How Kids Need Something Better Than Perfect Lives

If it were possible, would you give your kids a perfect life? Or do they need something better? Sitting on my faded blue chair in our back garden, clad in my pjs, at 7 o’clock this morning, savouring the relatively…

Bare Foot Unschooling and Comfortable Shoes

Many years ago I fell in love with a pair of soft golden-brown leather moccasins. They were decorated with tassels, threaded with tiny glass beads. Those shoes were absolutely beautiful and as soon as I saw them in the shop,…

When Unschooling Doesn’t Seem to be Working

We decide to unschool. Everything goes really well. Our kids are learning. Our family bonds are strengthening. Life is full of joy. Then one day, things change. Something happens. Maybe a child makes a mistake. She could choose to go…

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Old and New Stories, a Book Club and Other Unschooling Things

A few weeks ago, I received a letter from Fr James Tierney who is the author of the Bush Boys children’s books. Fr and I are old friends. We’re also writing buddies. And Fr is also a great source of inspiration and encouragement for me and my family. As I was writing my reply to Fr’s letter, I realised that Fr Jim must have recently celebrated his anniversary of ordination. Which anniversary was it? I remembered going to a special…

Encouraging Each Other to Do Difficult Things

The other morning while I was running with our dog Quinn, we met a man ambling along with a huge roly-poly overweight dog. There they were on the track just ahead of us. Instantly, I came to a halt and grabbed Quinn’s collar. The man took hold of his dog and tried to stop too. But he couldn’t. His dog was determined to greet Quinn nose to nose. It edged closer and closer to us despite the man’s efforts to…

How It’s Okay if We’re Not Perfect Parents

Do I want to be as good a mother as Sue Elvis? Or do I want Sue Elvis to be my mother? Perhaps a bit of both. Another phenomenal book that I’ll read again and again. Sue’s books remind me that there’s so much fun & whimsy to motherhood & childhood. I just love everything about these 2 books and hope more will come soon. I found the above words in a Goodreads review of my unschooling book, Radical Unschool…

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…
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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…

How Unschooling Doesn’t Guarantee a Fairytale Life

Yesterday evening, like all Sunday evenings, my kids who live locally came to dinner. Six of us gathered around our dining room table, savouring a meal cooked by my husband while enjoying the usual end-of-the-week lively catch-up conversation. There was a time when we dreamed that all our children would buy houses on the same street as our family home.…

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…

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