2024
Taking Risks, Looking Strange
A few days ago, when I arrived at my weekly parish women’s group meeting, I greeted my friend Anabelle, and the first thing she said was: “What do you do to your eyebrows?” My brows? Oh no, did they look bad? I gulped before saying, “I usually dye them, but
2024
An Almost Empty Unschool House
Recently, two of our daughters moved out of home, leaving behind two empty bedrooms, which my husband and I are turning into a study and a studio. For the first time ever, I will have my very own space where I can write, record audio and video, and join in
2024
Too Anxious to Unschool?
Some parents say they can't let go of control and unschool because they're too anxious about the outcome. What if things don't work out and kids fail to receive the upbringing and education they need? Perhaps it seems like unschooling and anxiety are incompatible. But I've never had a problem
2024
When Children Move Out of an Unschool Home
Some parenting ‘experts’ advise us to push our kids out of the family home as soon as possible. They tell us to make our kids stand on their own two feet. But my husband and I have ignored this advice. We’re happy for our kids to remain with us as
2024
How to Respond to ‘Unlovable’ Kids and Cats
Poppy died, and I cried despite not liking the cat. Poppy was a grumpy animal. She was messy and unkempt, preferring not to groom herself. An unpleasant odour followed her wherever she went. We bathed the cat, clipped her long fur, and sprinkled deodoriser all over her body, trying to
2024
Love or Fear? What Guides Our Lives?
There are so many things we could fear. We might be too afraid to send our kids to school if we listen to the loud voices telling us how bad traditional education is. We might choose homeschooling because of that fear. If we decide to homeschool, we’re still not safe.
2024
Does Love Keep You Awake While Others Sleep?
Lying in bed, trying to conquer insomnia, I noticed bright intermittent flashes of light illuminating the night sky. I slid from under the quilt, padded to the living room, and peered out the window, trying to locate the source of the light. White, blue, and green electric balls of light,
2024
Ordinary Frida Kahlo Eyebrow Days
Quinn barked, alerting me to the policeman striding along the path towards our house. After securing the dog, I opened the front door, my heart racing, my hands shaking, thinking, “The police only make house calls when they’ve bad news to share.” “Have you seen any strangers lurking recently?” the
2024
Parenting: Doing Our Inadequate Best
Do you ever look back - a few years, months or even days - at your younger self and wish you could have done better? Perhaps you remember dragon parent days when you failed to be gentle. Could you have said things you now regret? I know I do. Sometimes,
Words Matter
Yesterday, I sang happy birthday to a friend in a video message despite thinking I have a terrible voice. “I’ll sing the low version,” I announced before plucking up my courage, taking a deep breath, and attempting the first note. My low voice is the one I use when I’m
The Unanticipated Problem with Sharing My Kids’ Lives Publicly
When my kids were younger, I constantly had my camera in my hand, watching out for photo opportunities. I wanted visual evidence of all our learning experiences for our homeschool records book. I also wanted lots of photos to go with my blog stories. We had a rule in our
2024
Reluctant to Persuade or Engage
I create a Friends Club, write and publish an exclusive members-only story, and then display a preview of it – an excerpt and an image – on my blog. I look at the red-tufted, painted cow staring back at me from my homepage’s sidebar and grin. Surely, the cow will
2024
I Need Your Help. Do You Need Mine?
I decide to abandon my unschooling blog, leaving it online to look after itself while I move on. But then I discover I can’t actually do that. Blogs need attention, whether we’re writing on them or not. If I don’t keep a close eye on my website, making sure everything
2024
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
“When I grow up, I’m going to be a YouTube Shorts video creator,” I tell Amina. My pretend friend raises her eyebrows and says, “But I thought you wanted to be a graphic designer.” “I could be a graphic designer who makes YouTube Shorts.” “When I was a child, I
2024
Do You Need a Happy List?
I’m at a cafe with my pretend friend Amina, who places her mug of coffee on the table between us, sighs and says, “Unschooling doesn’t guarantee our kids won’t have challenges in life, does it?” “I wish it did,” I reply. “Oh, yes, wouldn’t it be good if our kids
2024
Put on Your Real-Life Maths Eyes
Lying awake in bed last night, I did some real-life maths: how long was it before I had to get up for Mass? As the sleepless hours ticked by, the answer to that question became smaller and smaller. After I emerged from the bathroom after this morning’s shower, I said,
2024
A Perfect Curriculum or Unschooling?
During our early years of homeschooling, a friend, her eyes alight with excitement, told me about a curriculum she’d just purchased for her children. She described the neatly packaged units of beauty, truth and goodness, which included famous works of art and music and great literature, as well as the
2024
Is It Time to Have an Unschool Adventure?
Have you been on an unschooling adventure recently? Perhaps an adventure arrived unexpectedly? Maybe you dropped everything, climbed into your vehicle with your excited kids, and set off on a spur-of-the-moment adventure? Spur-of-the-Moment Adventures Years ago, we had an unexpected whale adventure. It was so good, we’re still talking about
2024
Helping Kids When Their Interests Are Different to Ours
Occasionally, parents ask me: "How do we help our kids with their interests when we don't share them?" Here are some thoughts and suggestions for both younger and older unschoolers. To read this post, enter the password below. Password: If you’d like to make a small Buy Me a Coffee
2023
The Unschool Challenge: Writing an End-of-the-Year Review
On this sunny second last day of 2023, I’m thinking about the year that’s almost over. I ask myself: “Was it a good year?” and immediately a voice in my head shouts, “No! It was a very difficult year. It’s one I want to forget.” But then a few good
2023
Do You Have an Anti-Library?
There are two untidy, unread book towers balanced on my desk. Every now and then, I add another book to one of the piles. And occasionally, I remove a book, settle somewhere comfortable and read it. Standing in front of the book display in our local department store, Big W,
2023
Santa, Books, and Expectations
Desires and Expectations Are desires good? What about expectations? Are these about control? Can our expectations lead to disappointment and spoil our family celebrations? Should we burden our kids with our expectations? Do our worries and concerns affect our kids’ confidence? Should the only expectation we have is that they’ll
2023
Crime Novels and Priestly Detective Rules
While browsing the books in the library, looking for a new author to read, a man thrust a novel towards me, saying, “You should try Baldacci. I love his books!” A few weeks later, our libraries closed, declared unsafe spaces by those who thought they knew best. We were isolated
2023
Is it Risky to Share Our Book Collections? What Will People Think?
Do our bookshelves reveal things about ourselves? Are there times when we'd rather no one knows what we read to avoid possible criticism? Do we use books to project a particular image? Maybe our book collections sometimes deceive? Are some books better than others? Or can we learn something from
2023
Unschooling: Doing What Is Right
Boy Stories, Parenting, Podcasts, Radical Unschool Love, Radical Unschooling, Unschool Books, Unschooling
Unschooling is the right thing to do. That’s a bold claim that you might challenge if your ideas about what’s right are different from mine. What if my right is your wrong? Is that the end of the conversation? Or could we agree that we must all decide what’s right
2023
Tough or Unconditional Love? Parent or Friend?
Should we be firm with our kids, demanding they obey us, even if this causes conflict and unhappiness? Perhaps it’s our duty to remember who’s the parent and who’s the child and not be tempted to act as friends to our children. Is the tough love parenting method the most
2023
Wanted: Passionate Unschoolers
Wanted: Parents who are passionate about sharing unschooling with the world. Do you like writing and speaking? Are you willing to tell some family stories? Do you enjoy pondering new ideas? Are you continually learning and growing? Is unconditional love important to you? Do you enjoy my blog and podcast?
2023
How Well Do We Love?
Driving home from the hospital, after sharing my dad’s last hours of life, I saw the sun rising over the cow paddocks, where trees stood knee-deep in mist, silhouetted black against the pink and orange sky. And I thought about how there’s immense beauty in the midst of dark grief.
2023
Preventing Childhood Trauma with Unconditional Love
Childhood trauma can follow us into adulthood, affecting what we do, how we feel about ourselves and how we relate to others. We can trace many of our adult problems back to something that happened as we were growing up. If we understand this, we’ll protect our kids, the
2023
Could Unschooling Be Exactly What Teens Need to Do?
When unschooling children reach the teenage years, is it time for them to stop following their interests and do some serious structured work instead? If they continue to unschool, will they fail to gain enough knowledge to get into university? Do they need to learn how to write essays, complete