Goodbye, Stories of an Unschooling Family

The other day, I found a 5-star review of my book, The Unschool Challenge, on Amazon. It was written by Patrice Fagnant Macarthur from Today’s Catholic Homeschooling website.

In The Unschool Challenge, Elvis provides short essays on various topics related to unschooling and then she provides challenges for readers to do. This is a pick and choose sort of book. You don’t need to read it in order. You can select which topics interest you and learn more about them, pursue some of the challenges, and incorporate what you feel is valuable into your homeschooling life.

In some of the chapters, Elvis does a wonderful job of showing how to make life learning meet academic standards, an important resource for those who live in areas with more strict homeschooling regulations.

The Unschool Challenge may cause you to rethink some of your parenting and homeschooling attitudes. It may encourage you to make some changes in how you approach your own learning and personal development. It may also give you the strength to stand up to naysayers who question your educational choices. Regardless of whether you are thinking of embracing unschooling totally or simply want to broaden your homeschool horizons, I highly recommend this book!

Thank you, Patrice!

This review made me smile. I smiled all day because I was so pleased someone had enjoyed my book and then wanted to help me by writing her thoughts about it in an Amazon review.

The day after receiving this magnificent review, I decided to post it on Instagram, so I headed to Amazon to copy it. But horror of horrors, overnight, someone had visited and left me a 3-star rating for The Unschool Challenge. My perfect overall 5-star rating had disappeared.

I don’t know why my book didn’t meet the expectations of the reader who rated it. They didn’t leave a review explaining their reasons for not giving it more stars. I guess it’s simple: the book wasn’t for them. And that’s okay. No book is going to satisfy everyone, is it? We’re all looking for different things when we buy books. I’ve bought plenty of books that have disappointed me. Although many others enjoyed and rated them highly, each time, I said, “It’s not for me!” So I’m not upset in any way by the low rating. It hasn’t dented my confidence. I’m not hiding under the table, totally crushed and too embarrassed to come out. No, I can shrug my shoulders and move on because I’m not affected personally by the rating. But I am aware that the rating might affect other potential buyers. 4.4 stars, although okay, doesn’t look as good as a perfect 5, does it?

The problem is I have very few reviews, so every review counts. The other day, I thought about this and wondered how I could change that situation. Can I promote my book in a bigger way? Can I ask yet again for more reviews?

While mentally creating more reels, resolving to research ‘how to use IG Stories to promote your book’, and making a list of people I could ask to help me, I suddenly realised something: I don’t want to spend more time persuading people to review my books. 

Also, I don’t want to think up new ways to earn money to pay my blog hosting fees. I’m tired of trying to beat Instagram’s algorithm. I don’t want to keep track of how many followers I have.

And although I still care deeply about unschooling, I no longer want to spend my life trying to convince families to explore this way of life. Maybe I don’t have to. Plenty of younger, more enthusiastic, unschooling parents are doing a fantastic job of spreading the word about unschooling. There’s no need for me to compete with them for attention. 

So, I want to stop writing about unschooling, but that doesn’t mean I will disappear completely, leaving no trace of my thoughts and ideas. This blog is overflowing with stories of my family’s experiences. As well as blogging, I’ve made 191 podcasts, created many videos for my YouTube channel, accepted invitations for video and podcast interviews, shared photos and captions on Instagram and written three unschooling books. (I still hope parents will discover my unschooling trilogy. Even if I don’t promote them, someone may write a review or tell friends about them.) Yes, I’ve done a lot. I don’t think there’s anything else I can offer.

So what’s next? Well, I’m moving to an old blog with a new look and name. It’s called Wholy Souly. This will be my new writing place. I will tell stories about my life rather than my kids’. It’s time to give my children privacy now that they’re all adults. (They’ve been exceedingly generous, allowing me to share their stories and photos for many years, haven’t they?) I want to explore topics associated with womanhood, faith, life, creativity and marriage. I’d like to post photos of the beautiful area where I live and other places I visit. And I’d like to share things I find – videos, podcasts, books, music – that might be useful and enhance our lives.

I’m feeling excited about the future, although I’m also a bit sad as I say goodbye to this blog. Stories of an Unschooling Family has been a big part of my life for many years. I’ve captured loads of family stories and memories here. I’ve learnt a lot while writing my posts, and I’ve met some fabulous people along the way, many of whom have become good friends. Part of me wants to say, “Sue, you could stay. It took you a long time to build up this blog. Don’t throw it all away.” But all stages of our lives have to end, don’t they? And even though it’s hard to let go, we know when it’s the right time to do this. And if we don’t move on, we’ll never discover the delights of the next stage, will we? 

If you’d like to stay connected, please visit me at Wholy Souly. I’m also on Instagram at wholy_souly. Let’s continue chatting. We could remain friends.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me over the years. Thank you for your friendship, encouragement, and help to spread the word about unschooling. I appreciate you sharing my posts and buying my books. And a big thank you to all the fabulous people who have reviewed my three unschooling books. Your words make a difference. They encourage other people to explore unschooling. They change lives.

Before I finish, I’d like to share another review for The Unschool Challenge to thank Gina for writing it.

Highly Recommended

Very original book and wonderful to read just like Sue’s other two unschooling books!

 So I’m waving goodbye to Stories of an Unschooling Family. (I had fun creating you!) I’m now shouting, “Hello, Wholy Souly! “

Photos

 There’s something else that I’ll soon be waving goodbye to: autumn. It’s only two weeks until our Australian winter begins!

Update

Although I’m no longer writing completely new blog posts, I’ve decided to republish some of my old ones, adding a few additional thoughts and an extra resource or two to them. Maybe something worth reading will appear out of my archive, which might be useful if you haven’t already explored the whole of my blog. And if you have read everything I’ve ever written, perhaps you’ll enjoy reacquainting yourself with some old friends presented in new ways.