Homeschooling--hell, parenting--is a journey of courage into the unknown with an audacious belief that you will be enough for your children: the ultimate brave learning adventure. It can't be any other way. Whatever you offer your kids--your best and your worst--they take it and turn it into fuel for their own blazing fires of blinding beauty. They astonish us every day, even as they terrify us too. You're doing it right if you stay connected, and every now and then pause in awe. Look! Those are my amazing human beings! Keep going. I'm rooting for you!

Julie Bogart, author of the Brave Learner & Raising Critical Thinkers

Raising Critical Thinkers with Julie Bogart

Julie Bogart is the popular voice of common sense and compassion in the homeschool community. She's the creator of the innovative writing program called Brave Writer and the popular fast-growing practice called Poetry Teatime. She home educated her five children for 17 years who are now globe-trotting adults.

Julie draws from her work with tens of thousands of homeschool families over the last 20+ years, and her own homeschool journey to enrich the homeschool and parenting experience. Her writing program includes award-winning online writing classes and paradigm-shifting writing manuals that allow parents and kids to become allies in the writing process.

Julie is also the author of the best-selling book The Brave Learner and host of the popular Brave Writer podcast. Her newest book, Raising Critical Thinkers, comes out in February 2022. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Raising Critical Thinkers discusses our need to recognize the subjectivity in the way we think and the way we're teaching our children to think.

Julie Bogart, author of Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Raising Wise Kids in the Digital Age

Julie's advice for working homeschool parents...

  • Work after they're asleep when they're little.
  • Work in the mornings when teenagers are sleeping.
  • Consecrate an afternoon hour when they're using screens.
  • Hire a homeschool teen to look after the kids.
  • Take an evening a week to head to the library.
  • Hire someone to help when you've been advanced.

Homeschooling requires participation from the parent. There is no home education program that I would support that would enable the child to be independent all day. The richness of education comes through conversation. They need dialogue. What they retain is what they say.

Julie Bogart, author of Raising Critical Thinkers

Julie & I discuss...

  • Her experience as homeschooler as a single parent.
  • How we imperfectly parent our children and as we accept the process, we allow for our growth & our children's growth.
  • When our kids want to go to high school after homeschooling.
  • Acknowledging that we have given our kids a weird childhood.
  • How our fully homeschooled kids are especially unique: the power of who they are is under their control.
  • We discuss the difference between agency & independence and how we can encourage agency in our children.
  • Learning to listen to our children and empowering them to learn themselves better.
  • What is an education anyways?
  • You can hear our previous converation in Season 1 here.

You can find Julie online at:

You can pre-order her book here:

Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Raising Wise Kids in the Digital Age

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Enjoy the book of homeschool encouragement for you, homeschool mama: Homeschool Mama Self-Care: Nurturing the Nurturer

Homeschool Mama Self-Care: nurturing the nurturer

Get your free Homeschool Mama Reading List here.

You can also take a mini-retreat here: the Homeschool Mama Retreat.

the homeschool mama retreat