MEET NICOLE OLSON
Every child already knows what they need
We just have to listen
Quick facts about Nicole
30+
Years listening to and learning from children of all ages and stages
10
Years listening to and learning from children of all ages and stages
8+
Years reaching online learners – long before the world caught up
4
Children homeschooled — each in a completely different way
How I got here — and why it matters to you
A passionate teacher. A quiet failure.
I come from a family of teachers. I always knew I wanted to be one too. I earned dual certifications in regular and special education, graduated near the top of my class, and went on to teach for a prestigious school system in Massachusetts. I was a passionate and dedicated teacher, spending countless hours during summers and on weekends pursuing professional development, creating lesson plans, and honing my craft. I invested my heart and soul in each student; striving to understand them, encourage them, build their confidence, and inspire in them a love for learning. My principal called me one of his strongest teachers. Parents expressed their gratitude. Former students made their way back to my classroom just to visit.
The only person who seemed to view my career as a failure was me.
Each year, I would be given charge of twenty or so little minds and souls, and each year I felt I had not done them justice. I observed the compliant, well-behaved children waiting patiently for the others to catch up, follow along or simmer down, and I wondered just how many of their moments had been wasted in waiting. I saw the troubled students, the ones dealing with life situations that made book-learning seem irrelevant, and I ached to give them a safe haven. I overheard the kids labeled with disabilities talk about how they “hated” this or that subject, and I felt that something must be badly awry.
My own inner wisdom was quietly at odds with everything I’d been trained to do.
The moment I finally listened
When my son came along, I knew I wanted better for him. I decided to send him to preschool (for the socialization, of course), then homeschool him in kindergarten. I thought it was an excellent plan. My son, however, did not.
Preschool wasn’t working for him. In fact, by the second year, it had become downright toxic. The day I pulled him out, he slumped with relief.
“I’ve been telling you. All I need is to be home with you.”
He had been. I just hadn’t believed him, because the experts were louder.
By the time kindergarten rolled around, I’d already spent months researching, ordering curriculum and mapping out exactly what he would learn for the entire year. I was sure it would be a smashing success.
It was not.
I delivered lessons based on state standards. He just wanted to play. I took on the role of teacher. He wanted his mom to be his sidekick, along for the ride wherever he was inspired to go.
Once again, the experts’ voices in my head drowned out my own inner wisdom — and my son’s.
But not for long.
Once I finally heard him — really heard him, and trusted him — everything came together.
I discovered an approach that put the child at the center: their curiosity, their pace, their way of making sense of the world. As I learned more, I found it resonating deeply, connecting with the inner wisdom I had allowed to become buried under years of coursework and colleagues pointing in the opposite direction.
I saw his learning with new eyes, and it was magical. We became a team, giddy with our new-found freedom and a slight sense that we were getting away with something. It was thrilling!
Twelve years later, that child headed off to college. And four years after that, he graduated with honors.
Before it was mainstream
Thanks to my son, my educational career blossomed in a direction that both surprised and delighted me. I homeschooled my other three children, applying that same child-centered philosophy. I wrote books, mentored moms and dads, and began offering online courses years before the pandemic forced the rest of the world to try to figure out this form of education in real-time.
Along the way, I had the privilege of sharing my ideas with other curious minds through interviews, news pieces, podcasts, state-level speaking events, and educational conferences. I became an educational consultant, and I was given the opportunity to share my philosophy — and the years of experience that came with it — with the founders of Outschool, pioneers in the virtual educational field.
The recognition wasn’t the goal — but it was confirmation that the world was interested in what I was doing.
uCurriculum is where everything converges. The ten years inside traditional classrooms, watching what the system could and couldn’t hold. The four children I homeschooled — each in a completely different way, because they were four completely different people. The years of consulting, speaking, writing, and building. The belief, tested and proven across three decades of real family life, that children carry the answers — and that the job of the adult is simply to listen.
You couldn’t drag me back to a classroom today. I’ve finally found what was missing in my career: fulfillment, great joy, and the freedom to build learning experiences that actually fit the child — not the other way around.
uCurriculum is my attempt to put all of that — everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve lived — into a single place where any family can find it.
I built it the way I wish learning had always been built: with the child at the center.
Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here!
A BODY OF WORK
Over thirty years of building, writing, speaking, and teaching
Author
Published a book on self-directed learning in 2012 — a decade before child-led learning entered the mainstream conversation. Also the author of children’s books, including one featuring a self-directed learner as the main character, written before any comparable character existed in modern literature.
Speaker & Consultant
Presenter at conferences for self-directed learning families, NH Head Start Parent Advocacy Day, Mothers & More, and national summits on child-led education. Consultant to Outschool’s founders on flexibility and asynchronous learning.
Online Learning Pioneer
Among the first teachers on Outschool in 2017, championing asynchronous and flexible learning before the rest of the world caught on. Has run classes for families across the country for nearly a decade.
Unschoolers.org
Founded unschoolers.org — a trusted resource for homeschool and self-directed learning families across the country.
Certified Educator
Dual certification in regular and special education. Ten years in classrooms, working with students across the full spectrum of learning needs — including students with IEPs in both settings.
Homeschooling Mother of Four
Homeschooled all four of her children — each in a different way, because they each needed something different. The philosophy isn’t academic. It’s lived, tested, and proven across three decades of real family life.
Four children. Four completely different learners.
The same philosophy — applied differently for each.
The most honest argument for self-directed learning isn’t a theory. It’s the outcomes of four real children, raised by the same parents, using the same philosophy — and ending up in four entirely different thriving lives.
The child the system couldn't hear
Labeled early. Misunderstood. Given programs that were the exact opposite of what he needed. Finally heard, he flourished. Now 23, he has graduated with honors from college, where he produced a podcast on alternative education. A musician who writes, performs, and produces his own work, he is also a certified ethnomusicologist.
SINGER/SONGWRITER/PRODUCER · ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST · HEADING TO ITALY FOR A MASTER’S
The one who knew exactly what she wanted
From an early age, she had a singular passion: performance. Her curriculum was built around it, and every subject found its way into the world she already loved. She went on to gain acceptance to one of New York’s most competitive performing arts conservatories and graduated to build a career on its stages.
NYC CONSERVATORY GRADUATE · PROFESSIONAL ACTRESS · AGE 21
The entrepreneur who started at 12
Her passions were animals, dogs especially, and theater. Her courses followed both. At 12 she started her own pet care business. At 21, she is earning a degree in theatre and dance and is a celebrated student leader at her college. Her thriving pet care business helps her pay her way.
SMALL BUSINESS FOUNDER · SELF-TAUGHT EXPERT · 3.96 GPA
The one who needed something different
Gifted in multiple areas — athletics, writing, mathematics — and also a different kind of learner than her siblings. Her path included both individualized courses and packaged curriculum, because that was what fit her. She completed her secondary education a year early and earned scholarships and honors placement at the college of her choice.
AGE 17 · IMMERSIVE FRENCH & MUSIC GAP YEAR PROGRAM · STARTING COLLEGE IN 2027