The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child’s Education, A New Way to Homeschool

4.8 | 2,204 ratings

Price: 21.25

Last update: 01-10-2025

About this item

Allow your children to experience the adventure, freedom, and wonder of childhood with this practical guide that provides all the information, inspiration, and advice you need for creating a modern, quality homeschool education.

Inspired by the spirit of Henry David Thoreau—"All good things are wild and free"—mother of five Ainsley Arment founded Wild + Free. This growing online community of mothers and families want their children to receive a quality education at home by challenging their intellectual abilities and nurturing their sense of curiosity, joy, and awe—the essence of a positive childhood.

The homeschool approach of past generations is gone—including the stigma of socially awkward kids, conservative clothes, and a classroom setting replicated in the home. The Wild + Free movement is focused on a love of nature, reading great books, pursuing interests and hobbies, making the entire world a classroom, and prolonging the wonder of childhood, an appealing philosophy that is unpacked during this audiobook.

The Call of the Wild and Free offers advice, information, and positive encouragement for parents considering homeschooling, those currently in the trenches looking for inspiration, as well as parents, educators, and caregivers who want supplementary resources to enhance their kids’ traditional educations.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Poppy

Great

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2024

Really enjoyed this book. Very helpful and motivating. Makes you realize that childhood is so brief and so precious. It gave me the confidence to homeschool my 8 year old.

Scottie Dreher

Freeing

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2024

Homeschooling is exciting! Yet, when I started the journey I immediately felt overwhelmed and unprepared. This book helped me overcome my fear & help me place my focus on enjoying my children & our days together. It led me to realize that I can keep things simple. Do the “must haves” but everything else is all about honoring the Lord & cultivating a family culture that is unique to us.

Brandi R Champagne

Highly recommend!

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2024

I absolutely loved every word of this book. Thankful for Ainsley and the amazing advice she has for homeschool families. This will be a book I read annually that helps remind me why we chose this path for our family.

Tanya M.

every family needs this book

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2019

I received this book in the mail yesterday and just finished devouring it. (Yes, I put aside our lessons and declared today a reading day, because I can.) :) This book resonated deeply with me as I strive to home educate my three girls well--and I'm so glad I preordered it and will have it on my bookshelf for reference and encouragement whenever I need. I said a lot of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" in my mind as I read through topic after topic, as everything the author says lines up with my goals and dreams for my children and the type of childhood I want them to have.

The book is split into four main sections titled: The Mission, The Myths, The Manner, and The Method. It addresses why we homeschool, misconceptions from others and ourselves, how children develop and what they need at each stage, how to create a family rhythm and family culture, discovering your style, the importance of free play and nature in giving our children back their childhoods. I appreciated the information about various forms of home education such as classical, Montessori, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, and unschooling. We personally do a mix of classical and Charlotte Mason, with an emphasis on finding the right approach to math or english for each child depending on their brain wiring.

In addition to the theories and beliefs that govern how we teach our children at home, so much of the book is practical advice that we can readily implement in our homes, which I very much appreciate. I have been reminded to get out in nature more, to not give in to pressures of doing more, to continue reading aloud even to my 13-year-old, to make a notebooking journal with fun prompts to get my creative writer writing, to stop doubting myself.

I started homeschooling to become a bigger voice in my children's lives than public school would allow, to be able to know them intimately, to be able to witness their blossoming, to give them exactly what they need when they need it (as only someone who knows them well can), and to redeem what I lost in my own childhood. I grew up internalizing a lot of stress and anxiety, and didn't feel I had anyone to voice it to. I felt unheard and misunderstood and I tried to stay out of people’s way as much as possible instead of asserting myself. I grew up and became overwhelmed with life as an adult, letting stress eat away at me, developing many health problems as a result. My coming back to myself and taking control of my life has coincided with taking control of my children's lives and educations as well. I am in my fifth year homeschooling, but I am still working things out and constantly learning, changing, growing. Homeschooling is definitely a journey, not a destination, which is why books like this are essential to us moms in the trenches. I think this book is as relevant to the seasoned home educator as to the mom who is looking to start.

Much of the book talks about keeping our children’s sense of wonder alive by creating an environment in which they actually enjoy learning (not dread it or simply get through it). It encourages us to let them play as much as possible, because play is how little ones learn, "Children invite us into their world in small, delicate ways each day. They stand before us, board game in hand, looking up into our eyes as if maybe this time might be different. Children are resilient. They ask, get rejected, and then ask again. Imagine being surrounded by giants all day, looking up at the underside of their chins, and then experiencing the sheer delight when one of them crouches down to join our activity. Childhood is so fleeting. Before we know it, they will indeed stand as tall as us and perhaps see things the way we do. But by then, it will be too late. Their childhood will be gone. May we learn to enter their world before they stop inviting us.”

Ainsley Arment's thorough knowledge of every aspect of home education is evident throughout the book, and I never felt like it was being redundant or irrelevant. Her position as the founder of Wild + Free podcasts, conferences, magazine, and Instagram account place her in the perfect authority position to write this type of book. Her quotations from various authoritative figures and authors were spot-on, and exactly what I would have used if this was my book. I also thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful photography throughout, and let’s not forget to mention the thick pages that flip so easily as I read. This book will be a treasured resource for many, I am sure.

Meeks

LOVE!!!

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2024

Such a good book! It definitely gave me the peace of mind I needed and has sooo much good information and validation in it!

Crystalyn Johnson

FANTASTIC!

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2024

There is so much I can write about this book. I want everyone to read this book! I want our society to be more accepting of a Wild + Free education. I want families to understand we don’t need electronics every second of the day. I want this book to come to like for every family! It was beautifully written. I learned so much. I’m so much more passionate about homeschooling and what an education truly is for our children.

Amazon Customer

Great read.

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2024

The book came damaged but it’s an excellent read for anyone considering homeschooling.

All The Feels and Easy Reading

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2023

I brought this book on our family fall trip and devoured it in two days while my three boys spent the days outside playing in the sun and pool. If I could take a picture of all the pages I would, it was that good.

Get ready for all the feels with this book momma. I’ve been slowly listening and reading about mass schooling and just public education and homeschooling for about a year. My eldest is in 6th grade and I feel like majority of information out there focuses on a particular issue and/or there’s not much out there about pulling kids out when they’ve already been years in a public school. This book basically covered almost all the questions I have had very well in easy to digest bits, then provided additional resources to dive deeper if the reader wanted to.

Her writing style is very easy to follow, engaging, and just very personable. Many times she put into words what I’ve been seeing with my boys and in school but couldn’t quite put it into words myself. I’ve read over 50 books this year (and we’re only halfway through the year) and this has hands down been one of the best reads.

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