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!

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Funny How Things Change

Last Friday, I was ready to swing into a new season of our unschooling year. “No more record keeping for this term,” I announced to my girls. No more looking out for educational experiences to turn into Evernote notes. No more strewing. No more reading aloud. No more… “Would you like to…?” “Shall we…?” “This looks interesting…” “Did you know…?” Time to take a break, relax, spend more time on my own…
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Using Evernote to Record Unschool Maths

Proving a child is learning maths, for homechool registration purposes, could be rather tricky for unschoolers. We don’t have any maths workbooks or exercise books to show an Authorised Person (AP) when she comes to visit us. We don’t have any printouts or achievement certificates or other records from online maths courses either. Actually we don’t have any paperwork at all. So what did I present to our AP at…
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Registering as Homeschoolers Using Evernote Unschool Records

The other day I promised to tell you more about our recent homeschool registration visit. An Authorised Person (AP), from the education department (NSW), came to our home to see our children, and look at our records and education plans for the future. And we were hoping everything would be in order and she’d grant us another two years of registration. We’ve had many homeschool registration visits over the years,…
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A Successful Evernote Homeschool Registration Visit

 If you listened to last week’s podcast you’ll know I recently had to apply for another period of homeschool registration for my girls. You’ll also know I promised to report back when the visit was over.  Yesterday Sophie asked, “What if we fail our homeschool visit? What if the AP (Authorised Person) doesn’t like your Evernote records? What will you tell everyone?”  “I suppose it could be embarrassing if we…
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Forcing Kids to Learn and to Eat, and Should We Test Them?

“What shall I speak about in this week’s podcast?” I ask my daughters. “What are you thinking about at the moment?” asks Imogen. “Next week’s homeschool registration visit. Perhaps I’ll start with that and see where it leads.” And this is where it led… What kind of records will I be presenting for next week’s homeschool registration visit? I have to make a plan for the next period of registration.…
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The Inflated Can of Baked Beans

“Do you know what inflation is?” I ask. My youngest daughters Sophie and Gemma-Rose look at me with blank faces. “I could tell you a story about inflation. Do you want to hear it?” The girls aren’t sure but I begin the story anyway. “Once upon a time there was a ten year old girl,” I say. “She was me. I was that girl.” Ah! This is a story of…
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Our Reluctance to Trust and Other Croaky Thoughts

A week or so ago, three boxes arrived on our doorstep. Imogen cheered and jumped up and down, and said, “Wow! Our new home audio recording studio!” Yes, we now have some new sophisticated equipment which should make our audio recordings sound more professional. “You should make a podcast, Mum,” urged my daughter. “Try the new mic out.” “You’ll have to help me work out how to use everything,” I…
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Why I Like Empty Weeks & Other Busy Week Stories

Last week started off gently, and then life moved into top gear, and we found ourselves hurtling along at a fast pace. But today, I’ve stopped moving. Yes, I am sitting still, enjoying some quiet Saturday time, after a too busy week. There is nothing I enjoy more than an empty calendar: lots of free days stretching ahead, waiting for us to fill as we like. Plenty of time to…
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Boy Stories

Usually I speak and write about my four youngest daughters. But not today.  For this week’s podcast, I share some boy stories. I received a comment saying: “I want to hear about when your boys were younger.” So that’s what I’m talking about. I relate some of the interesting moments I’ve experienced with my sons Duncan and Callum over the years. These are a few of the questions I explore……
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Can Unschooling Be a Christian Thing to Do?

When a child has been controlled all her life, she just might grow into the kind of adult who says, “Nobody is ever going to make me do what they want ever again. From now on I’m going to do what I want.” She might close herself off, stand well back, not let anyone get too close. Because you never know what other people might want her to do. Even…
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Unschool Maths: Why and How

A few years ago, we used to unschool everything except for maths. I guess some people would say that’s not really unschooling, but that never worried me. I’ve learnt to ignore other people’s opinions and do what I feel is right for us. We did eventually decide to unschool maths, but we did it for a much better reason than only to avoid criticism and be accepted. In this week’s…
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Questioning Our Decision to Unschool

Sometimes events in our lives make us stop and reassess what we’re doing. I’ve been doing a bit of this kind of reassessment about unschooling. I’ve been thinking… Is there a better way of bringing up children? Can we trust too much? Is there such a thing as loving too much? Am I ready to jump off the unschooling ship? I share my thoughts in this week’s podcast. This post…
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