Approaching Classic Novels the Other Way Around

“What are you reading?” I ask my ten year old daughter, Gemma-Rose. She looks up from her Kindle and says, “Bleak House.” I remember reading this Charles Dickens book a couple of years ago. It took me a long time…

Unschooling Adventure Juice

Most people put petrol or gas into their vehicles’ tanks. But we fill our car with adventure juice. Once the tank is full, we smile. Where shall we go? What shall we see? What will we do? What adventures will…

Resolving to Go on More Adventures

This afternoon I had to drive to town to buy a few essentials: cheese and biscuits, wine and coke. Andy and I are off to our parish’s trivia event tonight, and we need to take along a few things to…

Reaching the Finish Line: Achieving Our Dreams

If we’re willing to learn new skills, persevere through any problems, put in a lot of effort, and ignore our fears, we can achieve our dreams and inspire our kids to do amazing things of their own. So, what’s your…

Unschooling: Living Lives Unimagined

This morning, my photo appeared on the Homeschooling Global Summit website. There I am in the section, Homeschooling and Unschooling Leaders speaking at HGS 2020! Last week, I was interviewed by Daniel Prince from the HGS. Of course, we spoke…

Latest

How Unschooling Doesn’t Guarantee a Fairytale Life

Yesterday evening, like all Sunday evenings, my kids who live locally came to dinner. Six of us gathered around our dining room table, savouring a meal cooked by my husband while enjoying the usual end-of-the-week lively catch-up conversation. There was a time when we dreamed that all our children would buy houses on the same street as our family home. They’d move one by one, just a few houses away, so that we could gather at each other’s tables and…

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 The Ladies Fixing the World podcast. We enjoyed chatting. We hope you enjoy listening! Watch the video episode above or…

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 need to prove our kids are learning for homeschool registration purposes? How can we provide evidence of learning without compromising…

Unschooling, Homemaking, and a Mother’s Role

Erin wrote: What does the idea of homemaking mean to you? Is it a certain skill set or talent? Does it need to look or happen a certain way, or is it a flexible term? What role does homemaking play for you in home ed life? Do the two need to go together? Are there aspects of homemaking that you like and others that you don’t? Where do gender roles come into play? What, if any, role do children play…

The Math Myth: How Do Unschooled Kids Learn Math?

There are many unschool maths questions. Here are just a few of them: Can kids really learn maths without formal instruction? What does unschooling maths look like? Can we strew unschool maths? Is it possible for registered homeschoolers to unschool maths? How can we provide evidence kids are learning maths when we don’t have formal records like workbooks and test results? What about testing? Will unschooling not work in some situations? How do we know kids are learning maths? Where…

Are There Times When You Should Never Give Up Unschooling?

Are there times when you should never give up unschooling? Are there circumstances that could cloud your judgement and lead to poor decisions? Life might not be going well, and you could blame unschooling. You decide everything will be better once you take control and get everyone back on track. But is unschooling the problem? Or is it the scapegoat for something else? [visual-link-preview encoded=”eyJ0eXBlIjoiaW50ZXJuYWwiLCJwb3N0Ijo4OTMwLCJwb3N0X2xhYmVsIjoiUG9zdCA4OTMwIC0gV2hlbiBVbnNjaG9vbGluZyBEb2Vzbid0IFNlZW0gdG8gYmUgV29ya2luZyIsInVybCI6IiIsImltYWdlX2lkIjoyNTc1NiwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3Rvcmllc29mYW51bnNjaG9vbGluZ2ZhbWlseS5jb20vd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMTgvMDcvSU1HXzI1NzUuanBlZyIsInRpdGxlIjoiV2hlbiBVbnNjaG9vbGluZyBEb2Vzbid0IFNlZW0gdG8gYmUgV29ya2luZyIsInN1bW1hcnkiOiJXZSBkZWNpZGUgdG8gdW5zY2hvb2wuIEV2ZXJ5dGhpbmcgZ29lcyByZWFsbHkgd2VsbC4gT3VyIGtpZHMgYXJlIGxlYXJuaW5nLiBPdXIgZmFtaWx5IGJvbmRzIGFyZSBzdHJlbmd0aGVuaW5nLiBMaWZlIGlzIGZ1bGwgb2Ygam95LiBUaGVuIG9uZSBkYXksIHRoaW5ncyBjaGFuZ2UuIFNvbWV0aGluZyBoYXBwZW5zLiBNYXliZSBhIGNoaWxkIG1ha2VzIGEgbWlzdGFrZS4gU2hlIGNvdWxkIGNob29zZSB0byBnbyBoZXIgb3duIHdheS4gRG8gc29tZXRoaW5nIHdlJiM4MjE3O3JlIG5vdCBoYXBweSBhYm91dC4gV2UgYmVnaW4gdG8gZG91YnQgd2hhdCB3ZSYjODIxNztyZSBkb2luZy4gV2UgdGhpbms6IFBlcmhhcHMgdW5zY2hvb2xpbmcgZG9lc24mIzgyMTc7dCB3b3JrIGFmdGVyIGFsbC4gTWF5YmUgdGhlIGNyaXRpY3MgYXJlIHJpZ2h0OiBZb3Ugc2hvdWxkIGhhdmUga2VwdCB0aWdodCBjb250cm9sIG92ZXIgeW91ciBraWRzISBZZXMsIHdlIGZlZWwgbGlrZSB3ZSYjODIxNzt2ZSBmYWlsZWQuIFdlIGhlYXIgYSBsb3Qgb2YgcG9zaXRpdmUgdGhpbmdzIGZyb20gdW5zY2hvb2xlcnMuIEkgc3VwcG9zZSB0aGF0JiM4MjE3O3MgYmVjYXVzZSBtb3N0IHBhcmVudHMgd2FudCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoidXNlX2RlZmF1bHRfZnJvbV9zZXR0aW5ncyIsInByb3ZpZGVyX3VzZWQiOiIifQ==”] Life can look grey when you’re tired or sick and unable to cope. How…

Passing on Our Fears to Our Kids

How do you feel when your children try things out in public with everybody looking on? Do you admire their courage and say, “Have a go!” Or do you worry they’ll fail? When my kids were much younger, we made a last-minute decision to attend a five-day homeschool camp. When the people organising the music for the daily Masses heard we’d be there, they asked my daughter, Imogen, to play the organ. “Should I give it a go, Mum?” “You’ve…

Unschooling Is Carried by Conversations

Dinner tables, car rides, bedtime chats, and café corners are the real places where unschooling lives and grows. Conversations—often unscheduled, informal, and unplanned—can become the central structure of a learning life. Gathering at the Dinner Table In our house, we never met for breakfast or lunch. Those were meals where people ate what, where and when they liked. But we always gathered at the table in the evening. This gave us a sense of belonging. [00:18:00] The table was our…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

When in Doubt, Just Love

Last Wednesday, I pushed our living room sofa out of position, exposing a stretch of plain duck-egg blue wall. I placed a chair and…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling Isn’t Freedom Gone Wild: Why Choices Matter More Than Ideals

My husband Andy returned to work today after two weeks at home. Holiday time is over. We’ve now moved into term time. A whole term of possibility days stretches before me. I’m free to do whatever I like with my time while Andy is at school. My eyes light up with delight. But then I remember there are many…

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…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: the Foremost Task of a Parent

A few days ago, in my Stories of an Unschooling Family community, I posted these thoughts: A parent does her best to give her child a good education but should concentrating on academic success be her main focus? Perhaps a parent’s most important task is to teach a child about love. Intelligence and academic achievements are highly regarded by the…

The ‘Risky’ Business of Trusting Children

Trusting children to make their own choices sounds risky enough when it applies only to education, but what if you extend this trust to other areas of life? Will children decide they don’t want to go to Mass or eat healthy food? Perhaps they will want to watch inappropriate movies or play computer games all day. Some parents decide they…
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