This image is from the series, “Homeschooled.” As criticism of the U.S. education system grows among parents, so does the appeal of homeschooling. Shortly after moving to Upstate New York in 2010 I began photographing a small number of families living in the region who follow this path. While much of the discussion about the subject tends to revolve around parents and their beliefs, I chose to focus particularly on the lives and routines of the children, in an attempt to capture their spirit, and the meaning of growing up outside the conventional four classroom walls.

Rachel Papo is an award winning photographer based in Brooklyn, New York, whose works have been exhibited and published worldwide. She earned a BFA in Fine Arts from Ohio State University (1991-96), and an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City (2002-05).

Rachel’s works are in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and The Griffin Museum of Photography in Boston. She has published three monographs: Serial No. 3817131 (2008), Homeschooled (2016) and It’s Been Pouring – The Dark Secret of the First Year of Motherhood (2022).