Kitchen Table School

Homeschooling honestly, from curriculum panic to real learning

Jordan Whitfield2 episodes2 min of audio153 playsEpisodic

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S1 · E2May 12, 20260:5294 plays Preview

Teaching reading when you are not a reading teacher

Reading specialist Dr Amara Osei joins Jordan to explain how children learn to read, what phonics actually means, which cheap resources work, and how to tell a slow start from a real difficulty.

S1 · E1Apr 4, 20260:4859 plays Members

You do not need to buy a curriculum yet

Jordan talks new homeschoolers down from the curriculum panic, explains what the first month should actually look like, and shares the simple weekly rhythm his family settled on after a chaotic start.

About the show

Kitchen Table School is a weekly show about educating your children at home, hosted by Jordan Whitfield, a former middle school maths teacher in Portland, Oregon, who has homeschooled his two children since 2021. Each 35-minute episode tackles one part of the job: choosing or ignoring a curriculum, teaching reading when you are not a reading teacher, maths for parents who hated maths, socialisation and the question every relative asks, record keeping, co-ops, burnout, and knowing when it is time to go back to a classroom. Jordan interviews homeschooling families from the United States, the UK, South Africa and the Gulf, as well as educators and researchers, and he is clear-eyed about what works and what is sold. He is not an evangelist. The show is for families who are homeschooling, thinking about it, or doing it unexpectedly, and who want a calm, informed voice instead of a movement. Practical, warm and allergic to perfectionism.

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