Giving My Unschoolers a Maths Test

I had this brilliant idea. Well, I thought it was a pretty good idea until this morning. It was all to do with maths. How do you prove your children are covering the required maths syllabus, and achieving the necessary…

No More Nice, Dead People!

This is a guest post by Carolyn Blessington. Late 2012, about when the world was supposed to end and more than two years before my first child was born, I took a class called REALationship 101 with a guy named…

Rules, Responsible Parenting and Radical Unschooling

If you do a Google search on unschooling it won’t take you very long to find someone criticising unschoolers. The most judged unschoolers are those who have adopted a radical way of life: those who do not force a set…

Responding to Unschooling and Other Critics

Earlier this week, I got involved in a long and involved conversation on Facebook. I don’t usually do this, but this time, I didn’t have a choice. The discussion began on my timeline. It was rather a heated debate: There…

Latest

How Curious Unschooled Kids Learn

The big question is this: will I be awake at 1 am tomorrow (AEST)? Will I join the first live session of my Homeschooling Global Summit interview? Earlier today, I received a Summit email that included these words: If you are available for any of your two sessions, we would love to have you come and join us to chat and engage with the audience.  Two sessions? Yes, my interview will be streamed again with another live chat session at…

More About Starting Unschooling

Yesterday, I was brave. When I tell you what I did, maybe many of you will think, “Is that all Sue did?” You might not be impressed. However, I did something that was difficult for me. I hosted my first Zoom meeting! Two or three weeks ago, I’d tentatively suggested to my community friends that we meet up via a Zoom call. Half of me was hoping that no one would think this was a good idea. I’d be let…

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 about unschooling and our kids. But one of the other things we touched on was the adventures we’re both having as unschooling parents. As I said, years ago, I set out on a search for the best way to educate…

Unschooling: Kippers and Other Conversations

We’re watching Masterchef. In tonight’s episode, there’s an identification challenge. Laid out on a table is an array of small, large, speckled, dark, pink, long, flat, thin, goggled-eyed, scaly fish. The contestants stand in a line waiting for their turn to choose one of the fish and identify it. When someone makes a mistake, a judge says in a regretful tone, “I’m sorry, that’s not correct. You’re moving into the elimination round.” On Sunday, some of the contestants will cook…

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 a small table where the sofa had been. On top of the table, I stacked six encyclopaedias. And on top of those thick books, I balanced my laptop which was attached to an external mic and webcam. Then I guarded everything from inquisitive cats and dogs until the clock hands reached 3.30 pm. Then with my…

Unschool Love Stories

About a month ago, I wrote the following story for my unschooling community: This morning, I didn’t want to go for a run. It was cold, I was tired, and I had no one to run with. Running seemed too difficult. Each morning for the last five days, I’ve found a reason not to head out the door just after sunrise to run along the bush tracks at the end of our road. I’ve been thinking: do I still want…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Parents, Teenagers and Opinions

Why do some parents want to impose their opinions on their children? Do they do this because they care? Perhaps they want their teenagers…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Curiosity, Flexibility, and Trust

I’m a Lady Fixing the World! Cecilie Conrad kindly invited me to join her and Sandra Dodd for Season 2 of her podcastThe Ladies Fixing the World. We recorded our first unschooling conversation together in November 2024 before life got extra-busy with Christmas, and it has just gone live! The audio version. Here’s the audio version: You can also listen…

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

When We Can’t Decide What’s the Best Way to Bring Up and Educate Our Kids

Do you ever swap between the various methods of homeschooling looking for the perfect way to bring up and educate your kids? I used to do that. I’d try one thing after another, confusing myself and my kids, while never finding what I was searching for. As I said in my book Curious Unschoolers: … I pondered lots of questions:…

Christian Unschooling and Other Things

I made a new podcast episode! Yes, after an absence of a few weeks, I’m back. So where did I go? Nowhere in particular. I was just at home enjoying lots of slow summer days. Maybe I was feeling lazy. But yesterday, that changed. I suddenly felt like getting back to work. And so I thought I’d record a catch-up…
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