Planning ahead, just this once

People often contact me wanting to know if I have a particular theme in mind for the upcoming issue.

The strange thing is, I usually don't have one in mind — but then things fall together and it just works out that way.

Issue #4, for instance, turned into a beautifully balanced "not back to school" issue, with articles about homeschooling pretty much every subject imaginable — plus a piece about transitioning from public to home education. Didn't plan a bit of it — it just happened.

Issue #2 had several articles about Charlotte Mason homeschooling. I did pursue those; but the funny thing was, a couple of wonderful articles about homeschooling in the great outdoors just happened to wander along right on time to be included. (Charlotte Mason was a huge proponent of nature study and the idea that everyone, children and adults, should spend significant time outside every day.)

Still, serendipity can't do everything; so for once I'm going to get off my duff and help her out a bit.

This upcoming issue is the "tough issues" issue. It's a tight squeeze to get in, but if you have an article that you think would fit the theme, I'd love to see it. Just to give you an idea of the kind of thing I mean: I mentioned that I'm working on a piece about helping children learn about, and cope with, death in a non-religious household; I've also already received an article about sex education, and a lovely, tender piece from a parent who shares her struggles to teach her daughter about religion without teaching her religion.

This issue is already coming together; for another, I'll need a lot of outside help.

I'd like to do an "International Homeschooling" issue. This will be by and about homeschoolers all over the world, including Americans homeschooling abroad.

I once said that I felt confident I could churn out enough material to fill an issue myself if I needed to. Obviously this hoped-for theme issue is one I can’t do alone. (I mean, I suppose I could try faking it, like that nineteenth-century woman who wrote a whole book — The Clumsiest People in Europe, I think it was called — about people all over the world, and it turned out that she never left her home town. But as I’ve said before, I’m a lousy liar.)

If you're a homeschooler who lives outside America, I'd love to hear from you. If you're not up to an article, I'd be honored to interview you.

I can pay a little for an article — plus of course a free copy of the issue your piece is in. And I can send interviewees a free copy.

If you'd like more information, or to set up an interview, drop me a line. My email is deborah @ 2ds dot org —just take the spaces out and put in an actual dot instead of spelling it.

Can't wait to hear from you!