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How to Live Radically

Radical unschooling children don’t necessarily brush their teeth, or shower and if they want to exist on an exclusive diet of coca cola and donuts, well, that’s up to them. Or so the stories go. And for some people that might not sound a very attractive way of life at all. But what if we forget about teeth and showers and junk food?  Perhaps there’s something far more important at…
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When Our Help and Strewing Are Rejected

My daughter Charlotte used to be openly enthusiastic about everything. Every evening she’d be eager to tell me about all the things she’d discovered that day. She’d listen to my ideas and ask for resources. Then things changed. During the last year or so of Charlotte’s official homeschooling years, she stopped turning to me for suggestions. If we did get together and mull over ideas for learning, she never followed…
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Liking, Tweeting, Pinning, Aching…

Years ago, when I first started blogging, I wanted to be popular. I looked at all the big bloggers with envious eyes, and dreamed of a day when I’d have just as many followers as they did. After a while my dream changed which is just as well because those followers didn’t materalise. Why do we want lots of followers? So we’re popular? Do we all have a need to…
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Time to Unschool (Part 2)

Perhaps you’re thinking about unschooling. You could be wondering: Should we give it a go? Is unschooling right for our family? Yes? No? Maybe something is attracting you to unschooling? Do you imagine children following their own interests, being passionate about what they’re doing, getting a good education? Or is it something else? Could it be love? I hope so. When most people define unschooling, the word love isn’t usually…
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How Registered Homeschoolers Can Unschool

If our children are obliged to learn what’s in the school syllabus in order to have their homeschool registration applications approved, surely they can’t unschool? How can they follow their interests and still fulfil the registration requirements? My children are registered homeschoolers. They are also unschoolers. I manage to keep the education authorities happy (in a state where the regulations are rather strict) without compromising my unschoolers’ way of life.…
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Strengthening Family Bonds

My wonderful super computer won’t boot up. I turned it off the other evening and now it refuses to operate. It’s rather difficult to blog and podcast without a computer. Actually, it’s impossible. That’s why I didn’t have a new podcast episode to post yesterday. But today I found a way around my computer problem and I do have something to publish. This afternoon, I recorded this week’s episode…
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Chores and Our Typical Unschooling Day

The other morning, after we’d done the morning chores and said prayers together, I asked my girls what they wanted to do. “Can we go to the post office?” asked Gemma-Rose. “I want to post my letters.” My eleven-year-old daughter has been writing a lot of letters recently. They’ve all been written in cursive handwriting, Gemma-Rose’s latest interest. There was a time when I doubted she’d ever learn to do…
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Perhaps I Shouldn’t Have Told You about Our Typical Unschooling Day

In my last podcast, I spoke about our typical unschooling day. Every day we get up early, do our chores as a team, and then say prayers together before getting on with the work of the day. We eat regular meals, sitting around the same table at the same time. At the end of the day, none of us is reluctant to slip into bed and go to sleep. Many…
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A Bit of Murder in Our Typical Unschooling Day

“Miss Scarlett did it in the conservatory with the dagger,” Gemma-Rose announces to her older sisters. Miss Scarlett, the conservatory and the dagger: Those words belong to my childhood. Many years ago, I loved playing Cluedo with my own sisters. I hoped I’d be the first person to discover the identity of the murderer. Could I work out how the murder was committed and where? It’s a lot of fun trying…
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How I Made a ‘Huge’ Mistake and Was Forgiven

Some days are difficult. Unexpected things happen, and mistakes are made. Clouds blow in and blot out the usual sunshine of our days, and we feel miserable. We let those mistakes overwhelm us. We get bogged down in woe, unable to move on, not because others fail to forgive us, but because we can’t forgive ourselves. Last week I wrote (in my notebook) a list of my top ten tips…
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