Watching History as it Happened
Where were you the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? I am guessing a lot of people reading this weren’t even born then. But I was. I was a young primary school student at the time. Recently the…
Ideas for Starting Unschooling
A few posts ago, I was talking about collaboration. Would anyone like to work with me as we try to spread the unschooling message? Could we light a gentle unschooling fire together? I was afraid no one would respond to…
Encouraging Unschooling Kids and Mothers
In this week’s podcast, I’m talking about encouragement. I have two encouragement stories to share with you which I’m hoping you haven’t heard before. But if you are familiar with them, will you think, “Sue is getting repetitive”? Will you…
What a Day Without Rules Looks Like
My children said, “Sleep in tomorrow, Mum. You’re overtired. You haven’t had much sleep in the last 48 hours.” So I slept in. When I got up, the kitchen was deserted. Everyone had had breakfast, washed the dishes, cleaned up,…
Do Unschoolers Need Holidays?
It’s the last day of the official school term. Yes, Term 3 for 2018 is just about over. So what are we doing? Are we jumping up and down with excitement, glad the holidays are almost here? Perhaps we’ve already…
Turning Famous Paintings into Jigsaw Puzzles
My girls love putting together jigsaw puzzles. We often look out for cast-off puzzles at markets and garage sales. We come home clutching piles of old boxes, hoping all the pieces are inside. The girls like to work on huge puzzles that take days to put together. And though I can see putting together puzzles is satisfying work for them, it can be a bit frustrating for me: “When are you girls going to finish that puzzle? I’d like to…
Wednesday Adventures
One evening last week we were all sitting together in the lounge of our holiday cottage. The older girls were drawing, the younger ones were reading, and I was fiddling about with my camera. Although I’ve had the camera for a few months now I haven’t yet read the manual properly. I keep dipping into it and trying things out. I should have read the instruction booklet carefully from start to finish before actually using the camera, but somehow I…
An Unschooling Holiday
This morning, I crept out of bed just before 7 o’clock and met my kindred spirit, Charlotte in the kitchen. Neither of us likes lying in bed late. But everyone else… they were all still snuggled up under their quilts, enjoying a relaxing start to the day. No need to hurry. We are on holiday. Yes, our third term of the school year has just ended and holiday atmosphere prevails in our home. I wonder why holidays mean so much…
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 received all the details about costs. There is a basic cost for 7 nights’ accommodation for 6 people (the boys are staying home- they’ll be working and cat sitting), plus an optional end-of-holiday-cleaning cost and a linen cost. I mulled…
A Mother’s Basket
It hasn’t been long since the last homeschooling meme. But if you are a book loving mother and would like to join in with another… Read on… Imogen and Charlotte decided to fill the gaps in Sophie’s education by filling a basket for her, with books they consider essential reading for a ten year old girl. They also put together a basket of books for Gemma-Rose. Then Imogen thought she’d hunt out all her favourite books for Charlotte to share. And…
Sophie’s Basket
Or Imogen and Charlotte’s book recommendations for their younger sisters We are sitting around the table munching our lunch and chatting. Sophie tells us she wants to learn more about horses and Charlotte mentions brumbies. “Brumbies?” “The wild horses of Australia… You remember the horses in that poem, The Man from Snowy River? “You have to read The Brumby books,” someone insists. Charlotte’s eyes light up. “Yes! They were good.” She thinks for a minute. “There’s lots of good…
Sew Easy
When I’m not writing, I love to sew clothes for my girls. And when I’m not sewing pretty skirts, I like to sew pictures. And the pictures I like to sew are red work embroideries. A few years ago, I discovered a couple of embroidery books by Wendy Brigg: Sew Red and Simply Red. All the patterns use very simple stitches and have been embroidered using red thread. As soon as I saw the books I had to buy…
Did I Doubt? I’m Not Telling!
A few weeks ago, I had a photography adventure in the bush with my girls. We had a wonderful afternoon strolling along the bush track with our cameras, and when we returned, I pondered: Should I plan a special lesson about how cameras work, or how the eye works, or the history of cameras or how light works or…? No! That would kill the girls’ interest in photography dead. I am sure the girls will ask questions or look things up for…
What if Our Unschooled Kids Complain or Reject Everything We Hold Dear?
I took my blog offline to fix a few technical problems, but at the back of my mind was a question: Have I had…
How Do Kids Learn to Be Generous?
On Monday, my daughter Imogen and I were the filling in a truck sandwich as we drove from our quiet village, along the busy…
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…
Unschooling Isn’t Freedom Gone Wild: Why Choices Matter More Than Ideals
My husband Andy returned to work today after two weeks at home. Holiday time is over. We’ve now moved into term time. A whole term of possibility days stretches before me. I’m free to do whatever I like with my time while Andy is at school. My eyes light up with delight. But then I remember there are many…
Learning to Read and Trusting Unschooling
It is absolutely essential that we are curious people who are excited about the possibilities in life. The atmosphere in our homes gets picked up by our kids so they think it’s normal to learn, to be curious, to follow thoughts and ideas and try things out… I was battling with my kids for a while. They kept saying, ‘Why…
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…
The Discomfort of Letting Go and Allowing Our Kids (and Ourselves) to Grow
We organise life so we’re not challenged too much. We don’t want to stray outside our comfort zone because that could be painful. We say no instead of yes to our kids, not wanting them to go to parties at night, ride their bikes on the road, run through the bush alone, or learn to drive. We don’t want thoughts…
Christian Unschooling: Letting God into Our Kids’ Lives
I used to tick off my spiritual boxes religiously every day. I said a lot of prayers and read my Bible. And I got extra ticks whenever I was able to get to daily Mass, so I made the effort to get there as often as life allowed. It wasn’t easy doing all that, but I did it. I had…