Strewing to Share Passions and Keep Our Bonds Strong
Driving past a cafe in town, I spied a blue racing car. “I need a photo of the car to send to Callum!” I cried. So Andy turned the car around and headed back to the cafe. As we parked…
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…
When Unschooling Spills Over into Parenting
Some random thoughts about unschooling and parenting… Sometimes I get the feeling most of the world thinks I’m a little strange. Whenever I post a parenting story I wonder if there are people out there thinking, “Wow! She’s a bit…
Why It’s Important to Allow Kids to Follow Their Interests and Passions
After my recent series of short unschooling blog post story podcasts, I now have a longer episode. It’s jam-packed full of thoughts, ideas and news! In episode 116, I’m discussing the following questions: Does planning have any place in unschooling? Can…
Meander the Unschooling Way
There are two routes to our local town. The first one is the efficient way. Once we’ve left the road that leads out of our village, we drive along the highway, through multiple sets of traffic lights before we arrive…
Chatting with My Unschooled Author Daughter
It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new podcast episode! My author daughter Imogen is back too. In episode 205 of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast, we’re chatting about: Writing and how Imogen is promoting and selling her YA novels Collaboration and how we achieve more when we work together The ups and downs of social media We also share some of our latest news and tell a couple of stories, including the one about my…
Challenging Ourselves to Put Away Our Phones
Did you hear the story of the photographer who visited the Grand Canyon and took millions of photos of the awe-inspiring sights, and then later realised that he hadn’t seen a thing despite having his eye glued to his viewfinder the whole time? He retraced his steps, his camera dangling idly by his side, and looked at everything properly. I wonder: do we fail to see the bigger picture when we view the world via our cameras and phones? Perhaps…
Taking Risks, Looking Strange
… And we shouldn’t be afraid of taking risks: doing something different and trying new things. People might look at us strangely, but then again, they might not. They might think what we’re doing is great. It’s strange how many of us tend to stick to the same way of doing things, isn’t it? We want to blend in, stay under the radar and not stick out. Unschooling can be a bit that way. When my kids were growing up,…
An Almost Empty Unschool House
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Too Anxious to Unschool?
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When Children Move Out of an Unschool Home
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How to Respond to ‘Unlovable’ Kids and Cats
Poppy died, and I cried despite not liking the cat. Poppy was a grumpy animal. She was messy and unkempt, preferring not to groom herself. An unpleasant odour followed her wherever she went. We bathed the cat, clipped her long fur, and sprinkled deodoriser all over her body, trying to make her an acceptable family member. She protested. Poppy died, and we no longer have to deal with a messy, unkempt animal. I should have cheered, but I cried. I…
Love or Fear? What Guides Our Lives?
There are so many things we could fear. We might be too afraid to send our kids to school if we listen to the loud voices telling us how bad traditional education is. We might choose homeschooling because of that fear. If we decide to homeschool, we’re still not safe. Fears could follow us. We might be too afraid to trust our kids will learn all they need to know when they need to know it because we’re worried about…
Why it’s Dangerous to Insist Our Kids Have the Same Opinions as Us
Why do many teenagers act differently in front of their parents and their friends? Do they adopt the cool behaviour of their friends, which…
How Do We Encourage Our Kids to Be Independent Learners?
I’m still podcasting while I’m writing this unschooling book series. Here’s this week’s episode! This week, I’m sharing and discussing the story Independent Learners, Toast…
A New Series of Unschooling Videos
Have you subscribed to my Youtube channel? Perhaps you’re one of my recent subscribers? (If you are, thank you!) Over the past couple of…
How Unschooling Doesn’t Guarantee a Fairytale Life
Yesterday evening, like all Sunday evenings, my kids who live locally came to dinner. Six of us gathered around our dining room table, savouring a meal cooked by my husband while enjoying the usual end-of-the-week lively catch-up conversation. There was a time when we dreamed that all our children would buy houses on the same street as our family home.…
Unschooling: Trusting the Process and Letting Go of Control
“I kind of love my title for this podcast. It’s very ambitious. Let’s fix it all!” And so begins another Ladies Fixing the World conversation in which Cecilie Conrad, Sandra Dodd and I dive deep into unschooling, sharing our thoughts and experiences. In S2E4, we discuss Unschooling: Trusting the Process and Letting Go. Want to know more…
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!…
Radical Unschool Love, Praise and Joy
Do you ever praise your kids? Do you tell them you’re proud of them? Some people say we shouldn’t praise our kids. Maybe that’s because our children might end up doing things only because they want to gain our approval. And is there a risk a child might think she is better than everyone else if we praise her too…
Unschooling and Trust
I have been struggling with this post for a while now, and wondering why I’m having so much trouble finding the right words. And I have decided it’s the language. I want to write a story from a personal point of view like I normally do. And I can’t. We had such a gradual transition to unschooling, I didn’t really…