Do Unschoolers Drift Aimlessly Through Each Day?

Years ago, when I was researching homeschooling methods, I thought unschooling sounded good because we’d be free to do whatever we liked. And if we didn’t want to do anything, that would be okay. There would be no rules, no…

Go Out There and Make a Difference!

Do you ever compare yourself to someone else who’s doing similar work to you? Do you feel discouraged if they seem to be more successful than you? Perhaps you feel like giving up. Why bother? Well, don’t give up. You…

Saying Yes: Unschool Bits and Pieces

Saying Yes When Gemma- Rose asked if we could get a puppy, we could have thought of many reasons to say no. But we didn’t. A year ago, a tiny Shar Pei/ Great Dane puppy joined our family and we…

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

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…

Why You Should Consider Keeping an Evernote Homeschool Records Book Even If You Don’t Have To

The other day,  our Authorised Person (AP) from the education department came to see us. It was time for our biennial homeschool registration visit. “We’re still using Evernote to record our homeschooling,” I said as the AP sat down in front of my computer. She scrolled through a few notes before catching sight of a link to one of Sophie’s videos. A click later, and she was watching and listening to my fifteen-year-old daughter talk about motivation and exercise. “Sophie…

If it’s Not on Facebook, Did it Really Happen?

If it’s not on Facebook, did it really happen? This strange thought has been going around and around inside my head. What do these words mean? Well, this is what I’m thinking: Do we have to turn every thought, idea, conversation and event into a post in order to make it valuable? If we don’t share something, will it slide out of our memories, leaving no significant mark? If it had never happened, would it matter? There is no doubt that…

Wanting to be the Star and Other Stories

So I’m sitting here on a Monday afternoon thinking about my recent lack of blog posts. Should I write something? Have I got anything worth sharing? I could tell you about the new free PDF ebook I’m putting together. (I might make it into a Kindle book too.) It’s going to be on the topic of unschool reading. I’m going to include a few articles I’ve written about learning to read, reading out loud, listening, enjoying books together… I’m also hoping…

Saying No and Other Things

I wonder why we get so afraid of saying yes to our kids. Perhaps we think they will get spoilt if we respond to their requests in a positive way too often. Perhaps they won’t appreciate the special things of life. We’d better ration them out. Every evening for the last couple of weeks, my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose has asked if she can play a computer game after dinner. “Do you think I should let you rot your brain with…

An Answer to the Chores Problem

We’d all like our children to be considerate, hard working and happy to help others. We’d especially like them to be willing to help out with the chores. Maybe we also hope they’ll be generous, to go beyond what they have to do, to be self-giving without counting the cost. But this doesn’t just happen because we desire it. Most of us have got frustrated at one time or another because our kids don’t want to help around the house.…

Can We Force Kids to Exercise?

Yesterday morning, my daughter Sophie approached me with her arms outstretched. “Can I have a hug, please, Mum?” “Oh no, no!” I said backing away. “It’s far too hot to hug.” “You have to hug us, Mum,” said Gemma-Rose with a grin. “That’s what mothers do. They always have to be available to hug their children.” Yes, sometimes mothers have to do difficult things. I have to hug my children on a very hot and sticky Australian summer’s day. I…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

How Unschoolers Can Deal with Questions and Sceptics

My mother-in-law visited us for the birth of our son, Thomas. After he died and we’d buried him in his tiny white casket, Andy’s mother asked me if we wanted more children. As I replied, “Oh, yes!”, my mother-in-law’s face dropped into a disapproving frown. “She thinks we already have enough kids,” I thought as my defence hackles rose. But…

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.…

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…

Christian unschooling

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…

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 to move onto other things. Let my kids tell their own unschooling stories and find something else of my own…
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