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Maybe We Should Have Listened to the Critics
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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Funny How Things Change
Last Friday, I was ready to swing into a new season of our unschooling year. “No more record keeping for this term,” I announced to my girls. No more looking out for educational experiences to turn into Evernote notes. No more strewing. No more reading aloud. No more… “Would you like to…?” “Shall we…?” “This looks interesting…” “Did you know…?” Time to take a break, relax, spend more time on my own…
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Using Evernote to Record Unschool Maths
Proving a child is learning maths, for homechool registration purposes, could be rather tricky for unschoolers. We don’t have any maths workbooks or exercise books to show an Authorised Person (AP) when she comes to visit us. We don’t have any printouts or achievement certificates or other records from online maths courses either. Actually we don’t have any paperwork at all. So what did I present to our AP at…
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Forcing Kids to Learn and to Eat, and Should We Test Them?
“What shall I speak about in this week’s podcast?” I ask my daughters. “What are you thinking about at the moment?” asks Imogen. “Next week’s homeschool registration visit. Perhaps I’ll start with that and see where it leads.” And this is where it led… What kind of records will I be presenting for next week’s homeschool registration visit? I have to make a plan for the next period of registration.…
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The Inflated Can of Baked Beans
“Do you know what inflation is?” I ask. My youngest daughters Sophie and Gemma-Rose look at me with blank faces. “I could tell you a story about inflation. Do you want to hear it?” The girls aren’t sure but I begin the story anyway. “Once upon a time there was a ten year old girl,” I say. “She was me. I was that girl.” Ah! This is a story of…
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Our Reluctance to Trust and Other Croaky Thoughts
A week or so ago, three boxes arrived on our doorstep. Imogen cheered and jumped up and down, and said, “Wow! Our new home audio recording studio!” Yes, we now have some new sophisticated equipment which should make our audio recordings sound more professional. “You should make a podcast, Mum,” urged my daughter. “Try the new mic out.” “You’ll have to help me work out how to use everything,” I…
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Why I Like Empty Weeks & Other Busy Week Stories
Last week started off gently, and then life moved into top gear, and we found ourselves hurtling along at a fast pace. But today, I’ve stopped moving. Yes, I am sitting still, enjoying some quiet Saturday time, after a too busy week. There is nothing I enjoy more than an empty calendar: lots of free days stretching ahead, waiting for us to fill as we like. Plenty of time to…
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Can Unschooling Be a Christian Thing to Do?
When a child has been controlled all her life, she just might grow into the kind of adult who says, “Nobody is ever going to make me do what they want ever again. From now on I’m going to do what I want.” She might close herself off, stand well back, not let anyone get too close. Because you never know what other people might want her to do. Even…
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Unschool Maths: Why and How
A few years ago, we used to unschool everything except for maths. I guess some people would say that’s not really unschooling, but that never worried me. I’ve learnt to ignore other people’s opinions and do what I feel is right for us. We did eventually decide to unschool maths, but we did it for a much better reason than only to avoid criticism and be accepted. In this week’s…
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Questioning Our Decision to Unschool
Sometimes events in our lives make us stop and reassess what we’re doing. I’ve been doing a bit of this kind of reassessment about unschooling. I’ve been thinking… Is there a better way of bringing up children? Can we trust too much? Is there such a thing as loving too much? Am I ready to jump off the unschooling ship? I share my thoughts in this week’s podcast. This post…
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Being Honest: Talking about Mistakes and Perfection
Some things are absolutely perfect, like our recent holiday to Jenolan Caves. As I look at the photos, I smile. I know I’ll enjoy the memories of that wonderful time again and again. But some things are far from perfect. Some memories make me wince. I’d rather not think about certain times in the past. I don’t want to remember I was once called the Dragon Mother. Oh yes, once…
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(More) Apologies
I once wrote a blog post called Apologies. Loads of people stopped by to read it. Perhaps they wondered, “What did Sue do? Did she make a huge mistake? What is she apologising for?” Actually, that post didn’t deserve all the attention it received. The only mistake I’d made was to publish the wrong post on the wrong day, during the annual A – Z blogging challenge. I got into…