Welcome to Discovery Diaries 👋
If you’ve ever wondered what home education might look like when it's led by curiosity, supported by thoughtful tech use, and done to the beat of your own drum, you’re in the right place.
Whether you're a fellow homeschooling parent, tech-curious educator, lifelong learner, or someone simply exploring how families are reimagining education in the 21st century, we’re glad you’re here.
What Discovery Diaries is all about
Discovery Diaries1 is where we, Shelley Smith and Garren Smith, document our family’s homeschool journey—and help you navigate learning, parenting, and technology with playful curiosity.
We share reflections, experiments, and honest stories about what it means to learn as a family in an ever-changing world. From nature study and personalized learning paths to exploring the thoughtful use of AI tools like ChatGPT & Claude, this is a living logbook of our real, imperfect, joy-filled days.
This isn’t a how-to guide—it’s a why-and-how-we-do-it space. Expect essays, day-in-the-life entries, tech experiments, and musings on everything from board games to books to travel to fitness to the messy magic of raising kids in a digital world.
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Our newsletter is 100% free and likely to stay that way (Stripe doesn’t work in South Africa!). So if our writing sparks your own discoveries, the best way to say thank you is to subscribe and share.
You'll get posts straight to your inbox—no algorithms, no noise. Just thoughtful stories, helpful insights, and a real-time glimpse into a learning life.
Meet your guides: Shelley & Garren
Shelley Tonkin Smith is a homeschooling mom, book-lover, auditory processor, AI-super-curious writer, and lifelong learner. She mentors with the Learning in Depth program (based on the ideas of educational philosopher Kieran Egan) and brings a rich background in teaching, instructional design, and textbook writing.
She's also an entrepreneur and podcast host—of The Playful Mompreneur and co-host of Two Booked Up. A multi-instrumentalist and electric guitarist in the family band Tuesday Chaos, Shelley’s approach to education is rhythmic, creative, and deeply attuned to her children’s evolving interests.
Garren Smith is a remote software developer (specializing in database engineering for a Silicon Valley startup) with a fascination for the evolution of AI. He’s also an equal partner in homeschooling—teaching Maths, coaching fitness, and managing the kids’ climbing adventures.
He’s the lead guitarist and singer in Tuesday Chaos, and in his downtime, he’s likely reading fantasy, sci-fi, or a deep dive into fitness or climbing.
The Smith Family 🎸
We live in Johannesburg, South Africa, and our family life is full of discovery—through books, board games, climbing gym sessions, band practice, road trips around the country, and even a few well-chosen video games.
Our boys, aged 11 and 8, are homeschooled, loved, and loud in all the best ways.
Yes, they play music too. Our oldest rocks the drums and our youngest has completely and ably taken over bass guitar (just as Shelley was starting to find her groove on it!).
Some of our favorite posts to start with:
Ready to follow along?
We’d love to have you. Hit Subscribe to join us on this unpredictable, joyful ride through education, family life, and discovery. You’ll get posts directly in your inbox—no spam, just soul.
Share Discovery Diaries 📨
Since our newsletter is free (thanks, Stripe!), the best way you can support us is by sharing it with a friend, homeschooling group, curious neighbor, or fellow parent who’s wrestling with what learning can look like.
We’re so glad you’re here. Let’s keep discovering together.
Previously known as Infinitely Interesting until we discovered someone had already snagged this brilliant line from one of our favorite songs… Nevermind, Discovery Diaries is just as cool, don’t ya think?!
