A Beginning of the Year Unschooling Challenge

Hey friends, here’s a challenge that’s from my upcoming new book, The Unschool Challenge! Maybe doing the challenge is a good way to begin a new year of learning adventures! We all know learning doesn’t just happen during the official…

Preventing Childhood Trauma with Unconditional Love

Childhood trauma can follow us into adulthood, affecting what we do, how we feel about ourselves and how we relate to others. We can trace many of our adult problems back to something that happened as we were growing up.…

Unschool: Greater Things

She was tempted to aim low, afraid to risk failure, but she knew she shouldn’t settle for ordinary. More was expected. So she gathered her courage, did what she should, and life got exciting. And she changed. How often do…

Fearing Our Kids Will Fail

When I was about eleven or twelve, I swam in a school carnival. I didn’t want to. You see, I wasn’t a strong swimmer. I was rather alarmed when I found out that I’d been entered for a freestyle race.…

More Unschool Writing Ideas and Resources

Back in February, my author daughter Imogen joined me on my podcast to talk about unschooling and writing. In episode 148, Our Writing Unrules for Unschoolers, we explored the question: Can unschoolers gain the writing skills they need without any…

Latest

An Unschooling Experiment

Do you listen to my podcasts? Normally, I don’t. I make an episode and that’s that. I hope everyone enjoys it, but I don’t really want to go back and listen to my own voice talking about unschooling. But this afternoon, I did listen to an old episode. I was searching for some ideas that I can include in the unschooling book I’m writing. I decided to start with episode 56, Fan Mail and Lots of Unschooling Thoughts. I grabbed…

What Is Unschooling?

What is unschooling? I’ve been blogging about unschooling for over 5 years now. You’d think I would already have written a post with this title, wouldn’t you? But somehow I haven’t. Maybe that’s because unschooling is hard to define. Everyone seems to have a slightly different way of describing it. Some aspects of unschooling are more important to some people than they are to others. So why have I suddenly decided to backtrack and write an unschooling definition post? Well,…

What Unschoolers Miss Out On

Have you ever started the school term with loads of enthusiasm and excitement? Perhaps you’ve thought, “This term is going to be perfect!” Even though last term wasn’t. And the one before that also ended with a fizzle instead of a bang. I remember many school terms that began with hope and ended with relief. Oh yes, during the holidays between school terms, I’d make elaborate and what I thought were exciting plans. I’d read books, buy resources, and write…

Unschool Christmas Card Maths

“It’s just as well Dad’s a school teacher,” observes my daughter, Imogen, “because if he wasn’t, our Christmas card display would be very small.” Yes, Andy has a nice stack of Christmas cards that he brought home from school. But the rest of us have only three cards between us. “I suppose we got crossed off everyone’s Christmas card list,” I say. I didn’t send cards to anyone last year. I haven’t sent any this year either. I don’t suppose we…

Are You a Curious Unschooler?

Do you ever follow rabbit trails, going from one thing to other until your head is spinning with new knowledge? My head is constantly spinning. I guess my girls’ heads are too. You see, I don’t keep my discoveries to myself. I’m always saying things like: “Hey, girls, listen to this…” “Did you know…?” “Can I tell you about…?” “Would you like me to read…?” “What do you think about this?” “Want to watch this video with me?” “Wow, you won’t…

My Perfect Christmas Present Secret

Have you got piles of presents hidden in your bedroom waiting for Christmas Day? I have. Except they’re not really hidden. They’re scattered around my room in the most inconvenient of places. I keep tripping over them. It took me a long time to buy all my gifts. And a lot of effort. To be honest, I don’t like Christmas shopping. I’m tempted to say, “Let’s not have presents this year. It’s all a commercial trick to make us part…

Bob Blogosphere Discovers Imogen Elvis

The phone rings. “Hello?” “Sue!” A deep smooth voice from the past hits my ear. “Bob!” It’s Bob Blogosphere, the most powerful man in the blogosphere. He’s famous for his deep and probing interviews. He’s the man behind Blogosphere News. “Sue, I’ve been browsing your blog.” “My blog?” I ask. “Why?” “Well, normally, I wouldn’t bother with your blog. But I was desperate. It’s been a slow news week, and I need an interesting story.” “Did you find anything?” “Surprisingly, I did!”…

The Difference Between Radical Unschooling and Unparenting

Someone says, “Radical unschooling is an irresponsible way of life. I know a family of radical unschoolers. Their kids are wild and out of control.” And someone else replies, “Are you sure that family is radically unschooling? To me, they sound like they’re unparenting.” So what’s the difference radical unschooling and unparenting? How do we know we’re doing one and not the other? And how do we radically unschool anyway? Is it a matter of just letting go completely, stepping…
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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…

Christian unschooling

Sharing the Catholic Faith With Our Kids

Maybe you’re thinking about unschooling. Letting children follow their own interests, and trusting they will learn all they need to know sounds great. But stop! Wait! What about religion? This is important. You think: “Can I just stand back and hope my children will want to learn about their faith? Doesn’t that sound a bit risky? What if they don’t…

The Discomfort of Letting Go and Allowing Our Kids (and Ourselves) to Grow

We organise life so we’re not challenged too much. We don’t want to stray outside our comfort zone because that could be painful. We say no instead of yes to our kids, not wanting them to go to parties at night, ride their bikes on the road, run through the bush alone, or learn to drive. We don’t want thoughts…
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