How Limiting Screen Time Can Limit Our Learning
Do you use the screen time feature on your phone and other devices? I used to. At the end of every week, I received a report telling me how much time I’d spent on my iPhone and iPad and how…
My Draft Posts File is as Fat as Our Cats, and Other Stories
My draft posts file is getting bigger and bigger. It’s looking rather fat, just like our cats. Each afternoon, for the past few days, I’ve fed it with another failed post. I’ve wanted to write but can’t seem to find…
Can We Say We’re Unschoolers if We Require Maths?
Some people will tell you if you unschool everything except maths, you’re not really an unschooler. For how can we say to our kids, “I trust you will learn everything you need to know… but not maths”? We either trust…
Ideas for Starting Unschooling
A few posts ago, I was talking about collaboration. Would anyone like to work with me as we try to spread the unschooling message? Could we light a gentle unschooling fire together? I was afraid no one would respond to…
Is Unschooling More Than a Method of Homeschooling?
I told this story on Instagram: I heard a sad story. Two women were enjoying lunch together in a cafe. They were halfway through eating their egg and bacon rolls when another woman approached their table and said, “You shouldn’t…
Giggling in the Cemetery
Three little stories to celebrate our son Thomas’ birthday. he worst day of my life could have been the day that Thomas died. Or maybe it was the day we buried him because it was then that I knew I’d never see my son again. But perhaps, it could have been the day after the funeral when all the busyness was over, and I was alone with my sorrow. Would I survive? Could I move forward and live the rest…
Motivated to Learn
Did you ever hear my physics story? When I was in grade 11, we moved house, and so I had to go to a new school. On my first day, I turned up at a physics class. The teacher who’d never had girls in his class before said, “What are you doing here?” And I told him I’d come to learn physics. He replied, “We’ll see about that!” I was told that I’d have to prove that I was worthy…
Some Real Life Covid English
The other morning, while we were driving to town, my daughter Gemma-Rose did something that’s socially unacceptable: she sneezed! “It’s okay,” I said. “We belong to the same bubble.” Then we had a very interesting conversation about words. Since covid-19 appeared, how many words have gained additional meanings? Bubble used to conjure up images of filmy spheres that delight children (and adults), and now when we hear that word we think of the people who share their everyday lives with…
Unschool, Martian, and Risqué Stories
A few days ago, we all got very excited when a box of Frost Hands landed on our doorstep. My daughter Imogen opened it, eager to see the print version of her latest novel for the first time. Would it look good? We all agree that Frost Hands looks fabulous. My daughter Charlotte designed its cover and we love it. Imogen talks about the exciting arrival of her books in the latest episode of my podcast. Yes, Imogen is joining…
Doing What Kids Ought to Do
Years ago, we lived in a back-to-front cottage. The back door faced the long driveway that led to the road, and the front one turned towards an endless paddock of chewing-the-cud cows. Around the cottage was what the real estate woman had called a yard: “It’s nothing fancy,” she’d said on the day when she’d shown me the house. Her yard was my garden, and my garden was my kids’ magical world. They loved the untidy grass, the crabapple tree,…
Perfectly Them
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
Do We Have Trouble Trusting Our Kids Because of Our Own Experiences?
Can kids be trusted? If we give them the freedom to direct their lives, won’t they do nothing much at all? Won’t they choose to be lazy? I wonder if we have trouble trusting our kids because we remember what we were like when we were children. Perhaps we weren’t hardworking. Could we have spent lots of time trying to avoid such things as chores? Maybe we weren’t dedicated to our school work and needed someone to push us along…
Unschooling, Plot Holes, and Twonk
Yesterday, something unexpected happened: I recorded a new podcast episode! It had been a long time since I last headed into my closet, set up my mic, and started talking. Yes, I’d been neglecting my podcast. But why? A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post called Falling Apart. I explained how I was feeling overwhelmed and needed to take a break from some of my regular activities. I wrote: It’s been a long time since I made my…
Unschool Socialisation: Making Friends, Being Different
It’s Saturday afternoon. I’m at home, settled in front of the heater, thinking about socialisation. Am I’m feeling sociable at the moment? No. I’m…
Love and a Mother’s Heart Stories
Children bring us great joy. Our hearts overflow with love for them. We enfold them in our arms and enjoy. But sometimes that same…
Keeping Teenagers Safe from the Dangers of the World
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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…
Unschooling, Attachment, and the Art of Letting Go: Building Trust Instead of Rules
We don’t make rules in our family, so how do my children know what is right and what is wrong, if they aren’t guided by clearly stated limits? Do I believe my own quiet example of appropriate behaviour is all that is needed in order to influence my children? Perhaps I stand back, hands-off, and let my children behave as…
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…
Christian Unschooling: Should We Encourage Our Kids to Seek Security?
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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…