Sharing Some Thoughts on Children and Writing

Will my child write? This seems to be a fairly common worry for parents. Some children want to write and some are more reluctant.  All my children are writers and always have been. Is this because I am a writer…

Smiling Over Unschoolers and Maths Text Books

 Last year, Sophie declared she hated maths. She would sigh deeply every time I logged her into her online maths course. I decided there had to be a better way to learn this subject. I decided to take the unschooling…

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…

Unschooling: Judging One Another

Unschoolers are often judged. We’re irresponsible and lazy. Sometimes, we judge too. Why doesn’t everyone unschool when it’s the right thing to do? How can we share and encourage and learn from each other when we aren’t willing to look…

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…

Latest

Choosing an Exceptional Unschool Life and Other Things

Do we sometimes want to use someone else’s plan for our lives? Or are we willing to embrace adventure? Do you journal? Analogue or digital? How do we achieve our goals? I’m sharing podcasts, books, videos and thoughts that I’ve been pondering this week.…

Is It Wrong to Love Without Limits?

We’re often told that kids won’t learn right from wrong if we love them without limit. But what if the world has things back to front? What if it’s unconditional love that bathes us in the gentle light of self-awareness and spurs us to become the people we were created to be?…

How to Parent So We’ll Have No Regrets

When I look at family photos from a few years ago, I remember those chaotic and messy days when I was at the centre of my children’s lives. I felt like those days would last forever. Sometimes, that was good: I wanted to stay firmly in the love-filled middle of my delightful mothering life. But there were also days when I was overwhelmed and tired and felt like I was failing. How would my children survive my parenting? I occasionally…

The Problem of Introverted Kids and Blogging Mothers

Is introversion a problem? What if our kids are introverted? Should we push them to be more outgoing? I’m sharing some thoughts, experiences and stories about our introverted family and the situations we’ve faced.…

Would You Like the Key to the Secret Unschooling Garden?

The other day, I stumbled across a ‘hilarious’ radical unschooling collection on someone’s blog, and there was the graphic for my post When Rules for Teenagers Aren’t Necessary. People online were laughing at me. Now, I’m not surprised when others think my ideas and opinions are ridiculous. In a way, I understand. Radical unschooling does look stupid from the outside. But from the inside? It makes sense. Radical unschooling isn’t about letting kids do whatever they like without any input…

What if Adding Joy to Your Days Was Simple and Inexpensive?

When I ask my husband, Andy, what he wants to do to celebrate his birthday, he replies, "Let's go on a picnic." It's winter. An icy wind has been blowing for days. It's not ideal picnic weather, but does that matter? No. We'll be brave and gritty. We'll face the adverse weather together. We'll be adventurous. "What picnic food would you like to eat?" I ask. “Let's fill a thermos flask with tomato soup and have rolls with cheese."…

The Art of Conversation and Lifelong Learning

Everyone has a story to share. Everyone is interesting. Unschoolers and hosts of the Self Directed podcast, Jesper and Cecilie Conrad, roam the world seeing spectacular sights, but the real heart of their travels is the people they meet. As Cecilie says, "People are the adventure." I once read that to be interesting, we need to be interested in others. And that's what makes the Conrads' podcast so good. Jesper and Cecilie are interested hosts who want to know more…

Is Trying to Impress Others a Waste of Time?

Strolling between the gum trees on a winter’s morning with Nora and Quinn, my fingers painful with the cold, I meet Matilda. I smile and stop. So do my dogs. They thrust their grinning heads into the undergrowth, happy to sniff up all the smells of the bush while I exchange a few words with my next-door neighbour. We talk about the extra-cold weather and how she’s thinking of moving somewhere warmer. But if Matilda goes north, will she miss…
1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 109

My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Curiosity, Flexibility, and Trust

I’m a Lady Fixing the World! Cecilie Conrad kindly invited me to join her and Sandra Dodd for Season 2 of her podcastThe Ladies Fixing the World. We recorded our first unschooling conversation together in November 2024 before life got extra-busy with Christmas, and it has just gone live! The audio version. Here’s the audio version: You can also listen…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: the Foremost Task of a Parent

A few days ago, in my Stories of an Unschooling Family community, I posted these thoughts: A parent does her best to give her child a good education but should concentrating on academic success be her main focus? Perhaps a parent’s most important task is to teach a child about love. Intelligence and academic achievements are highly regarded by the…

Can Christians Unschool?

Can Christians unschool? We’re Christian unschoolers. Maybe you’re Christian unschoolers too? There are lots of us living this way of life. But are we doing the right thing? Or are we side-stepping our responsibilities when we choose to unschool? Are we choosing the easy, lazy path? I often hear of parents who are struggling with homeschooling. Their kids aren’t doing…
Go toTop