Unschooling Siblings Working Together

My daughter Imogen’s latest music video features her three younger siblings, Charlotte, Sophie, and Gemma-Rose. The four girls sing the Enya song, Wild Child. When I watch this video, it’s not the singing that I enjoy the most. I’m not…

Embracing Gaming: An Unschooling Challenge

What do we do if our kids want to play games for hours, and we’re not happy about that? We could limit their screen time. Make some rules about when and what and where children can play games. We could…

The Power of a Few Encouraging Words

Have you ever had a dream? I have. When I was a child, I wanted to write children’s novels. But somewhere along the way, I gave up the idea of becoming an author. There was no time for dreams. I…

Becoming Real Life Maths Detectives

“We use maths all the time,” I say to my daughter Gemma-Rose (10). “Maths is everywhere.” Everywhere? She doesn’t look convinced. “You use maths to count your money,” says Sophie, “and when you’re cooking.” Cooking? How many times have you…

Bringing God into the Unschooling Picture

A few months ago, I wrote a post called Why This is the End of the Line for Me. I decided that I’d explored unschooling from every possible angle. What more could I write about? It was time for me…

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Mud Pies, Stews and Cakes

Gemma-Rose and Sophie are outside. They have been in the garden for hours despite the cool winter temperature. They have sand buckets and spades, and a big box of odds and ends: plates, bowls, spoons, pots, all leftovers from different tea sets. On the outdoor table there are piles of flowers, berries, weeds, grass, twigs and pebbles. And a bucket of soil. Somewhere down at the bottom of the garden is a hole, a hole that is getting bigger and…

Doing Nothing?

Many years ago, when my first child Felicity was five, we went to our first homeschooling conference. Our speaker was Jill, an experienced unschooling mum and she was pure enthusiasm. She walked around and around the room talking at speed, flinging her arms this way and that in emphasis. Jill told us how children are eager to learn; they love learning; they don’t need to be taught. A parent’s role is not to be a teacher but a facilitator. She…

Babies, Toddlers and Unschooling (Part 3)

Our 8th child, Gemma-Rose was our most needy baby of all. Unfortunately, she had silent reflux and was in pain for the first few months of her life. She screamed whenever she was awake, and never slept deeply, waking constantly to writhe and moan, and then she’d need settling again. She never fed to sleep: feeding wasn’t a pleasurable activity for her. There were many days when I was exhausted. If Gemma-Rose had been our first child I’d have fallen…

Babies, Toddlers and Unschooling (Part 2)

Felicity, our firstborn child was an excellent baby. She fed every 3 or 4 hours, I’d change her nappy, pop her in her cot and soon she’d drop off to sleep without a problem. Between naps, she was happy and contented. And at the age of 5 weeks, she started sleeping through the night… in her own cot… in her own room. I thought I was the perfect mother. Duncan was an almost excellent baby. He fed more frequently and…

Babies, Toddlers and Unschooling (Part 1)

Gemma-Rose is now seven. She is our youngest child and so it’s been a few years since we’ve had a baby or a toddler in our family. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to work our homeschooling day around the needs of a young child. For us, homeschooling is relatively easy. We have a lot of freedom to do what we want, whenever we want. But… … we no longer have a gorgeous little bundle to hold or…

In the Kitchen with a TV Chef Dad

Can I talk about food? First, I will have to start with a story that happened about ten years ago. My husband Andy was playing touch footy with a group of homeschooling fathers and children. It was a cold and damp day and after the game, everyone eagerly returned to the shed for a hot cup of coffee. All except Andy… After some time, I became anxious and went looking for him, only to discover he’d been abandoned by mistake on…

A Typical Unschooling Day?

Is there really any such thing as a typical unschooling day? Each day can be so different from the one before; each day is a new adventure; each unschooling day has its own delights. That’s one of the wonderful things about living an unschooling life. So perhaps the ‘typical’ unschooling day I described in my post What Next? wasn’t really typical at all. Perhaps I should tell you about yesterday: The day did start the same as our What Next…

What Next?

I will admit it: I am stuck. I don’t know what to write about. I created my blog to tell you some stories about our journey to unschooling, and all about Suzie Andres’ books and I feel I have done that. I really enjoyed writing those stories too! And having Suzie visit and everyone comment and share… But now I am sitting here thinking, “What next?” Could this be the blog with the shortest history in all the blogosphere? I…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Resources for Unschoolers

Strolling towards the shopping centre, I spy an older man with three hand-reared brightly coloured parrots. A few wide-eyed kids are gathered around him, and as I watch, he transfers a parrot to one of their shoulders, where it bounces lightly upon its feet, nuzzling a little ear. The child grins, hardly daring to move. The children have questions which…

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…

Unschooling: Coping With the Unexpected

I used to think I could control my life. To achieve a perfect life, all I had to do was organise everything well, including my kids. What is a perfect life? My perfect life vision included a graduated row of good-looking and well-behaved children. I wanted people to admire my family and home, saying, “Sue is such a good mother!…

Christian unschooling

An Impossible Adventure

I never thought I’d become a Catholic unschooler. An unschooler? Maybe. A Catholic? Oh no! At one time in my life, that seemed impossible. When Andy asked me to marry him, of course, I said yes. “But I’ll never become a Catholic,” I added. I had to make it clear. Just in case. What if my cradle Catholic husband had…

Parenting: Doing Our Inadequate Best

Do you ever look back - a few years, months or even days - at your younger self and wish you could have done better? Perhaps you remember dragon parent days when you failed to be gentle. Could you have said things you now regret? I know I do. Sometimes, I want to go back and put things right. But…
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