How to Unschool During the Baby Seasons of Life: The Magic Answer
Maybe most people think of me as an older unschooler blogger because, at the moment, I'm surrounded by unschooling teens and young adults. I'm also older in age! But, of course, my children were once babies and toddlers and younger unschoolers. I remember those hectic days of trying to unschool some children while, at the same time, trying to see…
How to Prepare Our Kids for the Day When They Leave Home
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Are We Becoming the People We Want Our Kids to Be?
Last weekend, my son Callum came home for a visit, and on Saturday morning, we had a breakfast picnic together at our local lake. After we’d eaten, we took Callum’s dog for a walk around the lake. It wasn’t a quick walk. Every few metres, we had to stop because people kept asking, “What breed is your dog?” Callum’s 5-month-old…
An Unschooling Fitness Challenge
Do you ever worry that your kids aren’t getting enough exercise? Maybe they spend a lot of time doing sedentary things such as playing computer games or reading books. Are you tempted to say, “Go outside and get some fresh air!”? Years ago, I was always looking for ways to include some activity into my kids’ days. We’d go for…
Why We Have to Accept Ourselves as We Are
Sophie points her camera at me and says, “Smile, my beautiful mother!” I reply, “I’m not beautiful. Look at all my wrinkles!” Sophie pushes my words away. I may have wrinkles, but they’re not important to her. They’re a blur. Insignificant. She sees different things. To her, I’m beautiful. So I smile. I also adjust my position as I say, ‘Think…
We Should Say What’s in Our Hearts (While We Can)
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Adding Rhythm to Our Unschooling Days
Years ago, when we first began unschooling, I thought that to unschool properly, we had to get up each morning and take the day as it came. Do whatever we felt like at each moment without thinking too far ahead. This sounded attractive – we’re free to do whatever we like!- but we soon found ourselves drifting through our days…
How Limiting Screen Time Can Limit Our Learning
Do you use the screen time feature on your phone and other devices? I used to. At the end of every week, I received a report telling me how much time I’d spent on my iPhone and iPad and how I’d used that time. When I saw the number of hours I’d spent on my devices, I felt guilty. How…
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 up, and tried again. No one wanted to go home. They all had to keep fighting for their place in…
An Unschooling Challenge: Looking for Joy
Each week, in our Stories of an Unschooling Family Community, I post an unschooling challenge. The challenges are a way for us to explore the principles of unschooling, ponder a few ideas together, and make unschooling a reality in our lives. A few weeks ago, I shared the following challenge. A Looking for Joy Challenge Do you ever look for…
Unschooling: Impressing Other People
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Why Some Kids Are Willing to Help with the Chores
I said that I have to be a good example if I want my children to help me get the house organised each morning… I have to jump out of bed and go out there and dive into the chores. I have to be willing…
Real Life Family Unschool Maths
A few years ago, when my daughter Sophie was 10, she started to say, “I’m no good at maths. I hate it!” At the…
Go Out There and Make a Difference!
Do you ever compare yourself to someone else who’s doing similar work to you? Do you feel discouraged if they seem to be more…
Letting Go of Our Own Ideas About Our Kids’ Education
Many years ago, I set out on a big search for the perfect method of homeschooling. I was looking for something that would ensure…
How to Write a Million Unschool Love Stories
I used to think the defining word of unschooling was freedom. Freedom attracted me. I wanted to be free to do whatever I liked.…
An Unschooling Imposter
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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…
Christian Unschooling and Other Things
I made a new podcast episode! Yes, after an absence of a few weeks, I’m back. So where did I go? Nowhere in particular.…
Why My Children and I Share Our Unschooling Evernote Notebooks
When I signed up for Evernote so did my children. Yes, we all have our own accounts. This allows us to share our notebooks. Why…
Losing Time
I’ve been reading a book called A Time to Die by Nicholas Diat, who visited eight monasteries to talk to the monks about the…
Lacking Inspiration
My writing life goes round in circles. At times, I feel excited. I have lots of things I want to write about. My words…
Are You a Proper Unschooler?
I used to worry about labelling our family as unschoolers. What if someone came along and said, “You’re not proper unschoolers”? Some people don’t…