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…
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.…
My List of Brilliant Unschooling Blogs
Remember when blogging was the thing to do? We all created blogs instead of social media accounts. We shared our lives, writing our stories, filling our sidebars with photos of our kids, sometimes naming them, frequently hiding their identities under…
What Next?
I will admit it: I am stuck. I don’t know what to write about. I created my blog to tell you some stories about our journey to unschooling, and all about Suzie Andres’ books and I feel I have done…
Chatting with My Unschooled Author Daughter
It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new podcast episode! My author daughter Imogen is back too. In episode 205 of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast, we’re chatting about: Writing and how Imogen is promoting and…
How We Can Trust Kids and Dogs
We look up from our cameras to see two lean and muscular dogs racing towards us. They grin and circle around us before disappearing along the bush track. A tall man appears. He pushes his long curly hair behind his ears as he says, “Good morning! You’re up early.” We nod. “It’s a beautiful morning,” we say as we look out over the river. “It was worth getting up early to see the sunrise.” There’s a mist hovering above the…
Of Babies and Bombs
You will enjoy this post, I’m sure. It’s the first in a new series of guest posts and was written by Hamilton Carter from the blog Copasetic Flow. If you need a good giggle, keep reading! We’re a baby-wearing family. It’s mostly because I’m just not cut out for strollers. I get that they have a certain convenience, and a certain traditional flair, but long before we had kids, I was ruined by the baby-bearers of Boulder. I watched mom…
Parenting Teenagers: Why I Don’t Make Rules
Every now and then, I stumble across a blog post containing a long list of rules for keeping teenagers safe from the dangers of the world. Teenagers may not be happy to abide by some of these rules, but does that matter? Parents might say: “We have to lay down the rules even if our children protest. Parenting isn’t about being popular.”…
A New Series of Unschooling Videos
Have you subscribed to my Youtube channel? Perhaps you’re one of my recent subscribers? (If you are, thank you!) Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a few good news emails: Frodo has subscribed to you on Youtube! These emails made me realise that it’s been rather a long time since I last made a video. “New subscribers will be expecting new videos,” I told my daughter Sophie. “Perhaps I should make one. I might even make a few…
Would You Like to Be My Guest?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could say, “Come over for coffee!” We’d sit around my kitchen table, sipping and chatting. We’d talk about all kinds of things. We’d share our stories, ponder questions, encourage each other, deepen our friendship. Maybe, one day, that will happen. But even if we never meet, you can still be my guest. What if you wrote a guest post for my blog? You could share your thoughts and experiences. You could tell your story.…
How to Turn Movies into Homeschool Records Notes
Our kids are watching movies. Of course, they’re not wasting time. They’re busy learning. But will the education authorities agree when it comes to homeschool registration time? How do we turn movies into acceptable homeschool records notes? This is how I do it: Label the Movie with a School Subject. Some movies appear to be more ‘educational’ than others. Pride and Prejudice is definitely English. This is easy to see. It could also be History. And how about Creative Arts? We could…
Grateful
It’s Father’s Day. We head to the car with a picnic basket. We’re going to the river. “I hope we get a picnic table,” I say. “Maybe everyone will be celebrating Father’s Day at the river.” But they’re not. When we arrive at the riverside park, it’s almost deserted. Two families and us. We look at the seven empty picnic tables. Which one shall we claim? “The one in the sun,” someone says. The spring sunshine is warm, but the…
How Sharing Interests Strengthens Family Bonds
The other evening, I scrolled through my Youtube feed looking for something to watch. I clicked a link, a video loaded, and I heard these words: “Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I went to the weir, to record a Youtube clip.” I listened as my husband Andy sang his made-up song in a strange broad accent. My family looked at me when they heard my giggles. “What are you watching, Mum?” asked my daughter Imogen. I removed…
Keeping Teenagers Safe from the Dangers of the World
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Engines, Muscles, and Spending Time with Dad
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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,”…
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…
The Math Myth: How Do Unschooled Kids Learn Math?
There are many unschool maths questions. Here are just a few of them: Can kids really learn maths without formal instruction? What does unschooling maths look like? Can we strew unschool maths? Is it possible for registered homeschoolers to unschool maths? How can we provide evidence kids are learning maths when we don’t have formal records like workbooks and test…
Unschooling Is Carried by Conversations
Dinner tables, car rides, bedtime chats, and café corners are the real places where unschooling lives and grows. Conversations—often unscheduled, informal, and unplanned—can become the central structure of a learning life. Gathering at the Dinner Table In our house, we never met for breakfast or lunch. Those were meals where people ate what, where and when they liked. But we…
A Genuine Invitation for Christian Unschoolers
Sometimes, invitations aren’t genuine invitations. They might sound like proper invitations. We say the right words, “Would you like to…?” but expect a particular response that doesn’t include the right to decline. Then, some invitations are issued without a personal touch. We wonder, “Does it matter if I accept? Will anyone notice if I’m there or not?” This happened to…
About Me, About Being Different
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