Alex Clark interviews Mandy Davis, a former teacher and school principal who now homeschools her children and runs the @homebuilteducation account. Davis describes feeling constrained in both teaching and administration, arguing that schools are designed for efficiency rather than individual children, with limited flexibility on curriculum, schedules and classroom practices. She recounts Covid-era disruptions from inside school leadership, including her claim that policy shifts such as masking were learned from governors’ televised announcements without extra notice for schools.
Davis says the cumulative strain of the job became unsustainable for her, describing it as “toxic” for her mental and physical health, and says that prompted her family to reconsider who should control their children’s education. A central theme is managing disagreement between spouses: she argues that couples should first align on what they believe education and childhood should look like, rather than trying to “win” a schooling argument with statistics. She advises identifying what a reluctant spouse is trying to protect—often the other partner’s time, energy or the child’s social life.
The episode also covers practical homeschooling questions, including learning disabilities, teen social opportunities, and parental roles. Davis asserts that homeschooling can reduce time spent on schooling logistics and claims pupils receive very limited one-to-one attention in traditional classrooms, while also encouraging families to define in advance what success will look like and revisit the decision yearly.
Mandy Davis, who says she was a school principal during Covid, describes learning about policy shifts such as masking at the same time as the public, by watching the governor’s announcements on television. She frames it as an example of how school leaders had limited control and little advance notice during pandemic-era changes.
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