Turning Waiting Times into Unschooling Adventures

Do you spend a lot of time waiting? I used to. When my kids were younger, I had to wait while they had piano lessons, singing lessons, musicianship lessons and swimming lessons. I waited while they went to Brownies and…

My New Book!

Quinn barks loudly at a man in a mask who’s walking up our driveway. I open the front door, holding back the dog, and the man thrusts a box at me. No need to sign for it.  No one does…

Latest

Why You Should Consider Radical Unschooling

This week, in episode 109 of my unschooling podcast, I’m discussing radical unschooling. Do you unschool but don’t like the sound of radically unschooling? Maybe you’re convinced you’ll never do it? If so, I hope to change your mind! I’m pondering lots of questions including: How did we end up becoming radical unschoolers (when I said we’d never do this)? Are radical unschooling parents irresponsible? Or are the critics wrong? How will our kids learn to do the things that are necessary and right if…

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 learning? Why do we persist using teaching methods that we know aren’t working? Why do we waste our time? Would more people unschool if there was no such thing as homeschool registration? What bad habits have adults learnt that get in the way of learning? Do other people’s words have an effect on our inclination to learn? When…

Is Unschooling for Everyone?

A note before you listen to this week’s episode: Episode 107 is only a conversation starter. I’m sure my thoughts are incomplete. Sometimes we have to work at jobs that we’d rather not do because we have families to support. My husband Andy was in this situation for many years so I understand how it might not seem possible to resign from such a job to follow a dream. However, perhaps there’s still room in our lives for a little unschooling. We might find…

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 on kids, screen time and Internet usage The future of my unschooling blog and podcast A few resources More about learning from life Some family news including the fur coat story Show Notes Blog Post Is it Really Okay to Give Unschooling Kids Unlimited Access to Screens and the Internet Michael Mosley Resources The Truth…

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 most important to me without the aid of Facebook? You see, social media is an essential part of modern life.…

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 enriched my life in many ways. So many kind comments: “I’ll miss you!” and “No!” and “I understand!” and “Can…

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 until, several hours before dawn, the thoughts crash into each other and fall in a tangled heap. I finally fall…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

When a Child Can’t Cope

A few months ago, a family story made big news in a city newspaper. One Sunday, a married couple decided to take their small…

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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…

The Math Myth: How Do Unschooled Kids Learn Math?

There are many unschool maths questions. Here are just a few of them: Can kids really learn maths without formal instruction? What does unschooling maths look like? Can we strew unschool maths? Is it possible for registered homeschoolers to unschool maths? How can we provide evidence kids are learning maths when we don’t have formal records like workbooks and test…

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…

The ‘Risky’ Business of Trusting Children

Trusting children to make their own choices sounds risky enough when it applies only to education, but what if you extend this trust to other areas of life? Will children decide they don’t want to go to Mass or eat healthy food? Perhaps they will want to watch inappropriate movies or play computer games all day. Some parents decide they…
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