What if Unschooling is Wrong?

Today, I’m sharing an incomplete thought. Some thoughts are like that. They sit at the edge of our minds, refusing to enter completely. We could dismiss them, but they might hold something of value. If only we could grasp them…

An Education at the Museum

I have read stories about teenagers who’ve dropped out of school and into the world, in order to obtain a real education. They spent their days, not at home behind a desk, but out and about, visiting places of interest…

Encouraging Each Other to Do Difficult Things

The other morning while I was running with our dog Quinn, we met a man ambling along with a huge roly-poly overweight dog. There they were on the track just ahead of us. Instantly, I came to a halt and…

Latest

Why Unschooling Isn’t Just Another Method of Homeschooling

In my last post, An Unschooling Experiment, I urged anyone who’s unhappy with their present method of homeschooling to give unschooling a go. So as we get into the new year… I’d like to say: Try unschooling. Be courageous. Try and trust, especially if your way of doing things isn’t working for you. What have you to lose? Yes, you might not have anything to lose, but will you gain anything? Why should unschooling work when Charlotte Mason or unit…

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!”…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

How All Kids Are Amazing

The other day, I read a parenting article in which the author said that parents can love their kids too much. I told my…

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?

There are loads of unschooling questions we could ask about learning: How do we know unschooling kids are learning? Should they be learning particular things? Is there knowledge that all kids need? Are our unschooled kids learning enough? Can they get behind? Should we just trust our kids are learning? But what if we have doubts? Or what if we…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: the Foremost Task of a Parent

A few days ago, in my Stories of an Unschooling Family community, I posted these thoughts: A parent does her best to give her child a good education but should concentrating on academic success be her main focus? Perhaps a parent’s most important task is to teach a child about love. Intelligence and academic achievements are highly regarded by the…
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