Unschooling- Page 49

E

Encouragement, Example and the Fun of Sharing Passions

 It’s the first of November. Today we’re celebrating All Saints Day. Today we’re also starting our NaNoWriMo novels. There is a sense of anticipation in the air. But before I dive head first into the imaginary world of my novel, I want to write a quick post. I had announced I was going to write a long blog post as my novel.  Of course, it would really have been lots…
S

Sharing a Few Ideas with My Unschooling High Schooler

“How about we have a chat after lunch?” I ask 16 year old Charlotte. “You can tell me what you’ve been doing recently. Maybe I can help with some new resources.”  So after the lunch dishes have been cleared away, we meet in the family room. I have my computer on my lap. Charlotte has her notebook. “How’s maths going?” I begin. Charlotte screws up her nose and sighs. “You…
H

Homeschooling in a Crisis

“So what have we got planned for today, Mum?” Sophie asks me.  “Well, nothing really,” I reply. “We can’t go anywhere because of the bushfire, but I guess I don’t have to keep such a close eye on the fire updates. I could read to you, or we could watch a DVD together.” Sophie smiles. Doing something together? That sounds good.  We’ve been living next to a huge bushfire for…
L

Learning from Life

Today I am tired. I don’t feel like strewing. I don’t feel like discussing or watching or listening. I don’t feel excited or enthusiastic. My children feel the same way. We’ve been living with an out-of-control fire on our door step for the last 5 days, and yes, we are all tired.  Normally, I have loads of learning experiences to record in my dreaded records book at the end of…
I

Imogen Talks about the Role of Parents in Unschooling

Last week I made a video of my 18 year old daughter Imogen talking about unschooling and university. Thank you to everyone who took the time to watch it! Bernice left a question for Imogen in the combox: How did your parents make your unschooling/homeschooling a positive experience? Imogen and I discussed this question together. Then I grabbed the video camera and the tripod, ready to interview my daughter once…
I

Imogen Talks about Unschooling and University

Today I made my first ‘talkie’ video. We’d been discussing ideas for the last couple of weeks, and just needed a free moment to actually start filming. “Why don’t you interview me this afternoon?” suggested my daughter Imogen. “I’ve got some free time.” So I grabbed the video camera and Imogen hunted for the tripod. Unfortunately the tripod didn’t want to be found so I raided the bookshelf for a…
W

Why it’s Not a Good Idea to Read Slowly and Carefully

My girls come home from the library with towering stacks of books. Even as they walk through the front door, they have their noses between the pages of the first book in their piles. A couple of hours later, a sigh of contentment can be heard as a book is closed. “I enjoyed that!” By the end of the week, I hear, “When are we going to the library again,…
B

Bite-Sized Pieces of Unschool Maths

So many people love the idea of unschooling and are even tempted to give it a go, but often there is one huge stumbling block… maths. Very few parents seem to be confident that their children will learn all the maths they need to know, without being prodded along by some kind of intentional instruction. Many homeschoolers who decide to unschool make a compromise. They might say something like, “We…
G

Giving Up My Perfect Start-of-the-Year Plans

On the other side of the world from us, homeschoolers are ‘going back to school’. Catalogues have been browsed, curricula, resources and books have been bought, plans have been drawn up, and hope and excitement are in the air. When I was a fairly new homeschooling mother, I had similar feelings of excitement and anticipation at the start of the new school year. After weeks of preparation, I was ready.…
L

Live Life to the Full, Have No Regrets

Today we are going on an adventure.  The girls giggle. “We’re going on a ‘school excursion’!” they say. We imagine a long straggly crocodile of paired off and name-tagged children, walking hand-in-hand. Where are they off to? The museum? The zoo? The fire station?  No crocodiles for us. No museum or fire station. We pack a picnic, pull on our track pants and running shoes, and grab our cameras. We…
H

How the Girls and I Take a Weekly Trip Overseas

Every week the girls and I take an overseas trip. The week before last we went to Vietnam. We flew into Hanoi, the city of rickshaws and mopeds and many people. We stood, rather bewildered, as streams of two-wheeled vehicles surged past us. Before long, we’d mounted our own bikes and were puttering out of the busy city headed for the quiet and peace of the delta.  “Rice paddies!” someone…
A

Aiming for Love, Not Perfection

 I had a vision…  By the age of 18 all my children were going to be perfectly brought up and perfectly educated. I wanted them to fly off into the world without a problem. I was going to sit back and sigh with satisfaction and happiness. Pat myself on the back: A job well done.  In order to make my goal come true, I spent a lot of time looking…
1 … 47 48 49 50 51 … 58
Go toTop