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 evident. The same with being a writer or a musician or even a fireman. Surely, a…

When Mothering Is Not Enough

Should our kids be our whole world? Should we dedicate all our time and effort to raising the most precious people in our lives? Or is it okay to combine motherhood with our own interests? Could there be advantages in…

From Unschooling to University and Work (Part 1)

Ten Minutes on Thursday “I can do that interview for you this afternoon,” said my son Callum. “I just need to get my hair cut first.” He ran his fingers through his floppy locks and grinned. “I have to look…

Latest

Ordinary Frida Kahlo Eyebrow Days

Quinn barked, alerting me to the policeman striding along the path towards our house. After securing the dog, I opened the front door, my heart racing, my hands shaking, thinking, “The police only make house calls when they’ve bad news to share.” “Have you seen any strangers lurking recently?” the officer asked. “Your neighbour reported some broken windows.” My heart rate slowed as I realised the man was talking about windows and stones and not car accidents and deaths. I…

Words Matter

Yesterday, I sang happy birthday to a friend in a video message despite thinking I have a terrible voice. “I’ll sing the low version,” I announced before plucking up my courage, taking a deep breath, and attempting the first note. My low voice is the one I use when I’m messing around with my family, pretending to be a bass like my husband and not a soprano like my daughter, Imogen. We all giggle when I reach into my boots…

The Unanticipated Problem with Sharing My Kids’ Lives Publicly

When my kids were younger, I constantly had my camera in my hand, watching out for photo opportunities. I wanted visual evidence of all our learning experiences for our homeschool records book. I also wanted lots of photos to go with my blog stories. We had a rule in our home: we had to check if it was okay to use photos of each other before sharing them online. We all could refuse permission for the publication of images of…

Reluctant to Persuade or Engage

I create a Friends Club, write and publish an exclusive members-only story, and then display a preview of it – an excerpt and an image – on my blog. I look at the red-tufted, painted cow staring back at me from my homepage’s sidebar and grin. Surely, the cow will attract people’s eyes? It will definitely persuade my readers to visit my Buy Me a Coffee page and sign up for my fabulous membership posts. Before I know it, money…

I Need Your Help. Do You Need Mine?

I decide to abandon my unschooling blog, leaving it online to look after itself while I move on. But then I discover I can’t actually do that. Blogs need attention, whether we’re writing on them or not. If I don’t keep a close eye on my website, making sure everything is updated regularly, and paying for the latest versions of plugins, things start to go wrong. Something goes wrong. Despite my best efforts to protect my blog, it’s infected with…

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

“When I grow up, I’m going to be a YouTube Shorts video creator,” I tell Amina. My pretend friend raises her eyebrows and says, “But I thought you wanted to be a graphic designer.” “I could be a graphic designer who makes YouTube Shorts.” “When I was a child, I wanted to be a fashion designer,” says Amina. “I loved making clothes for my Barbie dolls. I had loads of ideas for fabulous clothes collections.” “Why didn’t you become a…

Do You Need a Happy List?

I’m at a cafe with my pretend friend Amina, who places her mug of coffee on the table between us, sighs and says, “Unschooling doesn’t guarantee our kids won’t have challenges in life, does it?” “I wish it did,” I reply. “Oh, yes, wouldn’t it be good if our kids sailed through life feeling happy all the time?” “We’ve all got to face difficulties,” I say, “including our kids.” It’s my turn to sigh. Amina nods. “Yes, that’s the way…
1 … 11 12 13 14 15 … 109

My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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: 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…

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…

Christian unschooling

Speed Angel Joy

I am sitting by the lake watching four girls scooting along the path. They are the Speed Angel Sisters and they are fast! Every now and then the girls veer off onto the grass and come to a sudden halt: a pedestrian is approaching. Now the speedway is clear again, and strong legs start pushing, wheels are revolving, hair…

Unschooling, Homemaking, and a Mother’s Role

Erin wrote: What does the idea of homemaking mean to you? Is it a certain skill set or talent? Does it need to look or happen a certain way, or is it a flexible term? What role does homemaking play for you in home ed life? Do the two need to go together? Are there aspects of homemaking that you…
Go toTop