Do You Need to Follow an Older Unschooler? (Part 2)

I choose the photos I share online with care, looking for ones with good, flattering light. I also need my photo smile to be just right. Sometimes, my smile looks a bit goofy because of my overbite. I reject these…

Ideas for Starting Unschooling

A few posts ago, I was talking about collaboration. Would anyone like to work with me as we try to spread the unschooling message? Could we light a gentle unschooling fire together? I was afraid no one would respond to…

An Unschooling Way of High School Science

I hop from blog to blog, sampling a homeschooling science program here, and one there, and I become alarmed and a bit unsettled. The programs all look so impressive and detailed. I creep quietly back to my own little blog…

Being Honest: Talking about Mistakes and Perfection

Some things are absolutely perfect, like our recent holiday to Jenolan Caves. As I look at the photos, I smile. I know I’ll enjoy the memories of that wonderful time again and again. But some things are far from perfect.…

Turning Our Unschool Weeks into Homeschool Records

Sometimes life is quiet. We can stay at home and relax. There’s plenty of time to say such things as “Would you like to watch a Shakespeare play with me?” We read books and drink hot chocolate. We write and…

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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…

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…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?

There are loads of unschooling questions we could ask about learning: How do we know unschooling kids are learning? Should they be learning particular things? Is there knowledge that all kids need? Are our unschooled kids learning enough? Can they get behind? Should we just trust our kids are learning? But what if we have doubts? Or what if we…

Unschooling: Trust, Autonomy, and The Realities of Learning

The Ladies are Fixing the World again! Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing the words ‘self-regulation’ and ‘limits’. When we say, “I’ve let go of control, and now I’m waiting for my child to learn how to regulate his time playing video games (for example),” do we have expectations about what that regulation should look like? Do we want…

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…

Christian unschooling

Could Ebooks Save My Unschool Blog?

The other day, I logged into my blog hosting account to find out when my next payment is due and how much it will be. When I saw the bill due later this year, I gulped and said to my husband, “Do we want to spend so much money on a site that’s often slow or offline because of a…

Christian Unschooling: Disciplining With Unconditional Love

If our children misbehave, what do we do? Make them sit on the time-out chair? Punish them? Perhaps we should withdraw our love. Be cold and distant. Make things unpleasant for our kids because they need to know how upset we are, don’t they? We want them to feel bad because then, maybe, they’ll remember to act in the right…
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