Teaching My Son the Lessons I Didn’t Learn

“As a mother, I feel like all the kindness and love that I pour into my son’s life is somehow healing my own childhood wounds. I see him learning the lessons that I wish I had learned myself as a child, and I feel at peace. He is learning, right from the start, that his feelings are important.”

Homeschooled Girls and Trash Cans: Latebloomer’s Story, Part Six

“It didn’t help my situation that my sister took naturally to wearing cute dresses, having tea parties, and making crafts. She didn’t even need coaching, while I was unsatisfactory even with coaching. As I watched my brother leave for his many outdoor adventures with other boys, I felt cheated and limited.”

Homeschooled Girls and Trash Cans: Latebloomer’s Story, Part Five

“I wasn’t secure enough in my boundaries, so I was hyper-sensitive to any attempts to control or manipulate me, whether it was a friend or a family member. Even just their attempt to change my opinion by sharing a different perspective was threatening to me.”

Homeschooled Girls and Trash Cans: Latebloomer’s Story, Part Four

“The doctor asked, ‘Do you think you’re depressed?’ ‘Oh my goodness, no!’ I answered. When the doctor left the room, I burst into tears with no idea why. I finally decided that I must have been upset that my Christian witness was damaged since I wasn’t showing Jesus’ peace and joy on my face.”

Post-Fundamentalist Marriage

“What is a completely ordinary step for many North American women was a desperate and terrifying leap for me. My family’s homeschooling church, led by Reb Bradley, promoted a very restrictive view of gender roles along with a strong suspicion of the ‘liberal bias’ of higher learning institutions.”