'Unschooling' mom calls out sister for sending her kids to normal school: 'She is saying that I'm just jealous her kids have a "real childhood" whilst my kids are stuck in class all day'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Aug 15, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

Is everyone entitled to their own schooling practices?

Everybody has different approaches to education, and every child has different needs. There has been an increasing trend, at least in the United States, towards homeschooling. There are lots of different takes on this, some good, some bad. But let's be honest, not every parent is qualified to teach their child, and not every child ends up getting exactly what they need from the school system. And when you're in a family where there are multiple viewpoints about this subject, things can get pretty confusing. People have very strong-held beliefs about this stuff, and intentions can start to run really high when you talk about it with people who have a different outlook than you, especially if it's within the same family. That's what was happening in this story, which this user, Significant_Art_2254, shared to the AITAH subreddit. They were having a disagreement with their family member about the type of schooling that they were both doing for their children. One of them had a very strong-held belief about homeschooling. They didn't even go a step further and claimed they were doing something called "unschooling." Unschooling is a controversial practice where parents/teachers let their kids roam free and play and explore rather than follow a traditional curriculum. There's a lot to say about this practice, and not everybody believes that it's right for a child, including the sister of this mom who is choosing that for her children. 

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  • Two women have an argument on a bench in the park
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image shown for illustrative purposes; person depicted is a model.


    Two women have an argument on a bench in the park

  • Am I in the wrong for responding to my sisters rant about home education?

    Throwaway account I live in England and school starts in September. My kids are 7 and 3, this year is my sons first year of nursery and my daughter is going to be in year 3. They are both super excited for school, my daughter absolutely loves school. She loves seeing all her friends everyday, she has great teachers, all her lessons are really fun, she
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • also has great co-curricular activities at school (She goes to private school so she gets to go swimming, play golf, ballet, etc). Overall she just absolutely loves school, and she is really excited to go back to school in September. Of course there is some days she doesn't want to go to school but 99% of the time she is happy.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Recently me and my wife just bought the kids school uniform for September, and I was mentioning this to my parents and siblings as we were at a family barbecue yesterday. So we all started talking about the topic of the kids going back to school. One of my siblings, my sister, home educates her 4 kids. Which
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • is fine, it's none of my business how other people educate their kids. My sister unschools her kids, so a majority of their day is playing with toys, going to the park, playing outside in the garden, going to museums, etc.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • When I was talking about my daughter being excited for school, my sister starts talking about how she is so glad that she doesn't have to send her kids to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day. Which then turned into one of her famous rants about the fact that school is bad, she says that she is grateful she prioritises
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • her kids happiness instead sending them to a place like school. She says that all kids would be so much happier if they had a similar childhood to her kids childhood. This rant happens a lot. Usually I just ignore the rants but I decided to respond, mainly because she was indirectly implying that the rest of us don't prioritise our own kids happiness.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • So I just simply told her that home educating doesn't mean her kids are happier than everybody else's kids, she just chooses to educate them differently than the rest of us. Now she is saying that I'm just jealous her kids have a "real childhood" whilst my kids are stuck in class all day.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Two women stand outside on a road taking to each other
    via Anastasiia Parukh

    Image depicted solely for explanatory purposes.


    Two women stand outside on a road taking to each other

  • She was doing her best to keep her opinions to herself, and she wasn't even the one instigating the conversation. But when somebody backs you into a corner, you're allowed to fight back against the attack. That's what was happening here. This Mom was tired of being berated for her choices by her sibling who chose a different path. If we could all just let each other be, then things could be a lot easier. That's not what happened here, though. Keep reading to see what happened and let us know what you think in the comments.

  • I've ignored her ever since that conversation, but now I'm apparently wrong for even responding to her rant in the first place. AITAH for not ignoring her rant when it directly implied my parenting was worse than hers?
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Ok-Constant-2683 You were wrong when you said your sister chooses to educate her children differently. They are not being educated at all. They are being neglected. Ntah
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Impossible_Gold1573 NTA. "Unschooling" is a joke that causes actual homeschool to get a bad reputation. She's being neglectful.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • SuccessfulAd4606 LOL your sister is an irresponsible idiot if her idea of home-schooling is "playing with toys, going to the park, playing outside in the garden, going to museums, etc." Have her teach her kids the phrase "do you want fries with that?" because that's a peek into their future.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Apprehensive-Pop-201 A lot of kids resent their "un-education" when they get older. If your sister wants to talk cr p, it is fine, it works for her. But you are right too. It isn't for you and your family.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Designer_Top_4540 I'm a veteran homeschooling mom, 30+ years. Unschooling isn't educating her children. Your sister is full of herself. Now.. Public, private or homeschooling... they're all great choices.. they are CHOICES and everyone makes their own choice. Every family and every child is different.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Your sister is just feeling very full of herself and arrogant for choosing to homeschool. Lots of new homeschoolers get like that. It will wear off. Hopefully. In the mean time, Just tell her "I'm glad you're as happy with your choice as we are with ours. Your choice works for you and ours works for us". If she gets negative just
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • put your hand up and tell her, "I am not knocking your choice so please stop putting mine down." And walk away. If it continues I'd go Low or No contact until she stops. I have 4 children. Homeschooled my older two through high school and my
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • younger two children until high school. We chose a local charter school for HS. It works for us and I now work up at the Charter school too. I would never bash homeschooling, I loved it and all 4 of my children have gotten a great education. my first 2 went to college an now my 3rd is starting college this week.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • SuperMommy37 I wonder how and why we, as a society, made schools a bad thing. Look, in my opinion, public school should be mandatory. Children have the right to have access to knowledge. We are going backwards, not forward, with our kids. Also, of course NTA and I doubt I kould keep my opinion to myself.
    via Significant_Art_2254
  • Cudi_buddy NTA. Parents are not qualified to teach. Especially subjects they likely don't understand. Further educating 4 different aged kids is not happening here. She's a bad mom
    via Significant_Art_2254

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family dynamics family drama unschooling school kids sibling rivalry siblings homeschooling homeschool sister
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