If We Collaborate Could We Light a Gentle Unschooling Fire?

I’m looking for collaborators. People to work with. Other bloggers and podcasters and vloggers and authors who are passionate about spreading the unschooling message. In a gentle way. Helen Keller said: Alone we can do so little; together we can…

Have You Been Thinking About Visiting Me?

Have you been thinking about visiting me? Well, this weekend would be the perfect time. You see, we have a clean fridge. I cleaned it out all by myself. Yes, I tossed out all the old food and scrubbed the…

Solo Adventures

This morning, Gemma-Rose and I left home earlier than usual because we wanted to drive the scenic route to town instead of going the direct way. After my youngest daughter slid into the driver’s seat of her nifty blue car,…

Latest

Turning Unschool Learning into Homeschool Records Notes

Why would I want to turn something as unique and wonderful as unschooling into routine homeschool records notes? I wish I could take delight in my daughters’ learning without ever thinking about homeschool records. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. I always have to keep one eye on the records book so that my unschoolers can fulfil the necessary homeschool registration requirements . While my girls are busy learning, I have to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work.  I have to translate all their…

Unschooling Siblings and Other Stories

I started writing this blog post last Friday. This is all I managed to write before I was interrupted: I didn’t make a podcast last week. Some unexpected things happened and so I didn’t find time to sit in front of my mic and record one. I felt a little frustrated because I’d promised to get back on track and podcast more regularly. But perhaps we just have to accept what life brings, go with the flow, just do our best…

What Do Unschoolers Do All Day?

Years ago, when we first started homeschooling, I used to wonder, “What do unschoolers do all day?” Even though I’d read a few books, I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to my question. I needed a fly-on-the wall view into the unschooling life. This is why I decided to tell stories about our unschooling life when I began this blog. Turn unschooling theory into stories about real children. Perhaps it’s helpful to see unschooling in action? In this week’s podcast,…

Our Unschooling Story

Imagine if you visited us. You’d knock at our front door. We’d invite you in. We’d sit around our kitchen table. Sip coffee. Eat chocolate muffins. What would we talk about? Lots of things! You’d tell me about your family. I’d tell you about mine. We’d probably chat about unschooling. Maybe you’d ask about our unschooling story. In this week’s podcast, episode 93, I tell you about our unschooling story. I share stories about how we started as unschoolers but drifted…

Does My Trust in Unschooling Ever Waver?

A friend asked if I’ve ever been unsure about unschooling. And I replied: Yes, there have been times when I’ve questioned what I’m doing. Even now I have an odd day when I wonder if I should be doing something different. Hard to admit because this is probably not what everyone wants to hear. But I think that it’s quite okay to have low days when we question things. Unschooling isn’t a magic solution. It’s life and life can be…

How Unschooling is About Being Connected With Our Kids

Some parenting ideas seem to make a lot of sense. For example, children have far less life experience than parents, so we are in a better position than them when it comes to decision making. If we give our kids too much freedom, they might make poor choices. Some mistakes might not be significant, but what about those that affect their futures? Surely, a responsible parent will tell her kids what they should be doing? And many parents do exactly…

Imogen and Andy Elvis Presley

My husband Andy and my daughter Imogen both have singing lessons on Saturday mornings. Andy has the first lesson, and while he is busy, Imogen sits in the car, drinks coffee, and works on her computer until it’s time for her own lesson. But yesterday, Imogen did something different: She recorded a vlog for her Facebook page. In the video, Imogen mentions that someone has asked her to sing an Elvis song. Imogen Elvis singing Elvis. Wouldn’t that be fun?…

Do You Know Who You Are?

Do you know who you are? That might seem like a silly question. We’ve lived with ourselves for years. Surely we know ourselves better than anyone else in the world? But just recently, I’ve been wondering if there are things about myself that I haven’t been able to see. One thing that has occurred to me is that I’m a perfectionist. It really is quite obvious when I think about it. It’s the reason that I have notebooks full of…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Why I Wanted to Delete My Blogs

I was staring gloomily at my computer this morning. “What are you doing, Mum?” asked my daughter Imogen. “I’m about to delete my blogs,”…

Tired and Difficult Days

Today I’m tired. “Have you got anything you really need to do?” asks my daughter Imogen. “I haven’t yet recorded my podcast,” I reply.…

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…

How Unschooling Doesn’t Guarantee a Fairytale Life

Yesterday evening, like all Sunday evenings, my kids who live locally came to dinner. Six of us gathered around our dining room table, savouring a meal cooked by my husband while enjoying the usual end-of-the-week lively catch-up conversation. There was a time when we dreamed that all our children would buy houses on the same street as our family home.…

Christian unschooling

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…

Reading Out Loud and a Generous Christmas

Do you like listening to stories being read out loud? I have to admit that this isn’t my favourite activity. My mind tends to wander and I miss half the words. But my kids are different from me. They love reading aloud time. Even though most of my children are grown up, they still like to gather whenever anyone opens…
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