5 October 2014

Bits and Pieces, Some Hard to Believe


When my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose said, “Will you play a board game with me… please!” I was tempted to tell her I was much too busy. You see, board games are just not my thing. I could have come up with a dozen reasons why I didn’t have time, but I didn’t. Though it’s hard to believe, I actually smiled and said, “Okay, what shall we play?”

Gemma-Rose set up the Guess Who? boards. Unfortunately some of the people were missing, and a few of the cards had identifying marks on them, so we couldn’t use them. But we still enjoyed our slightly reduced game. “I wonder if there’s a computer version,” I mused. Later, I found a Guess Who? app. I haven’t downloaded it yet but I will.

Now I know computer games aren’t the same as the real thing. Some people might think they are inferior. But they do have one huge advantage: The pieces can’t go missing. You should see our Cluedo set. It’s even worse than our Guess Who? set. Not only do we have to work out the murderer, the crime scene and the murder weapon, we also have to remember that the button is Miss Scarlett, the miniature teapot is the dagger, the chess pawn is Reverend Green… I can’t believe how few of the original pieces are left. I wonder if there’s a Cluedo app.


Board games and computer games remind me of paper books and ebooks. A lot of people prefer real books to ebooks. Sophie has been thinking about this. “Do you think I could make a video about the advantages of Kindle books?” she asks me. “What could you say?” I wonder. We start brainstorming and it’s amazing (unbelievable perhaps) how many advantages we come up with. It should be a very interesting video.

The other day, I watched an interesting video related to this topic. You might have experienced books and ebooks, but how about bookbooks? (I think you will really enjoy this 2 minute video.)

A few days ago, Sophie published an interview video on her Youtube channel. She put together some questions and then persuaded big sister Imogen to answer them. The video, Questions with Imogen, turned out really well. Sophie filmed it using her new DSLR camera and it looks good. The answers to the out-of-the-ordinary questions are good too.


Sophie isn’t the only person Imogen has been helping. A week or so ago, Imogen agreed to be interviewed for a podcast about writing. And then a couple of days ago, I asked her to be involved with yet another podcast. “Dad’s going to answer some questions about being a school teacher who’s also an unschooling father,” I told her. “I’d also like to talk to him about his involvement in your lives. I could ask you some questions about that.” So the three of us sat around my computer and had a chat, and I recorded it. Later I edited the podcast. Now all it needs is a title. An Unschooling Father, a School Teacher Husband and Lots of Tea? Tea? All will be revealed when I publish the podcast on Thursday.

People are actually listening to my podcasts. That’s very surprising, maybe hard to believe, considering they’re far from perfect. (That first podcast episode wasn’t very good at all.) My podcasts are in fact more popular than the accompanying blog posts. I have no idea who is listening to them. It’s all a big mystery.

How to submit my podcasts to iTunes was a big mystery too. It took me ages to work out how to do this. Now I’m waiting to hear if my podcast series has been approved. Me on iTunes? Doesn’t that sound unbelievable? It’s amazing what opportunities are available to us via our computers. 

Did you hear I’m now on Amazon?  Or rather my children’s novel is. Yes, The Angels of Abbey Creek is now available from Amazon (at an unbelievable price), as well as Lulu and Barnes and Noble. I haven’t done much promotion for the book. I feel rather shy about the whole matter. I did have one idea: I‘m taking photos of people reading my book in different situations.


On Friday Andy asked me if I‘d like to go to town and have coffee with him. I took my children’s book and my camera along with us. We settled ourselves at a table in the shopping mall and then I said, “Could you look like you’re reading my book, please?” So Andy opened the book and started reading.  “Hold the book up a bit more so I can see the cover. Could you drink your coffee at the same time? No?” Snap! Snap! I had my photos. I then let Andy get back to his coffee.

READ  Younger Unschoolers: When Does Unschooling Begin?


Yesterday, the book made an appearance at breakfast time. Gemma-Rose, our Porridge Princess, found herself reading it in her pyjamas while chopping nuts to sprinkle over our oats.

I’m posting the book photos on my Sue Elvis Writes Facebook page, one each day. 

If you hop over to my Facebook page to see the photos, take a look at the painting stones ideas. I rather like the stone domino set. It would make a good gift. Would Charlotte like stone dominos for her birthday? Perhaps not. She might be too old.


Charlotte turns 17 this week. That’s hard to believe. She’s almost all grown up.

There is one thing that is not hard to believe at all: Nora is a very mischievous puppy. She is full of energy and won’t sit still when I want to take her photo. And she has a very wet tongue! 

But I did manage to get one good photo of Nora, Gemma-Rose and my book. It’s on my Sue Elvis Writes Facebook page.

You can also find me on my Stories of an Unschooling Family Facebook page!

I wonder if anything unbelievable happened to you last week!

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

4 Comments

  1. I can't wait to hear the new podcast and see the videos, too! The IKEA ad was so funny – we all had a good laugh over it.

    There's so much in this post, Sue – it's like getting a favourite magazine and having to sneak off to savour it 🙂

  2. Vicky,

    Like getting a favourite magazine? That is such a nice thought. Thank you!

    We all laughed at the IKEA video too. It is very clever.

    Thank you for always being so supportive of our efforts. I do appreciate your encouraging words!

  3. Sue, you are becoming quite the social media queen! And print media, come to that – I just found your book on Amazon UK – how very exciting! (I showed it to my husband. "That's my blogging friend Sue, you know!")

    I agree with Vicky – this post is like reading a favourite magazine. I do like seeing and hearing about all the goings on in the Elvis world.

    Taking photos of young dogs is challenging, isn't it? We have very few photos of our two as puppies because as soon as I would squat down to take the photo, the puppy would come bounding towards me (ready to give me lots of wet kisses of course). I heard a slightly sad story the other day: apparently fewer black cats and dogs are being adopted from rescue centres because they don't photograph well in social media. You have done well with Nora, though!

    I shall look forward to your unschooling dad podcast. And I would also like to check out Sophie's videos. (Your family are a complete entertainment package!)

    • Lucinda,

      I am certainly working out how to use digital and print media! We are so fortunate. If we want to know how to do something, we just need to google it. And that's what I've been doing. It's very exciting having so many opportunities open to us, isn't it? Being on Amazon, and now iTunes, seems rather unbelievable. But if I can do it, so can anyone else. Do you feel like writing a novel? And publishing it so I can buy it on Amazon?

      We considered buying a puppy of a particular breed but then decided we'd rather rescue a dog from the animal shelter instead. I think we got a real treasure of a dog. Yes, Nora is big and bouncy and she eats a lot, but she is so loving and willing to please.

      Even if Nora would sit still, I've discovered there's another program when trying to take her photo. It's her colouring. Unless she is standing in a very light area, she doesn't show up very well. She looks like one dark shape without much definition. No shadows!

      Lucinda, thank you so much for your kind words about my posts and podcasts. It's lovely of you to share them. I always enjoy chatting with you, and reading your own posts too. I saw in my feed that you have a writing post just published. I will enjoy that! I'll be over soon.

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