Fighting on the Front Line
A couple of days ago, we had some good news: the status of our bushfire has changed from ‘out of control’ to ‘being controlled’. Isn’t that wonderful? The fire is huge so the fight to put it out is far from over. But the change in status is very encouraging. So far this week, the weather has been mild. I’m…
Giggling at Shocking Things
On the first day of 2020, I lost my sense of humour. Usually, I’m a positive person, but the current bushfire situation pushed me over the edge. “I’m tired of breathing smoky air,” I complained. “I’m fed up of watching fire updates and wondering if the fire is coming our way. I want life to return to normal.” My husband…
Mother on Duty
At 10:15 am, my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose appears in the living room where I’m keeping track of the bushfire activity near us. (Through the window, I can see the fire trucks and other vehicles arriving and leaving our road.) ”You slept in for a long time,” I say. “You must have been tired.” Gemma-Rose nods. I understand. Living with a…
When Life Gets a Bit Too Interesting!
Life is certainly interesting at the moment. A little bit too interesting! You might remember how a week or so ago, we prepared our house just in case the out-of-control bushfire that was burning not very far away arrived in our village. Well, the other day, the fire did arrive. Life hasn’t been normal since we received an emergency warning…
Unschool Bushfire Maths
I open my phone to google ‘smoky or smokey’ to find out the correct spelling of this word. (I’ve been using it a lot lately.) And I find a warning waiting for me to read. (It arrived in the night while I was asleep.) A fire has escalated in your watch zone. I head straight over to the Fires Near…
Unschooling During a Crisis
Are there some things you hate doing? We don’t like gardening. Usually, we let our garden take care of itself. That’s why our hedges grew and grew until they were higher than the roof of our house. We should have pruned them back years ago. We shouldn’t have left it until a crisis forced us to do something about the…
Realising What’s Important
Many years ago, I discovered that a friend of mine never irons her clothes. She doesn’t even own an iron. I thought this was rather strange. Surely clothes need ironing? At the time, I ironed nearly everything. (I didn’t iron underwear!) And then one day, I stopped ironing my clothes. Maybe I got lazy. Or perhaps I was busy. Whatever…
Another Novel: The Unschooling Adventure Continues!
hat do you think? A safe and secure job? Or should we encourage our kids to follow their dreams? Should they give the more adventurous path a go? Could they work part-time while continuing to follow their passions? Recently, I’ve had a lot of visitors to my blog from Facebook. Someone shared my post Choosing Not to Look for a…
Stories About Connection from Radical Unschool Love
In this week’s podcast, I’m sharing a few stories that can be found in my book, Radical Unschool Love: A Teenager’s Thoughts Learning Right from Wrong Developing a Sense of Right and Wrong Can We Be Both Parent and Friend? One-on-One Times In episode 165, I’m also sharing a blog post called Radical Unschooling: Something Beautiful. Show Notes My Unschooling…
Discouraged
I’m feeling discouraged. I wonder: why am I doing this? Why am I blogging and podcasting? I know the answer: I want to spread the word about unschooling. I want to pass on what I’ve learnt. Tell others about the joys of living this way of life. I especially want to give hope to families who are struggling with homeschooling…
Interviewing Sophie (13), an Unschooling Teenager
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Chores and Kids: What if We Said, “Yes”?
My most popular post ever is Getting Kids to Help With the Chores. After publishing it, readers flocked over to see what I’d written. Had I discovered the secret to having helpful and considerate children? Some readers were very skeptical when they read my words:…
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…
Learning From My Children
My children are always eager to learn. “Wow! That looks wonderful. Will you teach me to crochet too? Do you think I could make…
Are You an Unschooling Multipotentialite?
Are you an unschooling multipotentialite? If someone had asked me that question a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have had an answer. I’d…
Would You Like the Key to the Secret Unschooling Garden?
The other day, I stumbled across a ‘hilarious’ radical unschooling collection on someone’s blog, and there was the graphic for my post When Rules…
Stories from ‘Curious Unschoolers’
I wrote an unschooling book called Curious Unschoolers. I published it. Then I told everyone about my book. I received many wonderfully supportive comments.…
A Little Unobtrusive Help with Reading
Many years ago, I taught my first child Felicity to read so quickly and easily, I was sure I was a brilliant homeschooling mother.…
Live Life to the Full, Have No Regrets
Today we are going on an adventure. The girls giggle. “We’re going on a ‘school excursion’!” they say. We imagine a long straggly crocodile…
How Jesus Was Stolen & Other Christmas Tales
Last night Jesus disappeared. While eight heads were lying on eight pillows, four feet padded down the hallway towards him. In an instant, in…
Unconditional Love: the Glue that Sticks Us Together
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Smiling Over Unschoolers and Maths Text Books
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Searching for Daily Delights
In episode 178 of my podcast: Strewing, Unschooling, and Charlotte Mason, I mentioned a book called The Book of Delights, written by Ross Gay:…