How the Girls Are Going to Write Novels in Only One Month

 The girls can’t wait. They’ve been planning for weeks. There’s only seven days to go…. until… NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. I heard about this yearly online event on Kari’s blog, Overflow, last year, when she announced…

A Typical Unschooling Day at Home

Yesterday… The phone alarm beeps at 6.10 am. A few minutes later, I swing my legs over the side of the bed, and pad down the hall to the girls’ bedrooms. I open their doors and say, “Anyone want to…

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…

I am a Pirate King!

Or the delights of Gilbert and Sullivan.  A few years ago, the Dominican nuns from Ganmain came to our homeschooling camp. They swept in, resplendent and imposing in their spotless habits with plans, not only to teach our children the…

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How Unschooling Is More Than Educating for a Secure Job

What do we want for our kids? A good education? If so, what does that look like? Do we want our kids to get good grades that will allow them to get into university? Would we like them to study degrees that will lead to high-status careers? Do we hope they’ll get well paying secure jobs that will set them up for life? Or isn’t that enough? Because even though feeling secure about money is good, that doesn’t necessarily lead to…

Registered Homeschoolers Who Unschool, Confidence, and Other Thoughts

I wonder if more people would unschool if there was no such thing as homeschool registration. Maybe having to fulfil registration requirements seems daunting. How can we give our kids the freedom to follow their interests when we have to answer to the education department? Can it be done? I think it can, and this was one of the messages I wanted to pass on when I was talking about unschooling in Canberra recently. This is our 27th year of…

How Choosing a Different Path Can Cause Conflict

When we choose to do things differently from those around us, it’s rarely simple. Although we might say that it’s okay for everyone to do what suits their own family – which is true – somehow it’s hard not to be affected by each other’s choices and opinions. As unschoolers, we might get criticised for our choices. Some people want to give us advice. They think we’re making a big mistake and feel compelled to say something. I guess they’re…

Why I Concluded That Unschooling Doesn’t Work When It Does

When we first started unschooling, I used to read John Holt’s magazine Growing Without Schooling. Every couple of months or so, a new copy would land in our mailbox. I’d make a cup of coffee and then settle down to devour each edition from cover to cover. I read wonderful stories about children who were doing amazing things such as rewiring their family homes. I got excited. I couldn’t wait until my kids did similar things. Would they research electrical…

Shall We Talk About Christian Unschooling?

I often get to the point where I feel I haven’t got anything more to say about unschooling. I wonder: is it time to move on? At the beginning of last year, I reached such a point. However, instead of thinking about moving away from unschooling, I proposed the idea of exploring unschooling from a different angle. Should we discuss Christian unschooling? I got excited about this idea, and other people did too. But somehow nothing much happened. I just…

Turning Waiting Times into Unschooling Adventures

Do you spend a lot of time waiting? I used to. When my kids were younger, I had to wait while they had piano lessons, singing lessons, musicianship lessons and swimming lessons. I waited while they went to Brownies and St John Ambulance meetings. I waited while my daughter Imogen earnt herself some money by cleaning houses. Sometimes I got fed up with waiting. I sat in the car and watched my watch which made time feel like it was…

Leaving Magical Fingerprints on Each Other’s Lives

Friends leave their magical fingerprints on our lives. I remember the day that I heard that Nancy Shuman had died. It was a Sunday. Andy, the girls and I had spent the afternoon with my parents. My son Duncan was at home looking after our new puppy, Quinn. It was just a normal weekend day. But when we arrived home, I knew something was wrong. Duncan’s face was creased into a dozen lines. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “I’ve lost…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

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…

Christian unschooling

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…
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