing starts on...

As a facilitator, I hear this question all the time when we take homeschoolers out into the world: “What if someone gets hurt?” It comes up whenever kids start running, climbing, tinkering with tools, riding something a little too fast, or testing their strength. Adults hiss warnings: Don’t run. Don’t climb. Don’t touch that. And underneath it all is the fear: someone might get hurt. And yes—someone will. That’s part of life. But here’s what I’ve noticed: in the last year, I only saw two kids...

I became a mother almost thirteen years ago for the first time. Two months before my son’s due date, we moved from Russia to America. We landed in San Francisco carrying all the excitement, uncertainty, and idealism that comes with starting over in a new country. Part of the reason we chose the Bay Area was because I wanted a home birth. I had researched how common and accepted it was here, and I imagined a calm, natural entrance into motherhood. Instead, two weeks after arriving, I had an...