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…

When We Reach Crisis Point

The other day, I heard some words to this effect: Only when the pain that it takes to remain the same outweighs the pain that it takes to change are we finally willing to make some decisions and act. We…

A Main Course of Reading Out Loud

This morning we took a trip into town. While Imogen and Charlotte had piano lessons, the younger girls and I made the most of our waiting time, and did some grocery shopping. It was gone 11 am before we arrived…

Latest

What if We’d Like Our Kids to Be Early Risers?

Sometimes when I write a post about our typical unschooling days, a reader stops by and says, “Oh, Sue, your mornings sound delightful! I wish my family would get up early so we could get a good start on the day. I can’t get my kids out of bed. They just grumble and roll over and go back to sleep. What can I do?” Now, this might not be you, but if it is, what do you do? Perhaps you…

Encouraging Each Other

Sue Elvis is a mother of 8 with stacks of stories to tell. She generously shares her Stories of an Unschooling Family on her blog, YouTube channel, podcast, Instagram and most recently in her books, Curious Unschoolers and Radical Unschool Love. And these stories are epic. Not in their length, most of them are short reads. And certainly not fantasy. Sue’s stories are epic in the best possible way. True stories of ordinary days with extraordinary significance… These are the…

Books That Make Us Cry

On the last day of the last school term for 2019, I sent a text message to my husband, Andy: We just got a bushfire emergency warning. A few minutes later, Andy phoned me and I said, “The fire isn’t far away.” It was burning in our neighbouring village. My voice wobbled as I added, “Everyone has been told it’s too late to leave. The only option is to take shelter.” Andy asked, “Are you okay?” A couple of seconds…

Younger Unschoolers: Including the Baby in the Adventure

We’re going on an adventure. We’re going to have a wonderful time. But wait! What about the baby? We can’t just rush out the door ready to explore when we have little ones in our family. At least that’s what I used to believe. My first child was not an adventurer. Her sleep habits wouldn’t allow it. Felicity slept at regular times. I’d lay her down at the first sign of tiredness, and she’d quickly drift off to sleep. Usually,…

Younger Unschoolers: Our Learning Adventure Rules

If we’re willing to seize the moment, we can have some fabulous spur-of-the-moment learning adventures. We could find ourselves unexpectedly sitting on a beach watching breaching whales. But can we also have planned adventures with our unschooling kids? Oh yes! When my kids were younger, they loved exploring new places and experiencing new things. (They still do!) They were ready at any moment to head out the door on an adventure. But sometimes I wasn’t ready. Other things claimed my…

Younger Unschoolers: Spur-of-the-Moment Adventures

One of the best learning days that I can remember happened many years ago when my eldest child was about six or seven. I was listening to the radio while doing some chores and heard that a whale and her calf had been spotted off a local beach. I told my kids (I had three at the time), and they got very excited. Could we go to the beach? Could we see the whales? Of course! We abandoned the chores,…
1 … 33 34 35 36 37 … 109

My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Unschooling: Dishes

This evening, after dinner, I didn’t want to help with the dishes. I just wanted to relax on the sofa and leave everyone else…

The Ladies Fixing the World

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 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…

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:…

Can Unschooling Be a Christian Thing to Do?

When a child has been controlled all her life, she just might grow into the kind of adult who says, “Nobody is ever going to make me do what they want ever again. From now on I’m going to do what I want.” She might close herself off, stand well back, not let anyone get too close. Because you never…
Go toTop