Are You a Proper Unschooler?

I used to worry about labelling our family as unschoolers. What if someone came along and said, “You’re not proper unschoolers”? Some people don’t like labels. Labels can certainly divide us. Someone could say,”You’re not unschoolers but we are.” That…

Unschooling: The Little Way

I would like to tell you a story of Suzie Andres and St Therese and homeschooling. But first I must start with a tale of grief. Grief? Yes, it was through grief I first met St Therese and her Little…

Resources for Unschoolers

Strolling towards the shopping centre, I spy an older man with three hand-reared brightly coloured parrots. A few wide-eyed kids are gathered around him, and as I watch, he transfers a parrot to one of their shoulders, where it bounces…

Unschool: Aqua Waves and Awe

Be Curious The aqua waves rise high and then fall, rolling towards the shore as we watch with awe and wonder: why is the ocean so blue? Do you view the world with wonder and awe? Are you a curious…

Latest

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…

Radical Unschooling

Are you thinking about radical unschooling? Maybe you see the benefits of educational unschooling and now you’re thinking about letting unschooling spill over into all aspects of life. What do you do next? Perhaps you say to your kids, “We’re going to try radical unschooling. From now on you’re free to choose when you go to bed, what you eat, if you help with the chores… You can do whatever you like.” But will this work? Surely letting go in…

Learning from Life, Record-Keeping, and Strewing

Last week, life was very busy. And even though there was no time for such things as ‘school’, we had a week jam-packed with learning. By the time Friday rolled around, I had an equally jam-packed unschool records book. Yes, notes were spilling out of my Evernote notebook, and our heads were buzzing with all the things we’d learned. In this week’s podcast episode, I tell you about our week and how I recorded all our wonderful learning experiences. I…

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 have a unique voice. So do I. So does everyone. No one can do things in the exact same way as us. We all have an important job to do. And we have to get out there, do it, and…

How to Make Evernote Unschool Records Look Impressive

Every two years, an Authorised Person (AP) from the Education Department comes to visit our family as part of our homeschool registration process. We have to show her what we’ve been doing. We have to prove to her that my girls are fulfilling the necessary registration requirements. Last time our AP came to see us, I presented her with our Evernote records. I opened my computer and set it down on the table in front of her. She scrolled through…

What We Need to Film Imogen’s Music Videos

The evening before a music video shoot day, I say to my girls, “Have we got everything ready? Are the camera cards empty? Have we charged the batteries?” We find all our equipment and pile it by the front door. The next morning, we gather it together as we head out into the dark, shortly before sunrise. We’ve got into a good routine. We know exactly what we need to film each music video. So what do we need?…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Unschooling Strong

Yesterday we did lots of complaining because it felt like a very hot day. We were glad when evening arrived, and the sun went…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: Coping With the Unexpected

I used to think I could control my life. To achieve a perfect life, all I had to do was organise everything well, including my kids. What is a perfect life? My perfect life vision included a graduated row of good-looking and well-behaved children. I wanted people to admire my family and home, saying, “Sue is such a good mother!…

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…

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…

Christian unschooling

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…

Could Ebooks Save My Unschool Blog?

The other day, I logged into my blog hosting account to find out when my next payment is due and how much it will be. When I saw the bill due later this year, I gulped and said to my husband, “Do we want to spend so much money on a site that’s often slow or offline because of a…
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