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…

A Jane Austen Education

I was on my way to bed when I noticed the older girls’ bedroom light was still on. As I stood outside the door I could hear Imogen’s voice. It sounded like she was reading out loud. Pushing open the…

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…

Enjoying an Unexpected Little Adventure

The kids pile into the car. I settle myself into the passenger seat and bang the door shut. My eldest-at-home daughter, Imogen makes sure her ‘L’ plates are attached to the front and back of the vehicle, before sliding into…

Latest

How Our Unschooling Lives and Kids Don’t Need to be Picture-Perfect

Do you ever feel discouraged when you see social media posts of unschooling families that seem to have everything worked out? Do you wonder why your unschooling life isn’t picture-perfect like theirs? Are you doing something wrong? Why isn’t unschooling working for you? Is it time to do something else before family and friends start to criticise your choices? In this article, I offer reassurance and reasons why you should ignore social media and critics, stop comparing, and continue unschooling.…

Do Unschoolers Drift Aimlessly Through Each Day?

Years ago, when I was researching homeschooling methods, I thought unschooling sounded good because we’d be free to do whatever we liked. And if we didn’t want to do anything, that would be okay. There would be no rules, no control, no expectations, no pressure to do anything in particular. But then one day, I wondered whether unschooling is another word for wasting time. Shouldn’t we make the most of each day? Aren’t we obliged to think carefully about how…

Is Unconditional Love at the Heart of Unschooling?

Recently, while travelling to town with two of my daughters, we talked about unschooling and how it’s impossible to say to another family, “Unschool in the same way as us.” Each family is different. Kids have their unique needs based on their personalities, interests and missions in life. And families have different circumstances such as number of children, health, commitments and responsibilities. Even the place where a family lives affects unschooling. We chatted about the disadvantages of our home town.…

What to Do When Unschool Kids Have No Interest in Topics They’re Required to Learn

‘… if we’re curious people, the whole world is a source of fascinating things to investigate. But this doesn’t mean we will all enjoy learning about something the same way. Sometimes we need to find the right angle. Can we find a way into a subject that appeals to us? Can we approach it through the back door?’ -Challenge 50, The Unschool Challenge What if we think something is boring and don’t want to know about it? Is this a…

Unschooling Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason often entices families away from unschooling. Maybe that’s because of three words often associated with this method of homeschooling: beauty, truth and goodness. Aren’t these what our souls yearn for? Aren’t they what we need? Could Charlotte Mason be the right way to live? Or can we find everything our souls crave in the real world of unschooling?…

Why Are We Willing to Endure the Pain of Parenthood?

While walking around our local lake, I met a woman with two chihuahuas. They were the same colour and size. The only difference was that one looked like he’d put on his long fur coat before leaving home, while the other was prepared to brave the cold day without one. I asked how old the dogs were, and the woman said, “Twelve,” and then added, “I don’t know what I’m going to do when they die. They’re my family.” When…

Goodbye, Stories of an Unschooling Family

TThe other day, I found a 5-star review of my book, The Unschool Challenge, on Amazon. It was written by Patrice Fagnant Macarthur from Today’s Catholic Homeschooling website. In The Unschool Challenge, Elvis provides short essays on various topics related to unschooling and then she provides challenges for readers to do. This is a pick and choose sort of book. You don’t need to read it in order. You can select which topics interest you and learn more about them, pursue some…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

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…

Trying to Be a Fun Mum

When my first two children were very small I had a best friend called Mellie. We got on extremely well despite being very different.…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling Is Carried by Conversations

Dinner tables, car rides, bedtime chats, and café corners are the real places where unschooling lives and grows. Conversations—often unscheduled, informal, and unplanned—can become the central structure of a learning life. Gathering at the Dinner Table In our house, we never met for breakfast or lunch. Those were meals where people ate what, where and when they liked. But we…

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…

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…

Christian unschooling

Reading Out Loud and a Generous Christmas

Do you like listening to stories being read out loud? I have to admit that this isn’t my favourite activity. My mind tends to wander and I miss half the words. But my kids are different from me. They love reading aloud time. Even though most of my children are grown up, they still like to gather whenever anyone opens…
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