Homeschooling: Curiosity-Led Learning with Jess Drover | Episode 116
Homeschooling is often less about curriculum and more about how children learn to think, engage, and grow through everyday life. In this conversation, we explore what it looks like to raise curious, capable children in a world that often prioritizes convenience over resilience.
In this episode of Wild and Well, I am talking to Jess Drover again, a homeschooler and mother who also runs a children’s book business. We discuss curiosity-led learning, emotional resilience, and how everyday family life becomes the foundation for education when children are given space to explore, participate, and contribute meaningfully. Listen to episode 67 of the podcast to hear more about homeschooling from Jess.
Jess and I talk about:
- What homeschooling looks like when learning is integrated into everyday family life
- How curiosity-led learning replaces rigid curriculum in her homeschooling approach
- Why children benefit from discomfort, boredom, and doing difficult things
- How activities like walking, gardening, and chores build resilience and responsibility
- Why she believes children need space to struggle rather than be constantly accommodated
- How intrinsic motivation is strengthened through real-world participation
- Why she avoids over-structuring learning in favour of child-led curiosity
- How dopamine, screen exposure, and external stimulation impact motivation
- How everyday experiences become opportunities for learning and growth
- Why capability and confidence matter more than comfort or convenience
Jess Drover is a homeschooler and children’s book seller who focuses on curiosity-led learning and child development through everyday life. She integrates education into family routines, nature-based experiences, and real-world responsibilities. Jess is passionate about raising intrinsically motivated, resilient children who learn through participation, exploration, and connection.
Books that Jess mentioned:
- The Anxious Generation
- Simplicity Parenting
- Hunt Gather Parent
Links:
Connect with Jess over on Instagram
Find out more about the books Jess sells at nocobooklady
Come say hi to me on Instagram
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Wild and Well with Dr Hilary Claire is a podcast dedicated to holistic health for moms, optimal health for women, postpartum recovery, perimenopause, and children’s wellness. It is for holistic-minded mothers who want healthier, calmer, more resilient kids. We explore everything from gut health to pregnancy, functional health for women and postpartum wellness to nervous system regulation and motherhood burnout. Each episode offers practical tips for self-care for moms, guidance on picky eating and parenting, and strategies to support your family’s natural kids’ health, so you can feel healthy, strong, and vital in motherhood while creating a foundation for lifelong wellness. I would never recommend anything I don’t regularly use myself or trust completely. Some of the links are affiliate links, and others are special discount codes. Either way, all of these are products and resources I genuinely love and recommend.
