Unschooling Jane Austen
Every time we walk past the cinema, on our way to our favourite cafe, we glance at the posters advertising the movies that are currently screening. And I always say, “We haven’t been to the cinema for a long time.…
When Amazing Things Aren’t Happening
I haven’t felt my usual self this week. Perhaps it’s got something to do with my son Thomas’ recent birthday and death-day. These days consume a lot of energy. There isn’t much left over for other things. So for the…
Mother on Duty
At 10:15 am, my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose appears in the living room where I’m keeping track of the bushfire activity near us. (Through the window, I can see the fire trucks and other vehicles arriving and leaving our road.) ”You…
Reflecting Badly On Our Family
Andy and I take Nora and Quinn to the vet for their annual checkups. We wonder if our dogs are the correct weight for their size. Are their coats clean and shiny? Do they look happy and well cared for?…
My Maths-Magician Helps Out
We are going on holiday, our first holiday in years and the girls are very excited. I am very excited too! We have a cottage booked opposite the lake, not far from the beach. A couple of weeks ago we…
Doodling
My girls love to doodle. I do too! I used to think doodles were those scribbles people draw while they are talking on the phone. They are, but they’re also a whole lot more. Doodles are easy to draw, require little artistic skill but are so satisfying to work on. Anyone can doodle. Anyone can produce drawings that satisfy. I also like how they encourage creativity. Doodling is a bit like writing. You set off not knowing where you will…
An Absolutely Wonderful Book on the Apostles’ Creed for Children
The Creed in Slow Motion was written by Monseigneur Ronald Arbuthnott Knox. Arbuthnott Knox? Don’t you just love that name! It immediately captured my girls’ imaginations, even before they started listening to his book. I first came across The Creed in Slow Motion in Suzie Andres’ book Homeschooling with Gentleness. Suzie and her son were reading it together, and they were both thoroughly enjoying it. I rushed off to the Kindle store to see if I could also find a copy.…
Great Australian Historical Fiction
There was great excitement yesterday when the postman arrived with a book shaped parcel. Inside was a second-hand copy of Jamberoo Road by Eleanor Spence. It is the sequel to The Switherby Pilgrims which we read last year. Both books are published by Bethlehem Books and both books are historical fiction set mainly in Australia. The Switherby Pilgrims Miss Arabella Braithewaite of Switherby knows there is no future for the ten orphans—a remarkable mix of genteel and working class children—she…
A Homeschooler’s Thoughts on Her First University Exam
Yesterday, I spent over two hours sitting in the car outside the Flight Centre at Goulburn Airport. Inside this building, Imogen was doing her very first university exam. She has spent the last semester studying the unit Introduction to University Learning through an online course provided by the Open Universities. During the long drive to Goulburn, Imogen and I had a chance to talk: Imogen: I’m really enjoying university work. It’s good to make friends (online) and discuss the subject.…
The Rose Round – children’s fiction
I have just finished reading Meriol Trevor’s book The Rose Round to Sophie and Gemma-Rose. They were enthralled with the story from the very first page. So was I! The book description on Amazon doesn’t say much at all: Young Matt Rendal’s first experience with the extraordinary inhabitants of the great crumbling house called Woodhall was terrible. What had he done to deserve being sent here? I don’t know if I would have been enticed to buy the book from those…
Charlotte the Unschooling Chemist
Charlotte comes into my room to say goodnight and have an end-of-the-day chat. “Mum, can I tell you about the chemistry video I was watching today?” Her eyes light up as a flood of interesting facts come spilling out of her. I feel excited at Charlotte’s obvious delight in chemistry. She has a passion for the subject. The girls have started calling her The Nutty Professor. I call her Charlotte the Chemist. I tried to teach my older children chemistry…
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 approach and let Sophie learn maths in her own time in her own way, encouraging her along with some clever strewing of interesting maths experiences. And it was going OK until the other day… Gemma-Rose wanted to know how to…
Wanting to Learn How to Spell
Gemma-Rose isn’t a defiant child so when she said to me, “You can’t make me learn anything I don’t want to learn,” I stopped and listened. We were talking about spelling. Did Gemma-Rose want me to enrol her in an online spelling program? “No thank you, Mum.” “Well, how will you learn how to spell?” “I’ll pick it up as I go along,” she answered confidently. “But wouldn’t it be easier to do a proper program. Don’t you think it’s…
Teenagers, Friends, School and Unschooling: An Interview
A couple of years ago, I interviewed my daughter Sophie. In the video, Self-Directed Learning: An Unschooling Interview, we talked about teenagers, friends, school…
Helping a Child Discover Her Talents
If a child has a talent won’t it just appear without any encouragement? If you’re meant to be an artist, it will be very…
Forcing a Child to Do What He is Afraid to Do
My husband Andy has taken Charlotte and Gemma-Rose to the swimming pool, and I’m sitting here bleary-eyed after a late night. Yesterday evening, we…
Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?
There are loads of unschooling questions we could ask about learning: How do we know unschooling kids are learning? Should they be learning particular things? Is there knowledge that all kids need? Are our unschooled kids learning enough? Can they get behind? Should we just trust our kids are learning? But what if we have doubts? Or what if we…
Unschooling: Trust, Autonomy, and The Realities of Learning
The Ladies are Fixing the World again! Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing the words ‘self-regulation’ and ‘limits’. When we say, “I’ve let go of control, and now I’m waiting for my child to learn how to regulate his time playing video games (for example),” do we have expectations about what that regulation should look like? Do we want…
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…
How Unschooling Saved the Dragon Mother
Austin Kleon wrote in his book, Show Your Work, that if we want to share our work with the world, we need to tell great stories. He mentioned the Pixar Story Structure: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. I thought I’d use…
Christian Unschooling: Disciplining With Unconditional Love
If our children misbehave, what do we do? Make them sit on the time-out chair? Punish them? Perhaps we should withdraw our love. Be cold and distant. Make things unpleasant for our kids because they need to know how upset we are, don’t they? We want them to feel bad because then, maybe, they’ll remember to act in the right…