How to Respond to ‘Unlovable’ Kids and Cats

Poppy died, and I cried despite not liking the cat. Poppy was a grumpy animal. She was messy and unkempt, preferring not to groom herself. An unpleasant odour followed her wherever she went. We bathed the cat, clipped her long…

Turning Our Unschool Weeks into Homeschool Records

Sometimes life is quiet. We can stay at home and relax. There’s plenty of time to say such things as “Would you like to watch a Shakespeare play with me?” We read books and drink hot chocolate. We write and…

An Adventure Hiding in Every Moment

Every Wednesday afternoon I drive into town to deliver Imogen to her place of work. She spends two hours, house cleaning.  And I wait. For two hours. Filling in hours? I’ve done a lot of that over the years. Waiting…

Parents Or Friends? Or Can We Be Both?

A few weeks ago, my gorgeous adult daughter, Imogen, said, “Mum, we need a break. How about we go to the beach together for a few days?” Oh my, that was a fabulous suggestion. We’ve both had a hard time…

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…

Latest

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…

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…

Bad Haircuts and Unschooling Adventures

In this week’s solo podcast episode, I’m sharing a few stories, and talking about how we can be more adventurous. It’s good to be adventurous, isn’t it? Adventures are fun. They connect us together as a family. They open us to new experiences. I’ve noticed that parents are often reluctant to be adventurous. We’d rather sit on the sidelines of life where it’s safe because sometimes we’re too afraid or embarrassed or set-in-our-ways to get involved or try new things.…

Writing, Explosions, and Unsuitable Horror Stories

After a 4-month break, my daughter Imogen and I are back. We made a new podcast episode! This week, we’re chatting about: Finishing novels and beta reading My 19-year-old daughter Sophie and ‘graduate’ unschoolers Bushfires and exploding trees How our generous members saved our unschooling community Vlogging The TV shows we’ve been watching The Masterclass classes we’ve been enjoying We’re also discussing the question: is it okay to expose our kids to ‘unsuitable’ movies and books? Show Notes …
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

Unschooling: Coping With the Unexpected

I used to think I could control my life. To achieve a perfect life, all I had to do was organise everything well, including my kids. What is a perfect life? My perfect life vision included a graduated row of good-looking and well-behaved children. I wanted people to admire my family and home, saying, “Sue is such a good mother!…

Christian unschooling

Shall We Talk About Christian Unschooling?

I often get to the point where I feel I haven’t got anything more to say about unschooling. I wonder: is it time to move on? At the beginning of last year, I reached such a point. However, instead of thinking about moving away from unschooling, I proposed the idea of exploring unschooling from a different angle. Should we discuss…

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…
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