How Do Kids Learn to Be Generous?

On Monday, my daughter Imogen and I were the filling in a truck sandwich as we drove from our quiet village, along the busy motorway, through the heavy rain, to the city shops. I wanted to buy some white sneakers,…

How to Write a Million Unschool Love Stories

I used to think the defining word of unschooling was freedom. Freedom attracted me. I wanted to be free to do whatever I liked. I wanted to get up each day and do anything or nothing at all. But I…

The Saturday Unschool Examen

Every Saturday, while my husband, youngest daughter and dogs are still in bed, I sit on the living room sofa, journal on my knee, scrawny cat by my side, and by the light of a lamp in the pre-dawn dark,…

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Maths, Chores, and Thanking Our Kids

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been living a quiet life. We haven’t done anything exciting. No music video shoots. No picnics by the lake. We haven’t even been running. The reason? We’ve all been unwell. It can be frustrating having to slow down, especially when there are a million things we want to do. But there was one thing I did do while resting on the sofa: I went on a search for more real life maths resources.…

Listening to Kids

The other day I interviewed my 14-year-old daughter, Sophie: I wanted to hear her opinions about perfect families, mistakes and listening to kids. It was only later when I watched the finished video, I realised I’d made a big mistake: I’d done more talking than listening, especially in the first few minutes. Yes, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes all the time. How do I know this? Sophie told me so in the interview! After a couple of minutes, I…

Thinking Critically About Unschooling

The other day I was talking about obstacles to unschooling. I said, “So I wonder if there are things about unschooling that bother you, It can be a useful exercise to think about what it is that’s stopping you from unschooling. Write it down. It might be that those things which you don’t like about unschooling aren’t really unschooling. With a little bit of information, some research, you might discover that they’re not obstacles at all. Where should we look…

Busy Days and Catch-Up Days

Do you ever have weeks where you find yourself racing through your days trying to keep up? We’re having one of those weeks right at the moment. Usually, we get up early each day. We work our way through our morning routine, and then we are free to enjoy all those empty hours stretching ahead of us. They’re waiting to be filled with whatever we like.But some weeks, things happen. People ask us to do things, cats get fleas and…

More Sibling Rivalry: Another Unschooling Interview

Yesterday, I posted a video about sibling rivalry. It’s an interview with my 14-year-old daughter Sophie. Towards the end of the interview, I asked, “No such thing as sibling rivalry?” and Sophie answered, “Not in this house!” I’ve been thinking about the value of posting this video. Is it helpful? Perhaps it’s not. Could it be off-putting? We’ve all heard about those blogs where the blogger and her family seem to be perfect. They make us wonder what we’re doing…

Sibling Rivalry: An Unschooling Interview

Sometimes people ask me if my children get on with each other. Have I ever had to deal with sibling rivalry? I think back through the years, and it wouldn’t be true to say my kids have never argued with each other. I don’t remember any incidents of physical fighting, but there must have been times when they fought with their words. But that seems a long time ago. Today, they have no trouble living peacefully with each other. My…

Obstacles to Unschooling

In last week’s podcast, I asked the question: What’s stopping you from unschooling? And then I pondered some of the obstacles that might be holding people back from giving unschooling a go. After the podcast was published, a friend asked if I’d transcribe it into some blog posts. So that’s what I’m doing. Maybe there are some people who have investigated unschooling. They like the idea BUT… What is holding them back? A couple of things held me back when…

Responding to Unschooling and Other Critics

Earlier this week, I got involved in a long and involved conversation on Facebook. I don’t usually do this, but this time, I didn’t have a choice. The discussion began on my timeline. It was rather a heated debate: There was more than one opinion. So I’ve been thinking: How do we respond when someone challenges us with a different opinion? In particular, what if people criticise our decision to unschool? What is the best thing to say? I talk…
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My Unschooling Books

Boy Stories

The Ladies Fixing the World

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 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…

Unschooling Isn’t Freedom Gone Wild: Why Choices Matter More Than Ideals

My husband Andy returned to work today after two weeks at home. Holiday time is over. We’ve now moved into term time. A whole term of possibility days stretches before me. I’m free to do whatever I like with my time while Andy is at school. My eyes light up with delight. But then I remember there are many…
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