Social Media, Internet Addiction, and Screen Time
A week ago, I signed into Facebook for the last time. After a quick glance at my timeline and blog page, I headed to the settings so that I could delete my account. The deletion link was accompanied by some words of warning. Had I considered how important social media is? How will I connect with the people who are…
Is the Internet Addictive or is There Another Reason Why I Waste Time Online?
I’ve announced I’m leaving Facebook. I could have slipped away quietly. It was tempting to do that. But I wanted to thank my friends for including me in their lives, taking an interest in mine, and being so kind and loving to me and my family over the past few years. Yes, Facebook hasn’t been all bad. Actually, it has…
Disentangling Myself from the Internet
I’m lying in bed. Thoughts are running laps inside my head. Of course, I can’t sleep. I wonder if I should get up and write down what I’m thinking. Write the blog post that wants to be written. But I don’t push back the blankets and head for my computer: It’s cold. Instead, I continue to write inside my head…
How Do I Turn Unschooling Life 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 chat and work on our individual projects. And as we do all this, I add links and notes to our…
What is Unschooling? A Transcript
Hayley from the blog Taking a kinder path transcribed my video What is Unschooling? allowing me to turn that video into a blog post. I’ve made minor changes to the original words so that my points are easier to understand – I never say things in a video or podcast as well as I’d like! – and to make the spoken words…
No More Nice, Dead People!
This is a guest post by Carolyn Blessington. Late 2012, about when the world was supposed to end and more than two years before my first child was born, I took a class called REALationship 101 with a guy named Steve1. My boyfriend and I needed help communicating and working out our differences. So, we delved into Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent…
Accepting, Respecting, and Loving Unconditionally: An Unschooler’s Thoughts
In episode 70 of my podcast, Trust, Respect, and Love Unconditionally. my daughter Sophie shared some very insightful thoughts about respecting kids, accepting them for who they are, and making them feel unconditionally loved. Here is a transcript of part of our conversation. Sophie was 15 at the time of this podcast interview. Sue: When you listen to other families…
Podcasting Breaks and Unschooling Books
This is a very short blog post. All I want to say is: I’m taking a short podcasting break while I work on my unschooling book. If you’d like to hear more about Podcasting Breaks and Unschooling Books, you could listen to this week’s very short podcast, episode 103. I hope you’ll watch out for a regular full-length podcast episode…
Miles’ Model Munitions Germination
This is a guest post by unschooling teenager Miles Brack. About a month ago, my local home-schooling group held a “winter markets”. Mum suggested that I sell my wooden model guns… Setting up for the markets was a little hard. Seeing as I’d never met the audience I had no idea what to make for them. I had a hunch…
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 my invitation, but quite a few people did! You might have noticed the recent guest posts which have widened the…
Perhaps I Shouldn’t Have Told You about Our Typical Unschooling Day
In my last podcast, I spoke about our typical unschooling day. Every day we get up early, do our chores as a team, and then say prayers together before getting on with the work of the day. We eat regular meals, sitting around the same…
Chores and Kids: What if We Said, “Yes”?
My most popular post ever is Getting Kids to Help With the Chores. After publishing it, readers flocked over to see what I’d written. Had I discovered the secret to having helpful and considerate children? Some readers were very skeptical when they read my words:…
How Kids (and Adults) Learn
In this week’s podcast, episode 108, I’m telling some stories and chatting about how kids and adults learn: What is the best motivation for…
Why Do Some Children Love Writing?
The other day, Sophie appeared with a huge smile on her face. “I’ve written a blog post,” she announced, and then added, “I wrote…
What to Do When Unschool Kids Have No Interest in Topics They’re Required to Learn
‘… if we’re curious people, the whole world is a source of fascinating things to investigate. But this doesn’t mean we will all enjoy…
Giving a Child Unasked-For Help
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
When Mothering Is Not Enough
Should our kids be our whole world? Should we dedicate all our time and effort to raising the most precious people in our lives?…
Changes
This week, in episode 106 of my podcast, I’m talking about changes both in my online and offline lives. I’m sharing: Some further thoughts…
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…
What if Unschoolers Don’t Know How to Write Essays?
What if unschoolers don’t know how to write essays? Will they be at a disadvantage if they want to go to university? This post…
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…
The Problem With Being a Younger Sister
Younger sisters want to do everything older sisters can do. The other Sunday at Mass Imogen was the psalm cantor. I glanced at Gemma-Rose…
In the Kitchen with a TV Chef Dad
Can I talk about food? First, I will have to start with a story that happened about ten years ago. My husband Andy was playing…