My Unschooling Podcast Adventure

Almost three years ago, I recorded my first podcast. For a few hours, I was very excited about what I’d produced. But then a short time later, I almost deleted the episode. I’m glad I didn’t because I know if…

How to Parent So We’ll Have No Regrets

When I look at family photos from a few years ago, I remember those chaotic and messy days when I was at the centre of my children’s lives. I felt like those days would last forever. Sometimes, that was good:…

Today I Saw Thomas

it’s our son Thomas’ birthday. This morning, the girls and I visited the cemetery. When we arrived, we saw people preparing for a burial. A grave was open. There were chairs arranged in the shade ready for the bereaved who hadn’t…

Latest

Opening Myself Up to Criticism

I’m It’s inevitable: someone is going to criticise my unschooling books. No one has yet, but someone will. How do I know this? Well, even though we would like to think everyone agrees with our ideas and likes our work, that’s just not true. It’s impossible to please everyone in this world. A week or so ago, I finished listening to the audio version of Trent Dalton’s, Boy Swallows Universe. Maybe my family was glad when I came to the…

Stories from My Closet

Yesterday, I sat inside my walk-in-wardrobe (closet) for an hour. Do you know what I was doing in there? I wasn’t sorting out my clothes. I was recording a podcast! Why was I podcasting in my closet?  Well, in podcast episode 151, I was pondering the possibility of making an audio version of my book Curious Unschoolers. Do I have the necessary speaking skills? Could I make my recording sound good? A listener -James – stopped by to say, “You…

Stories from ‘Curious Unschoolers’

I wrote an unschooling book called Curious Unschoolers. I published it. Then I told everyone about my book. I received many wonderfully supportive comments. A few days ago, I posted the following words on Instagram: I was telling my husband Andy about my brilliant friends: “It was wonderful how everyone got excited when they heard I was about to publish my unschooling book. Then I announced the book is available and they ordered copies and couldn’t wait for them to…

The Best Time and Place for Things to Go Wrong

On Sunday morning, Sophie and I headed into town for Mass. Earlier, I’d said, “Let’s take our cameras with us. After Mass, we can do some street photography, and we could have coffee in that cafe down the far end of town, the one we’ve never visited before.” So that was the plan. A morning out with my teenager daughter. We travelled along the back road to town, up hills and down. When we reached the final hill, I noticed…

Unschooling Books and Bedtimes

Knock! Knock! My husband Andy looked at me and I looked at him. We both looked at the clock. Who could that be at our front door, at 8 o’clock on a weekday evening? Andy heaved himself out of his armchair and plodded off to find out. “Hello!” Our new friends Tony and Ellie appeared in the doorway of our living room. “I hope you don’t mind us dropping by.” They smiled, their eyes meeting mine. Then their eyes wandered downwards…

Unschooling Book Two Is Done Too!

Would you like to hear my latest unschooling book news? As you might know, I finished writing Curious Unschoolers a few weeks ago. Now I’ve finished my second book, Radical Unschool Love! I don’t know if that’s good news for my daughter, Imogen, because I’m about to give her more work to do. Soon she’ll be formatting the manuscript ready for publication! . I feel like I’ve been writing my unschooling books forever. Many, many times I’ve wanted to walk…

My Unschooler’s Homeschool Registration Visit

It seems like a very long time since I last wrote a blog post. Maybe you were beginning to think I’d abandoned my blog. Could I have gone off to do something completely different? No, I still here! I’ve just been spending a lot of time working on my unschooling books instead of blogging. So how are my books coming along? The first book Curious Unschoolers is finished. But even though all the words are written, there are still other…

Our Writing Unrules for Unschoolers

How do unschoolers learn to write? Can they gain the necessary writing skills without any formal instruction? I think they can. Actually, I know they can because that’s what my daughter Imogen did! She’s an unschooler who went to university to study writing. Now she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional writing and publishing. She’s also written and published her first YA novel and is well on her way to finishing its sequel. So Imogen is an unschooler…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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

Christian Unschooling: Are Desires Important?

Do you have great desires? Are there things you want to do with your life? Maybe you know in a vague kind of way that you need to do something, but you don’t know what you should do. Or perhaps your desires don’t feel important. When I was a child, I had desires, but they came to nothing. Other people…

Unschool: Greater Things

She was tempted to aim low, afraid to risk failure, but she knew she shouldn’t settle for ordinary. More was expected. So she gathered her courage, did what she should, and life got exciting. And she changed. How often do we aim low because we’re too afraid to risk disappointment or failure? We want to stay where it’s comfortable and…
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