Parenting Without Fear
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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…
Can Unschooling Be a Christian Thing to Do?
When a child has been controlled all her life, she just might grow into the kind of adult who says, “Nobody is ever going to make me do what they want ever again. From now on I’m going to do…
An Unschooling Fitness Challenge
Do you ever worry that your kids aren’t getting enough exercise? Maybe they spend a lot of time doing sedentary things such as playing computer games or reading books. Are you tempted to say, “Go outside and get some fresh…
Funny How Things Change
Last Friday, I was ready to swing into a new season of our unschooling year. “No more record keeping for this term,” I announced to my girls. No more looking out for educational experiences to turn into Evernote notes. No more strewing.…
Cold Piano Fingers
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Waiting
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Telling the Same Story in a New Way
It’s 3.30 pm. “I’m taking Nora for a walk,” I say, and my daughter Sophie replies, “I’ll come with you.” We slip our feet into our shoes and shrug on our coats before sliding open the outside door. Our dog Nora sees us. She grins before running into the bushes. “Come on, Nora! Don’t you want to go for a walk?” She does but she can’t resist playing the same game every day. The same. Nearly every day, at the…
Dreams
It’s a cool but sunny Sunday afternoon. Despite the cold, I’m warm. I have two blankets and a cat upon my knee. My daughter Sophie shares the family room with me. She’s been editing big sister Imogen’s latest music video. We filmed it last Friday morning. Just before 6 am on the last day of the week, we headed up the mountain. We drove past the lookout where we filmed the song How Great Thou Art, and down a rutted…
Reassessing
It’s the first day of the official school holidays so my husband Andy is home from school for two weeks. He’s looking forward to resting after his busy term teaching. He got his holiday off to a good start by sleeping in a little later than normal. But the girls and I didn’t linger in bed this morning. No, we were up early so we could film a new music video for my daughter Imogen. At 6.30 am, we were…
Another Typical Unschooling Day
A couple of weeks ago, I emailed the subscribers of my unschooling newsletter with a question: … what do you think about a ‘typical unschooling day’ feature? Would it be interesting to read about each other’s days? Of course, we’re not going to judge one another. We won’t say such things as, “That’s not my idea of an unschooly day.” We’re just going to enjoy seeing things from different families’ perspectives. So will you write about your day? I could…
Unschooling Siblings Working Together
My daughter Imogen’s latest music video features her three younger siblings, Charlotte, Sophie, and Gemma-Rose. The four girls sing the Enya song, Wild Child. When I watch this video, it’s not the singing that I enjoy the most. I’m not thinking, “Oh wow! Aren’t my girls talented?” Yes, the singing is okay (and I guess it needs to be if Imogen is going to fulfil her dream of becoming a successful online musician!) but for me, that’s not the most…
Is Play Important for Both Adults and Children?
“Do you remember when we used to pretend the baby bath was a boat?” asks my daughter Imogen. “We used to climb into it, and then try and move it over the ground using sticks.” Her eyes glow. “That was the best game!” It was just as well I never needed that bath. I preferred washing the baby in the laundry sink. “Do you remember when we used to build cubby houses under the pine trees?” asks sister Charlotte. “Oh…
Love and a Mother’s Heart Stories
Children bring us great joy. Our hearts overflow with love for them. We enfold them in our arms and enjoy. But sometimes that same…
How to Respond to ‘Unlovable’ Kids and Cats
Poppy died, and I cried despite not liking the cat. Poppy was a grumpy animal. She was messy and unkempt, preferring not to groom…
Attachment Parenting and Unschooling
My first child was a perfect baby. She ate and played and smiled, and then when she was tired, she put herself to sleep.…
Learning to Read and Trusting Unschooling
It is absolutely essential that we are curious people who are excited about the possibilities in life. The atmosphere in our homes gets picked up by our kids so they think it’s normal to learn, to be curious, to follow thoughts and ideas and try things out… I was battling with my kids for a while. They kept saying, ‘Why…
Is It Working? Wrestling with Doubt in Unschooling
A grey day arrives that completely blots out the memory of all the preceding good days. We feel overwhelmed, tired, worried and lost. We wonder why we ever decided to unschool. A puddle of doubt about unschooling forms around us. What do we do? Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing unschooling doubts and sharing our experiences in episode 10 of…
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…
Christian Unschooling: Should We Encourage Our Kids to Seek Security?
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Bringing God into the Unschooling Picture
A few months ago, I wrote a post called Why This is the End of the Line for Me. I decided that I’d explored unschooling from every possible angle. What more could I write about? It was time for me to move onto other things. Let my kids tell their own unschooling stories and find something else of my own…