Maths and Other Wild and Yummy Stories

We’ve just had a very wild week. A week ago, we thought we’d arrived at summer. But by Tuesday we’d been thrown back to winter. The temperature plummeted, the rain fell and the wind howled. On Wednesday morning we woke…

Tired and Difficult Days

Today I’m tired. “Have you got anything you really need to do?” asks my daughter Imogen. “I haven’t yet recorded my podcast,” I reply. “I should do that today.” “Well, you do that first, and then you must rest. We’ll…

Turning Waiting Times into Unschooling Adventures

Do you spend a lot of time waiting? I used to. When my kids were younger, I had to wait while they had piano lessons, singing lessons, musicianship lessons and swimming lessons. I waited while they went to Brownies and…

Latest

Trust, Respect, and Love Unconditionally

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post called A Few Raw Thoughts on a Crumpled Piece of Paper. In this post, I explored some thoughts about unconditional love, respect, and trust. This morning, I told my daughter Sophie what I’d been writing about, and she started sharing her own thoughts on this subject. I found these thoughts very interesting. I scribbled them down on a scrap of paper as Sophie was speaking, Then I said, “Can I interview you for a…

A Few Raw Thoughts on a Crumpled Piece of Paper

I discover a crumpled piece of notebook paper in my handbag. I smooth it out and read the scrawled inked words: unschooling things everyone can do  love unconditionally: don’t withdraw love, forgive. listen respect, talk to kids properly A few words that I wanted to remember. I wrote them while I was away from home. Was I sitting at a table in the mall, sipping coffee with my daughter Imogen? Did I suddenly say, “I’ve just had a thought? I…

Unschool Cemetery Maths

The mist drifts across the field and through the cemetery. Together with the rising sun, it streams between the trees and onto the graves. Golden rays fall upon a black marble monument which rises high, taller than the surrounding stones. I stop in front of this memorial pillar, shivering in the cold morning air. My eyes scan the words inscribed upon it. and, immediately, my brain moves up a gear. Without any encouragement from me, it starts manipulating the numbers,…

Strange Goings-On in the Cemetery

I wonder if we’re the first people ever to film a music video in our local cemetery? Has anyone else ever stood next to one of the old sandstone headstones and sung a song from The Phantom of the Opera? I doubt it. Did the people driving by early last Friday morning see us? Maybe they wondered what we were doing amongst the graves with two tripods and three cameras? Did they think something strange was going on in the…

Ideas, Passions, and Earning an Income

Has blogging changed? Are people no longer very interested in reading my posts? Maybe they prefer listening to my podcasts? Is it time to close up my blog and move onto other things? I pondered these questions in my last blog post. I came to the conclusion that blogging may indeed have changed since I created this blog 5 years ago. But despite this, I’m not going to stop blogging. No, I still have some followers who like reading my…

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 love can cause our hearts to ache. There are times when we wonder if our soft mothers’ hearts will survive. And then there are days when the joy that comes from parenting becomes buried under a heap of tiredness as we try to keep up with everything a mother needs to do. I could tell you…

The Dead Body and Other Stories

At the moment, it’s the school holidays here in Australia. My school teacher husband, Andy, is home from work for a couple of weeks. Life around here changes a bit when Andy’s at home. We tend to do different things at different times. And because of that, I wondered if I’d get around to recording my usual weekly podcasts. Just to be sure I’d have something to publish, I decided to record a couple of episodes ahead of time, leaving…

The Fear of Failing

Last Wednesday morning, just after sunrise, we headed into the bush to record another music video for Imogen. “What song are you singing today, Imogen?” I asked. “May it Be from The Lord of the Rings, the Enya song.” “Do I know that one?” “You’ll recognise it once you hear it.” Did I recognise it? Was the song familiar to me? I don’t know. I have to admit I didn’t listen properly. I was far too distracted to concentrate on…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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.…

Christian unschooling

Sharing the Catholic Faith With Our Kids

Maybe you’re thinking about unschooling. Letting children follow their own interests, and trusting they will learn all they need to know sounds great. But stop! Wait! What about religion? This is important. You think: “Can I just stand back and hope my children will want to learn about their faith? Doesn’t that sound a bit risky? What if they don’t…

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…
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