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…

A Beginning of the Year Unschooling Challenge

Hey friends, here’s a challenge that’s from my upcoming new book, The Unschool Challenge! Maybe doing the challenge is a good way to begin a new year of learning adventures! We all know learning doesn’t just happen during the official…

How All Kids Are Amazing

The other day, I read a parenting article in which the author said that parents can love their kids too much. I told my daughter Imogen about this and she was horrified: “You can never love a child too much!”…

From Unschooling to University and Work (Part 2)

Ten Minutes on Thursday Last Thursday I posted the first part of From Unschooling to University and Work, a video interview with my 22 year old son Callum. This week, I’m posting the second half of our interview… Callum and…

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…

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…

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.…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

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…

The Ladies Fixing the World

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: 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…

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

Christian Unschooling: Disciplining With Unconditional Love

If our children misbehave, what do we do? Make them sit on the time-out chair? Punish them? Perhaps we should withdraw our love. Be cold and distant. Make things unpleasant for our kids because they need to know how upset we are, don’t they? We want them to feel bad because then, maybe, they’ll remember to act in the right…

Sharing the Catholic Faith With Our Kids

Maybe you’re thinking about unschooling. Letting children follow their own interests, and trusting they will learn all they need to know sounds great. But stop! Wait! What about religion? This is important. You think: “Can I just stand back and hope my children will want to learn about their faith? Doesn’t that sound a bit risky? What if they don’t…
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