Bringing God into the Unschooling Picture
A few months ago, I wrote a post called Why This is the End of the Line for Me. I decided that I’d explored unschooling from every possible angle. What more could I write about? It was time for me…
An Interview with a Teenage Radical Unschooler
Last week, in episode 109 of my unschooling podcast, I was chatting about radical unschooling. This week, I’m interviewing Sophie (16) who is a radical unschooler. If you’re unsure about this way of life, perhaps our conversation will reassure you that…
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…
Making an Aussie Bush Christmas Tree
A few days ago, we were planning my daughter Imogen’s latest music video. “I’m singing a Christmas carol. Where do you think we should film the video?” “We could put up our Christmas tree early and film it inside.” “I…
Unschool: Be Brave, Adventurous and Just a Bit Daring
Sometimes we have to be brave, adventurous and daring. We can’t remain on the sidelines of life where it feels safe. We’ve got to get involved, take up challenges, live life to the full, and not let fear hold us…
Making Unschooled Kids Learn Maths Just in Case
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.…
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 her own way. Do something we’re not happy about. We begin to doubt what we’re doing. We think: Perhaps unschooling doesn’t work after all. Maybe the critics are right: You should have kept tight control over your kids! Yes, we…
Unschooling is Just as Much About the Parent as the Child
We can’t make anyone become the person we’d like them to be. We can’t say, “If you only did this or that… you’d be a better spouse (or partner).” We can’t change people. But we can change ourselves. We can try and become the person we’d like those closest to us to be. We can treat others the way we want to be treated. Be a good example. And who knows? Our spouses may reciprocate. They might start treating us…
Parents, Teenagers and Opinions
Why do some parents want to impose their opinions on their children? Do they do this because they care? Perhaps they want their teenagers to benefit from their experience. Prevent them from going down wrong pathways and making mistakes, ones they might have made when they were younger. Maybe it feels safer to force their teenagers to adopt the ideas they think are right rather than let them develop their opinions for themselves. Sometimes it can look like teenagers have…
Playing for Ian
If you listened to episode 125 of my podcast, Connecting Unschooling and Ageing, you might have heard this story. I wrote it in 2012 and originally published it on one of my other blogs. I think it’s a story worth repeating because it’s about an extraordinary person, someone we’ll never forget. Ian freely shared his talents with my kids and affected their lives in a big way. Perhaps you know someone similar? My son Callum’s singing teacher suggests he audition…
Hitting the Pause Button and The Colin Show
In this week’s podcast, episode 128, Cricket is my unschooling guest podcaster. The Colin Show Cricket tells us about her family She shares their journey from school-at-home homeschooling to unschooling Cricket recorded her guest podcast with her son Colin’s help. Please visit Colin’s Youtube Channel, The Colin Show, and subscribe! Hitting the Pause Button I share some of the responses from my Stories of an Unschooling Family survey I respond to some constructive criticism I talk about some changes I could make…
Unschool Reading: A Slow Learner
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was helping my daughter Gemma-Rose learn to read. She’d choose a book and we’d sit side-by-side on the sofa and we’d enjoy the story together. Actually, I don’t know if ‘enjoy’ is the right word. Reading was a very slow process. We hardly ever got to the end of a book. I’d think, “Will Gemma-Rose ever read fluently?” which was a very silly question because I’d already experienced six other learner readers.…
Thankful and Facing Facts
I’m very pleased to announce that Venisa McAllister is my guest podcaster for this week’s episode: Thankful and Facing Facts. Thankful Venisa is talking about: Her own educational and childhood experiences How her family moved from homeschooling to unschooling Her children and how they have their individual learning styles The reasons she is thankful that her family is unschooling Facing Facts I’m talking about: How perfectionists like me don’t always face facts What I discovered when I was brave enough to…
An Unschooling Fitness Challenge
Do you ever worry that your kids aren’t getting enough exercise? Maybe they spend a lot of time doing sedentary things such as playing…
Dragon Mothers and Parenting Mistakes
In a previous post, I wrote: Oh my, you should see my file of ‘failed’ podcasts. Yesterday, I added another one to the pile.…
Unschoolers, Chores and Rosters
How do parents encourage kids to help with the chores? Is the example of parents important? Do parents have to be willing to do…
Resources for Unschoolers
Strolling towards the shopping centre, I spy an older man with three hand-reared brightly coloured parrots. A few wide-eyed kids are gathered around him, and as I watch, he transfers a parrot to one of their shoulders, where it bounces lightly upon its feet, nuzzling a little ear. The child grins, hardly daring to move. The children have questions which…
Unschooling Is Carried by Conversations
Dinner tables, car rides, bedtime chats, and café corners are the real places where unschooling lives and grows. Conversations—often unscheduled, informal, and unplanned—can become the central structure of a learning life. Gathering at the Dinner Table In our house, we never met for breakfast or lunch. Those were meals where people ate what, where and when they liked. But we…
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…
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…
When We Don’t Know What to Do
I’ve just updated my blog. I started at the first post I ever wrote and then worked my way through 14 years of stories, reading each one before deciding whether to keep it or revert it to draft. I then checked the formatting of the retained posts, rearranging paragraphs, eliminating dead links, and changing or improving the images. As I…