REAL LIFE Junk Mail Catalogue MATHS

Yesterday I noticed a pile of junk mail catalogues sitting on the kitchen bench, waiting to be thrown into the recycling bin. I had an idea… “If I gave you $500 what would you buy, if you could choose anything…

Should a Child Be Given the Freedom to Choose?

If children are given the freedom to do whatever they want, will they choose to do nothing at all?… Imogen, would you like to discuss this question with me, in this week’s podcast?” My nearly 20-year-old daughter said, “Okay!”, so…

An Interview with a Teenage Radical Unschooler

Last week, in episode 109 of my unschooling podcast, I was chatting about radical unschooling. This week, I’m interviewing Sophie (16) who is a radical unschooler. If you’re unsure about this way of life, perhaps our conversation will reassure you that…

Latest

Is It Okay if Parents Want to Influence Their Unschooling Kids?

Is it okay if we try to influence our unschooling kids? What if we’d like them to acquire particular values? Can we expose them to our beliefs? Or should we stand back and try to keep quiet about the things we base our lives on and let our kids work out everything for themselves? Let’s say we decide it’s not right to influence our kids in any way. What would life look like? Imagine if we never shared an…

More Unschooling Math/s – What Does Learning Mathematics Naturally Look Like

When my kids were younger, I’d search for maths associated with their passions. I’d Google ‘maths and Jane Austen’ or ‘maths and art history’ or ‘maths and Shakespeare’. I discovered loads of unschool maths and interesting facts that I made into notes to include in our homeschool records book. I shared this story and other unschool maths ones in the Virtual Kitchen Table podcast episode 38.…

Why Parents Should Help with the Family Chores

When I was at school, my friend Beatrix never had to do any chores. She didn’t have to wash dishes, clean bathrooms, or sweep floors. I wonder if she had to clean her bedroom. Beatrix’s mother said that once she was grown up and had a home of her own, she’d have to do all the chores. She wouldn’t have a choice. For now, she needn’t do any.  I don’t think many parents take this approach to chores. Most say…

Does Respecting Older People Begin with Respecting Kids?

Whenever someone says I look young for my age, I grin. I accept the compliment. But recently, I’ve wondered: what’s wrong with looking my real age? Do I need to appear younger than I am? There’s an older woman who sits in the front pew at Mass. One day, when the service was over, I couldn’t help but overhear someone bending over her and asking in a sing-song voice, “How old are you, dear?” And I thought: when did…

Learning to Read and Trusting Unschooling

It is absolutely essential that we are curious people who are excited about the possibilities in life. The atmosphere in our homes gets picked up by our kids so they think it’s normal to learn, to be curious, to follow thoughts and ideas and try things out… I was battling with my kids for a while. They kept saying, ‘Why do we have to do this, Mum?” And I replied, “Because I said so.” And I thought, “It’s your turn…

Do Unschooled Kids (and Parents) Need Time Away From Their Devices?

If we conclude that good mental, physical, and spiritual health requires silence, nature, real people, and exercise, what does this mean for our unschooling kids? Should we limit their screen time? Should we force them off their devices and make them exercise and spend time with us? Perhaps we should announce we’re having a screen-free day, and everyone must spend time hiking through the bush. Or won’t that work? When we research a question, we often know the answer…

The Discomfort of Letting Go and Allowing Our Kids (and Ourselves) to Grow

We organise life so we’re not challenged too much. We don’t want to stray outside our comfort zone because that could be painful. We say no instead of yes to our kids, not wanting them to go to parties at night, ride their bikes on the road, run through the bush alone, or learn to drive. We don’t want thoughts of danger to torment our minds. We don’t want to worry. But are we truly comfortable when we try to…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: Coping With the Unexpected

I used to think I could control my life. To achieve a perfect life, all I had to do was organise everything well, including my kids. What is a perfect life? My perfect life vision included a graduated row of good-looking and well-behaved children. I wanted people to admire my family and home, saying, “Sue is such a good mother!…

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: 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…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: Should We Encourage Our Kids to Seek Security?

Should we encourage our kids to seek security? Is it our parental duty to make sure they receive the education and opportunities they might need to get safe, well-paying jobs when they leave our care? Or is that kind of security not what our children need? Could security be about something else?…

Pondering Trust

I never wanted to be in a position where I had to trust God. I preferred to rely on my own resources. I wanted to be totally in control of my own life. That seemed easier to do because trusting is so very difficult. Or so it can seem. Then one day, at a time when I was feeling rather…
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