1 April 2015

Maybe We Should Have Listened to the Critics

Two girls: Imogen and Charlotte. One car: their passport to freedom. Where shall the girls go? What will they do? The possibilities are endless. My daughters grin as they set off on a wild adventure.


Hours pass.

“I wonder what happened to the girls,” I say.

And then I hear the sound of a car pulling up onto the driveway. A moment later, two girls, weighed down with big bags, appear through the doorway. They still have grins on their faces.

“Had a good time?” I ask.

“Fantastic!” they say.

“Where did you go? What did you do?”

“We went to our singing lessons…” begins Charlotte.

“… and then on the way home we stopped off at the library,” finishes Imogen.

Charlotte’s eyes are sparkling. “We borrowed heaps of books!”

“They’ll keep us busy for a week or so,” says Imogen, as she empties the big book bags onto the floor.

“Did you go anywhere else?” I ask.

“We went to the mall and bought coffee…”

“… and iced finger buns. They were dripping with sprinkles.”

Both girls lick their lips.

“Did you walk around the shops? Did you buy anything?”

“We only went to Lincraft…” begins Charlotte.

“… so I could buy some wool to finish knitting my blanket,” finishes Imogen.

Singing, library, coffee, iced finger buns dripping with sprinkles, and multiple balls of wool?

I wonder if we should have listened to the critics. Maybe they’re right. You never know what wild things our unschooling children might get up to when we’re not around.

“It sounds like you had a wild time,” I say to my girls.

“Oh yes!”

“We sure did!”

Sometimes I wonder how I cope with this wild unschooling life.


Photos: some wild balls of wool!

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Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

12 Comments

  1. Oh my heavens! They DIDN'T!!!! However DO you cope? 😉

    Their escapade makes me remember a few wild, youthful days of my own, when a friend and I would walk after school to the library. Toting along huge shopping bags, we'd fill them with as many books as we could carry. Then in nice weather we'd sit on park benches outside and talk about our finds. Sometimes we would go to a five and dime store for cherry cokes before catching our respective buses for home.

    Oh, the craziness of youth…… 🙂

    • Nancy,

      I never would have guessed you also had a crazy wild childhood! I think books are well worth going wild over. Sitting on park benches, discussing your finds… I can't think of a nicer way to spend time!

  2. This made me laugh so much. We did not go by car, we went by bike, but our wild things were almost the same. A trip to the local swimming pool, gingrebread cakes (first thing after swimming, we were hungry), a zillion library books, and … yes, yarn here too. And now my children are "late for the bus", but in reality shopping gifts for Easter 😉 Those wild young things 😉

    • Uglemor,

      I'm so glad your laughed. There's a problem with tongue-in-cheek humour. Not everyone understands! Oooh! Gingerbread cakes! They're even more delicious than iced finger buns, dripping with sprinkles. I wonder if they were homemade. (I bet they were!)

    • Susie,

      I hope you enjoyed your wild time at the library. Did you come home with your eyes sparkling, after finding something you especially want to read? Sending hugs back your way!

    • Lucinda,

      I'm glad you smiled at the posts. I really enjoyed writing them. I've done a lot of serious unschooling housework type posts recently. It was good to go wild and write about something else! I hope you have a wonderful Easter too. Enjoy!

    • Lisa,

      Thank you so much for stopping by on Easter Sunday. I hope you've had a wild and joyful day. We have! Happy Easter to you and your family! xx

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