Unschooled
It’s not by choice that Caro Giles is educating her daughters at home. Like so many families with children who don’t fit into mainstream schools, her family has become marginalised by an education system that is chronically underfunded and unable to support special educational needs. While still a school teacher, Caro had no alternative but to leave her job and take on a different role at home, as full-time educator and advocate for her wonderful girls. It was the obvious thing to do, because it was the only choice they had, and Caro made the decision unaware of just how much it would overwhelm her identity as a woman and challenge to the very core what it means to be a mother.
Unschooled is a searing memoir about the love and true grit of a family forging its own path. With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, Caro chronicles the relentless bureaucracy and isolation of being a single mother navigating a system that refuses to see her children. Through her own story, Caro interrogates a society that nurtures conformity rather than difference, and a culture that continues to place the burden of childcare on mothers. Being unschooled has become an ongoing act of resistance and a political statement, one that demands a more inclusive, compassionate education system that recognises and supports every child’s unique needs.
Caro Giles
Caro Giles lives in Glasgow. In 2021 she won the inaugural BBC Countryfile New Writer Award. She is also the author of Twelve Moons (HarperNorth) and writes a monthly column for Psychologies Magazine and her Substack ‘Unschooled.’
Author portrait © O'Hara