'Off-grid' mum lets her kids live without rules or school

An 'off-grid' mum whose unique parenting style means her kids have no rules and don't go to school has claimed that her kids work harder than those who do.

US mum Dayna Martin has raised all four of her children as 'unschooled' vegans, teaching Devin, 20, Tiffany, 18, Ivy, 14, and Orion, 11, that exams aren't a measure of their intelligence.

Martin lets her kids live a life free of rules; they have no bedtimes, no limits on their technology use and can eat what they want, when they want.

They also don't go to school and have never done any schoolwork or exams, which Martin says is completely their choice.

Having gone through mainstream schooling herself, Martin says she doesn't agree with all the rules imposed on kids and felt misunderstood in her school days.

Now she uses textbooks and online resources to help her kids study only the topics they're interested in, rejecting any set curriculum in favour of allowing her children to explore their own interests.

"People think my approach may be hands-off, or even neglectful," she told The Sun, but Martin insists she's not anti-school, she's anti-force.

"So much parenting advice out there focuses on punishment, compliance and rules, but I want my children to be free to make their own decisions."

That means that when he kids do misbehave there's no yelling, no grounding, and certainly no punishments from Martin.

"Because my kids live without punishment, they don't live in fear of me," she said.

Her eldest son, Devin, is the only child in the family to have ever taken a formal test, sitting for his high school diploma by his own choice and achieving "above average" results.

He now works as a computer programmer and is a self-taught blacksmith, while younger sister Tiffany balances her cleaning business with her work as an Instagram model and YouTuber.

Martin claims that her parenting approach has allowed her kids to develop "so many skills" on their own, something she didn't experience when she was young.

"We were raised in an era where the parental role was focused on obedience and control," she wrote of her own generation's upbringing on Facebook.

"Being raised in an authoritarian paradigm, children learn that forcing others to meet their needs is what life is all about."

Though Martin has faced some backlash for her parenting style, the mum-of-four is adamant that her kids are happy and that's all that matters.