Stories of an Unschooling Family

Encouraging Kids to Say Thank You

How do we encourage our younger children to say thank you? Do they need only our good example to copy? Is learning good manners enough? Our kids could just repeat the polite words. But is it better if their response…

Getting Kids to Help with the Chores

Should parents expect kids to help with the chores? How do we encourage kids to have a generous attitude and want to be part of the family team, helping with the work? Here’s a simple suggestion that doesn’t involve chore…

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…

Unschooling: Impressing Other People

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Being Unschool Superheroes Who Save the World

A few days ago, it was my husband Andy’s birthday and our children gave him a lot of superhero-themed gifts: an Iron Man t-shirt, the original Hulk DVD and matching socks, a Captain America shirt and a Superman towel. Perfect presents for Andy who is our superhero. [/bigletter] I was thinking about superheroes while I was writing my book Curious Unschoolers. One of the last stories in the book is called Does the World Need Unschooling? Here’s part of it:…

Fearing Our Kids Will Fail

When I was about eleven or twelve, I swam in a school carnival. I didn’t want to. You see, I wasn’t a strong swimmer. I was rather alarmed when I found out that I’d been entered for a freestyle race. The only good thing about the race was that it was short. I only had to swim the width of the pool. Anyone could do that, couldn’t they? Except somehow I didn’t manage to get across the pool in one…

Building Strong Relationships With Our Kids

Last week, we went on an adventure. Sophie, Gemma-Rose, Andy and I travelled to a small country town in the north of our state to visit our son Callum. We spent a few days bumping along dirt roads in Callum’s truck seeing all the local sights. We saw herds of cows, grubby sheep, an unusually huge black wallaby as well as kangaroos, wedge-tailed eagles, a couple of open cut coal mines, extraordinarily long coal trains which looked like brown snakes…

Another Way of Looking at Our Unschooled Kids’ Learning

I didn’t publish a podcast episode last week. That might not surprise you because recently, I’ve become an unreliable podcaster. But maybe you will be surprised when I tell you that I did make an episode. This morning, I dashed into my closet recording studio and recorded episode 155. I edited it and then checked it by listening to it while walking the dogs. And then I uploaded it. It’s now available online! So I’m feeling good. I’ve caught up.…

Another Way of Looking at Our Kids’ Learning

While I was eating my lunch today, I thought about all the things my daughter Gemma-Rose did this morning. I mentally translated all her learning experiences into schooly language. I knew I could write lots of impressive notes that would convince an education authority that Gemma-Rose is learning everything that they think is essential for a good education. And then I thought about how Gemma-Rose’s learning experiences aren’t just about history and English and creative arts. She is learning far…

Becoming Brave and Gritty

This morning, I posted the following words on Instagram: Hello! It’s Monday morning here in Australia. I am thinking about the day ahead. Should I start it with a run? The only problem is the temperature. It’s below freezing. Should I be brave and gritty and head out for a run even though I know I’m going to feel cold and uncomfortable? At the time of writing, I was sitting in my toasty warm bed drinking a cup of tea.…

How Will We Know if We’ve Been Successful in Raising and Educating Our Kids?

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Reject What Doesn’t Feel Right and Just Love

If it doesn’t feel right, we shouldn’t do it. For example: I used to battle with my kids as I tried to get them to do what I thought was important. Yes, they protested, but I had to persist. I had to teach my children the right lessons. Life is tough. We have to do things we don’t want to do, don’t we? So I pushed my kids to do their ‘schoolwork’ and other things that I thought were good…

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My Unschooling Books

Wholy Souly

Belong

On a mid-spring day that feels like summer, I walk through the bush with Nora and Quinn, scanning the sandy track ahead for snakes among the fallen tree branches. The [...]

The Premature End

I’m going to do something I shouldn’t because it’s breaking the rules. But I’m going to do it anyway. I’m breaking my blogging pact. Yes, two weeks in, and I [...]

Rereading the Day

Each evening, do you reflect on your day? Do you make a note of the blessings and delights you received? How about the difficult times? Perhaps you think about the [...]

Shame About AI

Should people who use AI feel ashamed? Should I feel that way? While researching AI, I found a commenter saying authors who use AI to promote their work should be [...]