Giving a Child Unasked-For Help
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Focusing on the Smaller But More Important Things in Life
In my last post I said: What am I going to do next? What are my plans? What’s ahead for me? Someone at the Canberra unschooling meeting wanted to know what I’d like to do now that I’ve published my…
Our Typical Unschooling Mornings
This post follows on from Why Some Kids Are Willing to Help With the Chores. I’ve been thinking about how our life does look rather conventional. What makes our life… different from any structured homeschoolers’ life? Is it any different?…
Why Kids with Families Don’t Need Workbooks to Learn Basic Maths
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Creativity: Why Classical Music Isn’t Enough
I had an idea: “Hey, Imogen, would you like to record a podcast with me? We could discuss all those wild unschooling thoughts that keep bubbling up inside of us.” My 20-year-old daughter nodded, and asked, “What shall we talk…
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,…
Younger Unschoolers: When Does Unschooling Begin?
The other day, I posted this on Instagram: Does anyone want to talk about little kids? Unschooling? Parenting? Both? I often talk and write about teenagers and young adults because my children are older. (My baby will soon be 16!) But I have also written a number of stories about younger kids. I could probably write a few new ones too because, of course, I have lots of younger-children memories! I could introduce a few topics, share some thoughts, link…
Fighting on the Front Line
A couple of days ago, we had some good news: the status of our bushfire has changed from ‘out of control’ to ‘being controlled’. Isn’t that wonderful? The fire is huge so the fight to put it out is far from over. But the change in status is very encouraging. So far this week, the weather has been mild. I’m sure the RFS (Rural Fire Service) is grateful for the lower temperatures and the lack of strong winds. They’ve been…
Giggling at Shocking Things
On the first day of 2020, I lost my sense of humour. Usually, I’m a positive person, but the current bushfire situation pushed me over the edge. “I’m tired of breathing smoky air,” I complained. “I’m fed up of watching fire updates and wondering if the fire is coming our way. I want life to return to normal.” My husband Andy tried to make me feel better. “It will all be over soon.” But that’s not true. The fire has…
Mother on Duty
At 10:15 am, my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose appears in the living room where I’m keeping track of the bushfire activity near us. (Through the window, I can see the fire trucks and other vehicles arriving and leaving our road.) ”You slept in for a long time,” I say. “You must have been tired.” Gemma-Rose nods. I understand. Living with a bushfire in our village is exhausting. ”I didn’t get much sleep last night,” I say. “While everyone was asleep, I…
When Life Gets a Bit Too Interesting!
Life is certainly interesting at the moment. A little bit too interesting! You might remember how a week or so ago, we prepared our house just in case the out-of-control bushfire that was burning not very far away arrived in our village. Well, the other day, the fire did arrive. Life hasn’t been normal since we received an emergency warning about the fire. It’s become full of bushfires, fire trucks, evacuation centres, water-bombing aircraft, containment lines and bulldozers. There has…
Unschool Bushfire Maths
I open my phone to google ‘smoky or smokey’ to find out the correct spelling of this word. (I’ve been using it a lot lately.) And I find a warning waiting for me to read. (It arrived in the night while I was asleep.) A fire has escalated in your watch zone. I head straight over to the Fires Near Me app to see what’s going on. I discover that there’s no need to panic. The bushfire is no longer…
Accepting, Respecting, and Loving Unconditionally: An Unschooler’s Thoughts
In episode 70 of my podcast, Trust, Respect, and Love Unconditionally. my daughter Sophie shared some very insightful thoughts about respecting kids, accepting them…
Preventing Childhood Trauma with Unconditional Love
Childhood trauma can follow us into adulthood, affecting what we do, how we feel about ourselves and how we relate to others. We can…
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…
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…
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 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…
Love or Fear? What Guides Our Lives?
There are so many things we could fear. We might be too afraid to send our kids to school if we listen to the loud voices telling us how bad traditional education is. We might choose homeschooling because of that fear. If we decide to homeschool, we’re still not safe. Fears could follow us. We might be too afraid to…
Speed Angel Joy
I am sitting by the lake watching four girls scooting along the path. They are the Speed Angel Sisters and they are fast! Every now and then the girls veer off onto the grass and come to a sudden halt: a pedestrian is approaching. Now the speedway is clear again, and strong legs start pushing, wheels are revolving, hair…