Adult Peer Pressure, Clothes, Rules, and Compassion

Have you even made decisions based on other people’s opinions rather than the needs of your own family? I have. I almost ruined my relationship with my eldest daughter by doing this. I chose to listen to my friends rather…

Wasting Time Watching Too Many Movies?

“What shall I get Dad for his birthday?” I asked, and my girls giggled, and with one voice said, “Flowers… chocolates… promises you don’t intend to keep…””Flowers… chocolates… promises you don’t intend to keep…? Where’s that quote from?” “Beauty and…

Strange Goings-On in the Cemetery

I wonder if we’re the first people ever to film a music video in our local cemetery? Has anyone else ever stood next to one of the old sandstone headstones and sung a song from The Phantom of the Opera?…

Latest

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 I had, I probably wouldn’t have continued on and made 100 episodes. Yes, I have arrived at Episode 100. That feels like a huge achievement. I’ve been wondering about the future of my podcast. Is it better to stop now?…

Real Life Family Unschool Maths

A few years ago, when my daughter Sophie was 10, she started to say, “I’m no good at maths. I hate it!” At the time, Sophie was using a formal structured maths course. When she started sighing over her work, I knew that it was time to face an uncomfortable idea and unschool maths. Of course, I could have forced Sophie to keep working at her course. I could have ignored her complaints and pushed her to complete the exercises.…

Unschool Maths and Uncomfortable Ideas

Some ideas might make us feel uncomfortable. We push them to the back of our minds, not wanting to consider them. This is how I used to feel about unschooling maths. We used to be unschoolers who unschooled everything except for maths. (Should we really have called ourselves unschoolers?) There were a few reasons I didn’t want to consider the idea of letting go of control of maths. For example, having my kids do some structured maths each day was…

When New Ideas Make Us Feel Uncomfortable

I’ve had times in my life when other people have presented me with new ideas and I haven’t wanted to know about them. I hear what they’re saying, but I don’t want to consider the ideas too deeply. Why would I do that? Isn’t it good to be challenged, to learn and to grow? Sometimes being challenged makes us feel very uncomfortable. What if we decide our beliefs or our actions are wrong? We might have to change. Change pushes us…

Unschooling Imposters and Difficult Days

After a few quiet weeks – life has been busy – I’m back with a new podcast, episode 97. It’s called Unschooling Imposters and Difficult Days, but I could have called it Our Weight Loss Adventure! Here’s the podcast summary: This week, I answer the following questions: Why did I feel like an unschooling imposter? Why is unschooling the perfect way of life even though life isn’t perfect? Why should we stop and reassess what we’re doing every now and…

What Do I Think of School?

A friend asked me what I think of school. I decided to write my answer as a blog post. It’s no secret that, as a child, I hated school. It seemed like a waste of time. I had to learn things I wasn’t interested in just to pass exams, and when I’d achieved that, I instantly let all that knowledge seep out of my brain. I was kept so busy I had no time to discover who I am and…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: Trusting the Process and Letting Go of Control

“I kind of love my title for this podcast. It’s very ambitious. Let’s fix it all!” And so begins another Ladies Fixing the World conversation in which Cecilie Conrad, Sandra Dodd and I dive deep into unschooling, sharing our thoughts and experiences. In S2E4, we discuss Unschooling: Trusting the Process and Letting Go.   Want to know more…

Unschooling Isn’t Freedom Gone Wild: Why Choices Matter More Than Ideals

My husband Andy returned to work today after two weeks at home. Holiday time is over. We’ve now moved into term time. A whole term of possibility days stretches before me. I’m free to do whatever I like with my time while Andy is at school. My eyes light up with delight. But then I remember there are many…

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Curiosity, Flexibility, and Trust

I’m a Lady Fixing the World! Cecilie Conrad kindly invited me to join her and Sandra Dodd for Season 2 of her podcastThe Ladies Fixing the World. We recorded our first unschooling conversation together in November 2024 before life got extra-busy with Christmas, and it has just gone live! The audio version. Here’s the audio version: You can also listen…

Christian unschooling

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…

Christian Unschooling: Letting God into Our Kids’ Lives

I used to tick off my spiritual boxes religiously every day. I said a lot of prayers and read my Bible. And I got extra ticks whenever I was able to get to daily Mass, so I made the effort to get there as often as life allowed. It wasn’t easy doing all that, but I did it. I had…
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