Would You Like the Key to the Secret Unschooling Garden?

The other day, I stumbled across a ‘hilarious’ radical unschooling collection on someone’s blog, and there was the graphic for my post When Rules for Teenagers Aren’t Necessary. People online were laughing at me.

Now, I’m not surprised when others think my ideas and opinions are ridiculous. In a way, I understand. Radical unschooling does look stupid from the outside. But from the inside? It makes sense. Radical unschooling isn’t about letting kids do whatever they like without any input from parents. There’s much more to it than that. Unfortunately, no one who sees the graphic of my post in the ‘hilarious’ list will ever know that. The image wasn’t linked to my blog.

I felt a bit unsettled after discovering my blog graphic on someone else’s blog, but I didn’t want to run away from the Internet. I’m tough enough to put up with any negative comments that come my way.

But still, something bothered me: it might be okay for others to ridicule me, but not my kids.

My children don’t deserve to be laughed at. They’ve been very generous in sharing their lives with the world. They’ve let me post photos and stories so I can help others. Without my kids, my blog wouldn’t be the same.

Not so long ago, I pondered kids and privacy. In my post, The Unanticipated Problem with Sharing My Kids’ Lives Publicly, I wrote:

We can’t use children for our purposes, however good we think our intentions are. I’ve always believed this, frowning upon YouTubers who make big money coaxing their extra-adorable young kids to say extra-cute things. I’ve said, “My blog is different. I have permission to tell my kids’ stories.” I’ve felt superior. But the thing is, does having permission excuse us from the responsibility of doing what’s best for our kids? Do our children, who live in the present, really understand what might happen when they’re older? One day, could they wish they weren’t all over the Internet, visible to people they don’t want to share their stories with?

After writing that post, I didn’t know what to do. Should I leave all my kids’ stories on my blog and carry on as usual? Or should I remove them? Perhaps it was time to delete my blog. I didn’t come to a decision and ended up putting the problem to the back of my mind. Until the other day.

Now, I’m ready to make some changes.

If you’ve scrolled through my blog over the last day or two, you might have noticed that some of my blog posts are now private. I’ve put them behind a locked door; they’re only available to read if you know the password. Some of these posts are personal stories about my kids. Some are in my books. And I’ve chosen a few others to password-protect as well.

Applying a password to some of my content fixes a problem: I can keep some stories private. But it creates another problem: how do readers get a password? I can’t just leave it in view somewhere on my blog. That would take away the privacy I’m trying to create.

After some thought, I decided to link the password with Buy Me a Coffee. I’ll send the password to anyone who wants to support me with a coffee or two.

Will this work? Will readers want to buy coffee to read all my posts? Perhaps many people will just skip over the private posts, satisfied with the others freely available. Or maybe they’ll get frustrated whenever they come to the words, To read this post, enter the password below. They could give up. Go somewhere else that’s open and free. My posts might not be worth a coffee or two. I could end up writing posts no one reads. My privacy idea could be the death of my blog.

You know what? If I discover that readers stop coming to my blog, that’s okay. I’m putting myself and my kids first. That’s the right thing to do.

As I was choosing posts to password-protect, I had another thought: having a private place to share more personal stories could be good. I could write about things I don’t want the whole world to know.

There’s another upside to passwords. If they’re linked to Buy Me a Coffee, and readers want to help me, I’ll receive some income to spend on blog and podcast hosting. My blog might be online a little longer.

A Big Thank You

Thank you to all the wonderful people who’ve already supported me through Buy Me a Coffee. If you’d like a password, please let me know!

Some Private Posts You Might Like

Here are a few blog posts that require a password. If you have one, I hope you enjoy them!

Unschooling: Impressing Other People

Years ago, we lived in a house with a white kitchen floor, a sea of shiny tiles that reflected the light. When I first saw that floor, I exclaimed with delight. It was beautiful. Every day, I mopped my kitchen floor with care. Sometimes I mopped it more than once. I guarded it from dirt and spills, which wasn’t always easy because I had young children who were inclined to drop food crumbs and slosh milk. Whenever I found a little-person-trail upon my tiles, I’d frown and say,  “How did that happen? You’ll have to learn to be more careful!”

Unschooling: Learning the Important Things Before Time Runs Out

How did my teenage daughter spend her time, and what did she learn when she was a registered homeschooling unschooler? Recently, I had a fabulous afternoon with my teenage daughter Gemma-Rose. We painted our nails while watching a musical stage version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. While we watched David Hasselhoff turn from Jekyll into Hyde and back again, we exchanged opinions about the singers, the sets and the costumes and whether this adaptation of the novel was successful or not. It was like going back in time to Gemma-Rose’s registered homeschooling days. Time with our kids eventually runs

Unschool: Babies and Perfect Love

Perfect Love and Gratitude I tell my daughter about the night she was born. I say, “It was love at first sight. I thought you were absolutely perfect.” On my youngest daughter’s birthday, I tell her the story of the night she was born, as I do every year. “It was a warm summer’s evening, and I was relaxing on the sofa, watching a TV program about archaeology – it wasn’t particularly interesting – when everything began,” I say. “I continued watching for a while before saying to Dad, ‘I think it’s time to go to the hospital.’” I smile

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.

So, what do you think?

• Does sharing your kids’ lives online concern you? Have you used a password to protect your blog posts?

• Will you still read my blog now I’ve hidden some of my posts away from public view?

• Is a password worth a coffee or two?

• Will you support me and my blog?