I’ve missed you guys! It’s been well over a month since I put together a full newsletter email and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things.

- Jacob Gooden

If you didn’t know, the ex-homeschoolers book club is officially back and I’m so STOKED!

This month, we’re reading “Homeschooled” by Stefan Merrill Block. I know you’ve heard me talk endlessly about this book but it was so good that I needed to read it with friends.

So here’s the deal, we kicked things off on May 15th and we’ve got a month to read/listen to the book. Then we’re hopping on a Zoom call and gonna chat about our favorite parts, the things that we related to most, maybe swap some of our own homeschool stories, and just have a fun time. We’ll also be over on Fable (it’s a social book tracking app) posting about each chapter and doing some weekly check ins.

If you want to join us, here’s what you can do,

Jaycie shares what it was like being homeschooled K–12 in a highly religious environment where church was the main source of socialization, curriculum revolved around Christian morality, and “the world” felt dangerous. From role-playing public school as a child to struggling through depression during her senior year, Jaycie opens up about the emotional and social gaps that homeschooling left behind — and how adulthood forced her to reevaluate everything she believed about education, relationships, and faith.

The conversation also explores the transition into secular college life, the pressure to defend Christianity in every classroom, dropping out to get married young, and how COVID unexpectedly became the catalyst for rethinking religion and rebuilding community in a healthier way.

D.L. Mayfield shares their experience growing up as a homeschooled pastor’s kid who moved frequently across the western United States while immersed in evangelical culture, Dobson parenting teachings, and doomsday-prepper communities. Together, Jacob and D.L. explore the hidden systems of power inside Christian homeschooling culture — from corporal punishment and purity culture messaging to the ways authoritarian environments discourage children from speaking up about abuse.

The conversation also dives into Adventures in Odyssey, Focus on the Family’s cultural influence on homeschool families, and why so many ex-homeschoolers struggle to reconcile nostalgia with the deeper ideologies behind the media they loved growing up.

This episode contains discussion of sexual abuse, child abuse, purity culture, and authoritarian religious systems.

See you guys on Friday for a new episode.

With peace and love,

Jacob G