12/7/25 12/7/25

The Saturday Unschool Examen

26/3/25 26/3/25

An Unschool Challenge: Name Conversations

12/9/24 12/9/24

Encouraging Kids to Say Thank You

How do we encourage our younger children to say thank you? Do they need only our good example to copy? Is learning good manners enough? Our kids could just repeat the polite words. But is it better if their response comes from their hearts? Do our kids need to be the receivers of thanks to understand how to thank others?

19/8/24 19/8/24

How to Parent So We’ll Have No Regrets

When I look at family photos from a few years ago, I remember those chaotic and messy days when I was at the centre of my children’s lives. I felt like those days would last forever.Sometimes, that was good: I wanted to stay firmly in the love-filled middle of my delightful mothering life. But there were also days when I was overwhelmed and tired and felt like I was failing. How would my children survive my parenting? I occasionally wanted to run away from the responsibility of raising kids, but I couldn’t see any way out. I felt sure I would be seeing to the multiple needs of my children forever.

20/6/24 20/6/24

Stories of Awful Hair Styles and Inspector Morse

16/4/24 16/4/24

Taking Risks, Looking Strange

… And we shouldn’t be afraid of taking risks: doing something different and trying new things. People might look at us strangely, but then again, they might not. They might think what we’re doing is great.It’s strange how many of us tend to stick to the same way of doing things, isn’t it? We want to blend in, stay under the radar and not stick out. Unschooling can be a bit that way. When my kids were growing up, we didn’t know any other unschoolers, so we tried to blend in with everyone else so we felt accepted. And we did okay until people engaged us in conversation. Then, our differences appeared. It became apparent we weren’t like everyone else. We were strange!

13/2/24 13/2/24

Do You Need a Happy List?

30/12/23 30/12/23

The Unschool Challenge: Writing an End-of-the-Year Review

The changeover of the years is an excellent time to examine our lives, isn't it? As Socrates said, An unexamined life is not worth living. Yes, we should think about the year that's just ended. What did we learn? How did we grow? Is our family going in the right direction? Do we need to make some changes? And what will we take forward with us into the year that's about to begin? What are our hopes?

27/6/23 27/6/23

Unschooling Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason often entices families away from unschooling. Maybe that’s because of three words often associated with this method of homeschooling: beauty, truth and goodness. Aren’t these what our souls yearn for? Aren’t they what we need? Could Charlotte Mason be the right way to live?Or can we find everything our souls crave in the real world of unschooling?

10/4/23 10/4/23

Unschool: Disco Boots and Old Stories

Family stories bind us together. They tell us who we are. We have a shared history and belong together. Our stories also teach us a lot about such things as history, geography, science, and how the world changes quickly. We learn about our faith and relationships and how we’re not alone when we struggle, grieve, get upset or feel pain.There’s a wealth of learning experiences wrapped up in our family stories.