In a previous life, I taught writing and literature at The Pennsylvania State University while working on my Ph.D. I completed and defended my dissertation, "Making Mothers: British Motherhood in the Age of Revolution," in 2003.

I was pregnant with my first child when I took my comprehensive exams, which marked the end of coursework and the beginning of my dissertation. For a long time, I joked that I had more children than chapters as I attempted to write my dissertation while being a fulltime mother.

Eventually, however, I powered through and finished the project that had begun with my first pregnancy. At that point, I found myself at a crossroads, a journey I describe in an essay I wrote called, "Selling Out?"

I had used essays by John Holt and Ivan Illich in my advanced writing courses while teaching at Penn State, so I was no stranger to alternative education when I began to consider homeschooling my own children. Hubris, too, played a large role, as I reasoned that I could do twice as good a job at a fraction of the cost of private school—something I still believe.

The decision for our family boiled down to the joy of living and learning together on our own terms rather than someone else's, and we've never looked back.