Is It Wrong to Love Without Limits?
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As the Unschooling Season Changes
Parents, sadly fed up with having their kids at home, are beginning to say, “When does school begin again?” My once-glorious hydrangeas are turning brown, and my agapanthus flowers are resembling dirty cotton mop heads. Soon, the carol bird will…
Dreams, Talents, Working and Unworking
In a few months’ time, my daughter Imogen will finish her university degree. She’s started thinking about what she would like to do next. “I have three lofty dreams,” she says. One of them involves a piano, a microphone and…
Sew Easy
When I’m not writing, I love to sew clothes for my girls. And when I’m not sewing pretty skirts, I like to sew pictures. And the pictures I like to sew are red work embroideries. A few years ago,…
Protecting Children from Outside Influences
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A Message We Can All Share Even if Our Unschooling Lives Aren’t Picture-Perfect
When we’re posting photos or writing stories or talking about unschooling directly with our family and friends, do we ever stop and wonder if it’s necessary to have perfect kids when we’re sharing this way of life? Lots of people want to promote or defend unschooling. I do as well. So we all share social media photos and stories of our thriving, happy kids doing wonderful things. We want to say, ‘Unschooling works!’ But what if our family is going…
Do Beautiful Photos Fail to Tell the Whole Unschooling Story?
Can photos reflect the beauty of an unschooling life? We could post loads of pictures of smiling kids involved with impressive activities or running wild and free, surrounded by the spectacular beauty of nature. How about sharing photos of the stunning places where we live? Or visit? The campervans, the rustic cottages, the self-sufficient farms, the yurts, the attractive bits of our more conventional homes, the piles of interesting books and other resources? We could share eye-catching images that might…
Unschooling Poster Kids
All seven of my unschooled kids went to university when they were 14 and got their degrees before they reached adulthood. No they didn’t. That’s wrong. I lie! But wouldn’t it be impressive if they had all done that? I could have written a book called Brainy Unschoolers: how to get your kids into university at a young age. I might have sold a million copies. Is it necessary that I impress? Do I need to prove my kids are…
When the Outside Looks Wrong Because We Don’t Understand
My daughter Imogen knows I love proteas so when she saw a bouquet of native Australian flowers while shopping, she decided to buy them for me. A day or two previously, I’d told Imogen about the magnificent native flower garden that was in front of the house where we lived when she was five years old. I loved that garden. I spent many hours peering out the living room window, watching the birds hovering amongst the flowers. When the weather…
Putting Our Kids Ahead of the Opinions of Other People
Have you ever put other people ahead of your kids? I have. And I wonder: how could I have done that when my kids mean so much to me? It doesn’t make sense, does it? Years ago, there were many times when I cleaned my house rather than spend time with my children because I wanted my friends, who might drop by unexpectedly, to think I was wonderful. I followed my kids around picking up their toys as they dropped…
When We Can’t Decide What’s the Best Way to Bring Up and Educate Our Kids
Do you ever swap between the various methods of homeschooling looking for the perfect way to bring up and educate your kids? I used to do that. I’d try one thing after another, confusing myself and my kids, while never finding what I was searching for. As I said in my book Curious Unschoolers: … I pondered lots of questions: What are the basics of a good education? Are old ideas better than new ones? Are the classics important? Are…
Reinventing Ourselves
When I was younger, I often came home from social gatherings and replayed conversations in my head. Did I talk too much? Had I sounded silly? I’d wish I could go back and change what I’d said. I wanted to be a different person. I wondered: could I reinvent myself? I wanted to be interestingly mysterious, calm and collected. When I spoke, wisdom would be on my lips, not chatter. I’d look uniquely stylish, and I’d move with grace and…
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 often? We don’t want our kids becoming proud and obnoxious, do we? So, many parents stay well away from praise.…
Do Unschooled Kids (and Parents) Need Time Away From Their Devices?
If we conclude that good mental, physical, and spiritual health requires silence, nature, real people, and exercise, what does this mean for our unschooling…
When Rules for Teenagers Aren’t Necessary
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What if We’d Like Our Kids to Be Early Risers?
Sometimes when I write a post about our typical unschooling days, a reader stops by and says, “Oh, Sue, your mornings sound delightful! I…
Unschooling and Connections: How Learning Is All About Creating a Web of Understanding
When I finished my university degree, I threw all my botany and biochemistry lecture notes and books into the garbage bin with relief. And I said, “No one will ever make me learn anything ever again!” I have a science degree, which was presented to me while I was wearing a fancy gown with a mortar board on my head.…
Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?
There are loads of unschooling questions we could ask about learning: How do we know unschooling kids are learning? Should they be learning particular things? Is there knowledge that all kids need? Are our unschooled kids learning enough? Can they get behind? Should we just trust our kids are learning? But what if we have doubts? Or what if we…
Learning to Read and Trusting Unschooling
It is absolutely essential that we are curious people who are excited about the possibilities in life. The atmosphere in our homes gets picked up by our kids so they think it’s normal to learn, to be curious, to follow thoughts and ideas and try things out… I was battling with my kids for a while. They kept saying, ‘Why…
Parenting: Doing Our Inadequate Best
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Christian Unschooling: Should Parents Demand Obedience from Their Children?
Not so long ago, I was reading a spiritual book that mentioned monks and their life of poverty, chastity and obedience. And this got me thinking about obedience. Monks are obedient to their superiors and the rule of their order. They are imitating Jesus who was obedient to God the Father even until death. Obedience is obviously good so perhaps…