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…

Why We Need to Support Our Kids’ Choices

The other evening, we were watching an old episode of a cooking competition TV show. It was elimination night. For three hours, the contestants measured and mixed and baked and decorated. They also made mistakes, felt discouraged, picked themselves back…

Why I’m Not a Good Homeschooling Teacher

Everyone thinks I homeschool my fourteen-year-old daughter, Charlotte. I don’t. She homeschools herself. I try to help her: “Charlotte, I have a new book we’re just about to start reading. What you like to join us?” “No thanks, Mum. I…

Latest

Time to Unschool

Gemma-Rose (7) had a loose front tooth. Every spare moment, she could be found, fingers in her mouth, wiggling and twisting and turning that little tooth. Soon it was hanging by a thread. At lunchtime, two days ago, it finally fell out after one bite of her sandwich, much to my youngest daughter’s delight and relief. She presented it to me on the palm of her hand as if it were a trophy, as if she’d achieved something tremendous. And,…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

How to Live Radically

Radical unschooling children don’t necessarily brush their teeth, or shower and if they want to exist on an exclusive diet of coca cola and…

The Ladies Fixing the World

How Unschoolers Can Deal with Questions and Sceptics

My mother-in-law visited us for the birth of our son, Thomas. After he died and we’d buried him in his tiny white casket, Andy’s mother asked me if we wanted more children. As I replied, “Oh, yes!”, my mother-in-law’s face dropped into a disapproving frown. “She thinks we already have enough kids,” I thought as my defence hackles rose. But…

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

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?…

Sharing the Catholic Faith With Our Kids

Maybe you’re thinking about unschooling. Letting children follow their own interests, and trusting they will learn all they need to know sounds great. But stop! Wait! What about religion? This is important. You think: “Can I just stand back and hope my children will want to learn about their faith? Doesn’t that sound a bit risky? What if they don’t…
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