Time to Unschool

Gemma-Rose (7) had a loose front tooth. Every spare moment, she could be found, fingers in her mouth, wiggling and twisting and turning that little tooth. Soon it was hanging by a thread. At lunchtime, two days ago, it finally…

Unschooling Book Two Is Done Too!

Would you like to hear my latest unschooling book news? As you might know, I finished writing Curious Unschoolers a few weeks ago. Now I’ve finished my second book, Radical Unschool Love! I don’t know if that’s good news for…

What is it Like to Be an Unschooling Parent?

Ten Minutes on Thursday I have to admit I failed: Five Minutes on Friday has turned into Ten Minutes on Thursday. I just couldn’t say all I wanted about this week’s topic, in only 5 minutes. Well, maybe I could…

Shall We Talk About Christian Unschooling?

I often get to the point where I feel I haven’t got anything more to say about unschooling. I wonder: is it time to move on? At the beginning of last year, I reached such a point. However, instead of…

Pushing Ourselves Instead of Our Kids

Often, we push our kids to try new things, don’t we? We want them to be adventurous. We say, “If you give it a go, you might discover you like it. You might be good at it.’ But what about…

Latest

Unplanning Notebooks for Strewing and Unschool Record-Keeping

I have an unplanning notebook. It’s filled with all kinds of interesting resources. Whenever my girls are looking for something to do, I say, “Why don’t you take a look in the unplanning notebook? I put some new things in there the other day.” I use the notebook too. If I feel like watching a documentary, I might browse my notebook and then say, “Hey girls, I found a video about the history of surgery. Would you like to watch…

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…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Boy Stories

Usually I speak and write about my four youngest daughters. But not today.  For this week’s podcast, I share some boy stories. I received…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: Trust, Autonomy, and The Realities of Learning

The Ladies are Fixing the World again! Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing the words ‘self-regulation’ and ‘limits’. When we say, “I’ve let go of control, and now I’m waiting for my child to learn how to regulate his time playing video games (for example),” do we have expectations about what that regulation should look like? Do we want…

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: 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…

Christian unschooling

Respecting Kids and Christmas Presents

Does having a simple Christmas sound good? It does to me. This year, like last year and the one before, I wanted to announce that I’m not buying a lot of Christmas presents. I thought about saying that I’m not buying any at all. I didn’t want to think and think until the perfect gift ideas came to mind. I…

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 we aim low because we’re too afraid to risk disappointment or failure? We want to stay where it’s comfortable and…
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