If you're looking for a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to homeschool, this isn't it. That kind of guide wouldn't be possible even if it were desirable, because the foundational principle of open education is that every child is unique.

Instead, this is a guide to becoming a different kind of educator—not a CEO who manages every variable, but a gardener who cultivates conditions for natural growth.

This mindset shift emerged from a recent Open Education breakthrough event featuring CEO Isaac Morehouse, Founder Matt Bowman, and special guest Janae Daniels, host of the School to Homeschool podcast. Their collective wisdom reveals how the gardener's approach isn't just a nice metaphor—it's a complete operating system for education.

The Gardener's First Principle: You Can't Force Growth

"I just want to share this message," Isaac Morehouse began. "Your kids are going to be okay. You can relax a little bit."

This is the gardener's starting point. While the CEO-parent tries to optimize and control every outcome, the gardener understands a fundamental truth: you cannot force a seed to grow. You can only create the right conditions and trust the process.

"Don't over-analyze and stress how to perfectly tailor everything," Isaac advised. "And please, don't compare yourself to others... Comparison is the thief of joy."

This principle is especially crucial for parents beginning with older children.

As Janae Daniels explained, "We cannot parent children whose heart we do not have. If you're starting to homeschool your teenagers, the very first thing that you have to focus on is the relationship. That has to come before everything else."

The relationship is your soil. Without healthy soil, nothing else can take root.

Creating the Growing Conditions: Space, Time, and Observation

Every gardener knows that seeds need darkness and quiet to germinate. In education, that darkness is boredom—a condition we've almost eliminated from modern childhood.

"I learned that boredom leads to brilliance," Janae shared. She discovered this when her children only picked up musical instruments after experiencing profound boredom. "We've overbooked our kids so much that we've robbed them of the gift of boredom, because that's where genius happens."

But how do you know what conditions your unique seedling needs? You observe. Matt Bowman suggests a simple tool from the Open Education book: the Sticky Note Exercise.

For one week, leave sticky notes around the house and have everyone—parents included—jot down answers to key questions:

• What do you think about when you have free time?
• What do you believe you're good at?
• What do you want to get better at?
• What do you genuinely dislike?

This isn't data collection for the CEO-parent to analyze. It's the gardener learning to read the signs of what each plant needs.

Download the full Sticky Notes Exercise here.

Building the Trellis: Structure That Supports Without Constraining

Here's where the gardener metaphor becomes especially powerful. Plants need support structures—trellises—but these must be flexible enough to allow organic growth.

"The more you structure learning, the less that learning actually lasts," Matt Bowman explained. Yet as Janae countered, "If my nine-year-old with sensory processing disorder had zero structure, her little brain would go haywire."

The secret? Your trellis must adapt as the plant grows. Isaac Morehouse offered a brilliant developmental map:

• Early Years (0-10): Minimal structure, like ground cover that allows maximum exploration
• Middle Years (10-14): Stronger support during rapid growth and change
• Teen Years (14+): Gradually shifting to structures they build themselves

Matt added crucial context: "Children change more between 10 to 14 than any other time in their lives except zero to three." During these years of dramatic transformation, they need more support—not more control, but more structure to climb.

The Piano Tuner Principle: Recognizing Unexpected Fruit

The gardener's greatest skill is recognizing value in the unexpected. Janae's story of her disastrous first day of homeschooling perfectly illustrates this principle.

After a morning of tears over carefully prepared worksheets, an unexpected piano tuner arrived. As her children abandoned their work to watch him discuss sound waves, geometry, and octaves, Janae had an epiphany: "I realized they had no interest in the beautiful lesson plans I had prepared. I had to rethink how my kids learned."

The CEO-parent would have seen this as a disruption. The gardener recognized it as the whole point—authentic learning sprouting in unexpected directions.

From Interest to Harvest: The Practical Formula

To make these "piano tuner moments" intentional rather than accidental, Matt Bowman offers a practical formula: connect an interest to a genuine need in your family or community.

"That's where entrepreneurship begins," Matt explained. "That's where community service begins."

If your child loves baking (interest), can they start a cookie business for neighbors (need)? If they're obsessed with video games (interest), can they learn coding to build a website for a local charity (need)?

This transforms random growth into purposeful harvest—not by forcing it, but by creating connections between what naturally emerges and what the world needs.

Seasonal Wisdom: Knowing When to Prune and When to Let Grow

Perhaps the most sophisticated aspect of the gardener's approach is understanding seasons. Your role changes as your children grow, and what worked last season may not work now.

Isaac shared how his son needed near-complete freedom when young, more structure in middle school, and eventually chose public school at 14—a decision that required Isaac to "swallow his pride" and trust the process. "It's about him. It's about each kid at each stage."

Janae described the constant recalibration: "Each year I'm learning something new or what worked last year doesn't work this year." Her son recently admitted he needed more structure, saying, "I feel like I want more to do, but not too much."

The gardener watches for these signals—when a child gravitates toward technology might indicate they need more engaging activities, when they seem overwhelmed might mean it's time to prune back commitments.

Your First Step in the Garden

The journey from stressed CEO to patient gardener is one of the most rewarding shifts a homeschooling parent can make. You don't need a perfect plan. You need the gardener's tools: patience, observation, and trust in the natural process of growth.

Your First Step: This week, begin with observation. Try the Sticky Note Exercise, but approach it as a gardener would—not gathering data to control, but learning to read the signs of what wants to grow.

Remember what Isaac said about his mother reading homeschool magazines and feeling inadequate: "Don't compare. You can take joy in what others are doing... without feeling like that should be you."

Your garden will look different from everyone else's. That's not a bug in the system—it's the entire point.

To dive deeper into the principles discussed here, check out Open Education by Isaac Morehouse and Matt Bowman, and find Janae Daniels on the School to Homeschool podcast.

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