What happens when you grow up homeschooled on a sailboat, then experience public school, only to return to homeschooling as a parent? Shellbe's remarkable journey offers a window into an educational path less traveled, filled with powerful insights for any parent questioning traditional education.

Born to parents who rejected conventional schooling, Shellbe spent her early years cruising the Bahamas on a sailboat. Her ”classroom” was the open water, where learning to navigate charts, catch fish, and take responsibility weren't electives—they were survival skills. Using the Calvert School curriculum, her education blended formal academics with real-world application in ways most children never experience. ”I knew responsibility,” Shellbe reflects, recounting how she sailed dinghies with her toddler sister at just eight years old, learned to recover from capsizing, and developed problem-solving skills that have served her throughout life.

When Shellbe entered public school in seventh grade, the contrast was stark. The rigid bell schedule, curriculum gaps, and social dynamics created challenges that shaped her understanding of what education could and should be. Despite her strong foundation in reading and writing, she struggled when the system couldn't accommodate her learning style—an experience that would later inform her approach to teaching her own daughter.

Now homeschooling as a single parent, Shellbe has crafted an education for her daughter that honors both structure and freedom. With formal lessons sometimes just twice weekly, learning happens organically through exploration, measurement, and discovery. When her five-year-old spends a morning examining caterpillars with a magnifying glass, creating habitats, and measuring specimens, Shellbe recognizes this as valuable education that transcends textbooks.

Whether you're currently homeschooling, considering the leap, or simply curious about alternative educational paths, this conversation will challenge your assumptions about how learning happens and what truly matters in preparing children for a fulfilled life.

Connect with Shellbe:

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Shellbe is offering a FREE masterclass on how to have an Empowered Pregnancy & Birth next Friday the 16th!!

What is the most important thing we can teach our kids?
HOW TO HANDLE AN EMERGENCY!
This could mean life or death in some cases!
Help a child you know navigate how to handle an emergency situation with ease:
Let's Talk, Emergencies! -and don't forget The Activity Book!

The Tuttle Twins – use code Cheryl15 for 15% the age 5-11 series!

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