Unschooling: Good Education

When I open the front door, a man with a winning smile immediately launches into a slick presentation. Do I have children? Yes, I have two. Would I like them to receive a good education? Yes. Do I want to…

Ordinary Frida Kahlo Eyebrow Days

Quinn barked, alerting me to the policeman striding along the path towards our house. After securing the dog, I opened the front door, my heart racing, my hands shaking, thinking, “The police only make house calls when they’ve bad news…

Latest

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…

What’s Stopping You From Unschooling?

I’m sure there are many people investigating unschooling. But not everyone who considers unschooling will actually decide to give it a go. Why’s that? What holds people back? Do they like the sound of some aspects of unschooling but aren’t sure about others? In this week’s podcast, I talk about the things that could be stopping people from unschooling. I also share some of our unschooling story. Why did we start as unschoolers but then go in a different…

Why My Children and I Share Our Unschooling Evernote Notebooks

When I signed up for Evernote so did my children. Yes, we all have our own accounts. This allows us to share our notebooks. Why would we want to do that? That’s what I’m going to talk about today! Whenever I create a new weekly homeschool records notebook, I invite my daughters Sophie and Gemma-Rose to share it. I give them the ability to not only view the notes but to edit them as well. And my girls do the same, sharing…

Fan Mail and Lots of Unschooling Thoughts

This morning I felt very discouraged. Perhaps it was the result of being overtired. I don’t know. It’s strange how grey the world looks when we’re tired. Earlier today, nothing excited me. I didn’t want to blog or podcast. Sharing unschooling didn’t seem important. All I wanted to do was close my computer and forget everything. “Are you going to record a podcast today, Mum?” “I’ve got nothing to say,” I replied. “I’ve said it all before. I’m just repeating…
1 … 67 68 69 70 71 … 109

My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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…

Christian unschooling

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 what I want.” She might close herself off, stand well back, not let anyone get too close. Because you never…

Christian Unschooling and Other Things

I made a new podcast episode! Yes, after an absence of a few weeks, I’m back. So where did I go? Nowhere in particular. I was just at home enjoying lots of slow summer days. Maybe I was feeling lazy. But yesterday, that changed. I suddenly felt like getting back to work. And so I thought I’d record a catch-up…
Go toTop