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.…
What to Do When Unschooling Kids Reach the Teenage Years
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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…
Younger Unschoolers: Our Learning Adventure Rules
If we’re willing to seize the moment, we can have some fabulous spur-of-the-moment learning adventures. We could find ourselves unexpectedly sitting on a beach watching breaching whales. But can we also have planned adventures with our unschooling kids? Oh yes!…
How an Unschooling Life isn’t Perfect and Why That’s Okay
I take a look at my drafts file. I have SEVENTY half-written blog posts! Can I finish any of them? How about this one? I began writing this post some time ago when I was enthusiastically working on my unschooling…
It’s Not for Me
What if we share our work with the world and then someone comes along and criticises it? Some people might write bad reviews that make our hearts sink. We could wonder what we’ve done wrong. Why doesn’t everyone like what we’ve created? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone loved our work? What if we received only 5-star reviews and lots of praise? No negative words at all. Or maybe this wouldn’t be as good as it sounds. Yes, our hearts…
The Problem with High Expectations and Control
Expecting a lot of our kids sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? If we have high expectations, perhaps our children will strive to achieve more. And if we keep raising the goal posts, won’t they end up doing amazing things? They could have fabulous secure futures that include high paying jobs. If we push our kids, they might become doctors or lawyers or enter another high-status profession. Or will our ideas and high expectations make our kids very unhappy? Perhaps our children…
Criticism, Reviews, and Paying It Forward
Sometimes I’m not very sensible: I try to do too much. I want to blog and vlog and podcast and write books and host a community and occasionally sign in to Instagram. But I really don’t have time to do all that. So I wonder what I should give up. Before I can make up my mind, I fall in a heap, feeling overwhelmed. And I resolve to give up everything. I decide it’s time to go off and…
Thoughts Flitting Through My Mind
Travelling home, after spending a few days with my son Callum and daughter Sophie, lots of thoughts flit through my mind: We fear we might fail, but perhaps failure isn’t always as bad as it sounds. We might not be the people others have told us we are. Should we rewrite those old stories? I like who I am. Even though I’ve got wrinkly elbows. Should we stay true to who we are? Stick to what is comfortable, what suits…
Social Media, Hooks, Distractions, and Books
My daughter Imogen and I aren’t big social media people. For some reason, we find platforms such as Instagram and Facebook a bit overwhelming. Could that have something to do with our introverted natures? Often, we disappear. But, after a while, we try again. Maybe we have to. Because social media is where everyone hangs out. It’s where people are discussing the things that are of interest to us. Yes, there are benefits to using social media. But could there…
Can We Live a Seemingly Conventional Life and Successfully Unschool?
Is our unschooling life rich enough? Can we live a seemingly conventional life and successfully unschool? Or do we need to travel the world or spend time seeing our country firsthand? Perhaps we need to live off-grid or live in an unusual place or home? These were questions that I was pondering quite a few years ago. When we were offered an opportunity to move to a tumbledown cottage on a fish farm, we imagined living an exciting, wild and…
Trying Not to Complain
Hour after hour, day after day, heavy rain dropped upon us. At first, we delighted in this extraordinary event. We searched for our long lost umbrellas. We remembered how to drive in the wet conditions. We took pleasure in the puddles and the grass that suddenly turned a brilliant shade of green. We inhaled the earthy smell of the bush and soaked in the sight of the waterfalls gushing down over the rocks along both sides of the road that…
Big Ideas and Big Passions
I say to my daughter Imogen, “I’d better post the details of our last podcast on my blog.” And she replies, “You haven’t done that yet? How will we become podcasting stars if you don’t let anyone know we’ve published a new episode?” Podcasting stars? That sounds so unlike us. We grin! I love chatting to Imogen while we’re making podcasts together. We hope you enjoy listening! In episode 183 of the Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast, Big Ideas and…
Busy Days and Catch-Up Days
Do you ever have weeks where you find yourself racing through your days trying to keep up? We’re having one of those weeks right…
Opening Myself Up to Criticism
I’m It’s inevitable: someone is going to criticise my unschooling books. No one has yet, but someone will. How do I know this? Well,…
Attachment Parenting and Unschooling
My first child was a perfect baby. She ate and played and smiled, and then when she was tired, she put herself to sleep.…
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…
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…
Is It Working? Wrestling with Doubt in Unschooling
A grey day arrives that completely blots out the memory of all the preceding good days. We feel overwhelmed, tired, worried and lost. We wonder why we ever decided to unschool. A puddle of doubt about unschooling forms around us. What do we do? Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing unschooling doubts and sharing our experiences in episode 10 of…
About Me, About Being Different
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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…