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Goodbye, Stories of an Unschooling Family

TThe 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…
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The Dangers of Distraction

We often let ourselves be distracted, don’t we? But while we’re enjoying the excitement of pursuing something new and sparkly, there’s a danger we’ll lose the important things we already have. I dart from one project to another as they catch my attention. And then I have a brand new idea and get extra excited. This is it! I drop everything to explore this fabulously delicious fresh idea. I work…
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My New Book!

Quinn barks loudly at a man in a mask who’s walking up our driveway. I open the front door, holding back the dog, and the man thrusts a box at me. No need to sign for it.  No one does that anymore. The box is from Amazon, and when I open it, I see six copies of my latest children’s novel, The Angels of Wallaby Way. Yes, I’ve published a new…
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It’s Not for Me

What if we share our work with the world and then someone comes along and criticises it? Some people might write bad reviews that make our hearts sink. We could wonder what we’ve done wrong. Why doesn’t everyone like what we’ve created? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone loved our work? What if we received only 5-star reviews and lots of praise? No negative words at all. Or maybe this…
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The Problem with High Expectations and Control

Expecting a lot of our kids sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? If we have high expectations, perhaps our children will strive to achieve more. And if we keep raising the goal posts, won’t they end up doing amazing things? They could have fabulous secure futures that include high paying jobs. If we push our kids, they might become doctors or lawyers or enter another high-status profession. Or will our ideas and…
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Criticism, Reviews, and Paying It Forward

  Sometimes I’m not very sensible: I try to do too much. I want to blog and vlog and podcast and write books and host a community and occasionally sign in to Instagram. But I really don’t have time to do all that. So I wonder what I should give up. Before I can make up my mind, I fall in a heap, feeling overwhelmed. And I resolve to give…
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Big Ideas and Big Passions

I say to my daughter Imogen, “I’d better post the details of our last podcast on my blog.” And she replies, “You haven’t done that yet? How will we become podcasting stars if you don’t let anyone know we’ve published a new episode?” Podcasting stars? That sounds so unlike us. We grin! I love chatting to Imogen while we’re making podcasts together. We hope you enjoy listening! In episode 183…
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Writing, Explosions, and Unsuitable Horror Stories

After a 4-month break, my daughter Imogen and I are back. We made a new podcast episode! This week, we’re chatting about: Finishing novels and beta reading My 19-year-old daughter Sophie and ‘graduate’ unschoolers Bushfires and exploding trees How our generous members saved our unschooling community Vlogging The TV shows we’ve been watching The Masterclass classes we’ve been enjoying We’re also discussing the question: is it okay to expose our…
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Home Almost Alone and Pondering What to Do

Here in Australia, the new school year has just begun, and for the first time in nearly 30 years, our family doesn’t have any registered homeschoolers. I don’t need to create a new homeschool records notebook labelled 2021, Term 1. This year, I won’t have to gather lots of notes of all the fabulous learning that my kids are experiencing because we no longer have any school-aged children. One person…
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Is it Okay to Share Our Kids’ Photos and Stories Online?

The other day, I asked my kids, “Would you like me to delete my blog?” ”Why would we want you to do that?” “Well, you might not like your photos and stories all over the Internet.” ”But you’ve been posting them for years.” ”I know, but you might have changed your mind about wanting to share them. Perhaps you’re no longer happy to have your photos online.” “I don’t mind…
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Discussing Books and Writing Stories

Not so long ago, I posted the following words, about the current pandemic and control, in the Stories of an Unschooling Family community: One of the things that I’m finding hard to deal with at the moment is the lack of control I have over my life. Someone else is making decisions that affect me. I can’t do anything about that. I know that these are extraordinary times. Decisions are…
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The Problem With Being Too Nice

Are you too nice? I am. I want to help everyone. Support and encouragement are my middle names. Send me an email and I’ll spend hours answering it. Write me a comment and I’ll always reply. Ask for some mentoring and I’ll do my best even though you tell me you can’t pay. I write a book. And another. Then I decide I need to offer something extra. How about…
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