Sharing the Ice Cream and Rejecting Tough Love

There’s a woman on YouTube who sips wine from a large glass while digging into a family-sized bucket of ice cream. She has some advice for parents. Her message goes something like this: Parents take back the reins. Forget all…

Nothing is More Important than Love

 “What would you rather do, play that computer game or come and give me a hug?” I ask my daughters.  Without a moment’s hesitation, Gemma-Rose says, “Hug you of course!”  “Do you even need to ask?” says Sophie.  I am…

The Stories of Our Lives

In this episode of the Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast, I discuss a range of topics from unschooling and homeschool record-keeping to generating writing ideas and dealing with social media distractions. I also share some resources, including Tiago Forte's…

Reject What Doesn’t Feel Right and Just Love

If it doesn’t feel right, we shouldn’t do it. For example: I used to battle with my kids as I tried to get them to do what I thought was important. Yes, they protested, but I had to persist. I…

What Do Unschoolers Do All Day?

Years ago, when we first started homeschooling, I used to wonder, “What do unschoolers do all day?” Even though I’d read a few books, I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to my question. I needed a fly-on-the wall view into…

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As the Unschooling Season Changes

Parents, sadly fed up with having their kids at home, are beginning to say, “When does school begin again?” My once-glorious hydrangeas are turning brown, and my agapanthus flowers are resembling dirty cotton mop heads. Soon, the carol bird will fly away north. Time is moving on. This morning, I noticed that there are exactly 14 hours between sunrise and sunset today. I’ve been anticipating this day for a while, watching the numbers change as the sunrise gets later and…

Need Some Unschooling Encouragement and Ideas to Ponder?

I chatted with Cecilie Conrad and Sandra Dodd this morning via Zoom. We were recording episode 6 of the second season of Da Ladies Fixing the World podcast. I’ve known Sandra for many years, much longer than she’s known me. A long time ago, I googled unschooling and discovered Sandra on her website. When I first started blogging about unschooling, after writing a post about some new idea I was pondering, I’d check in with Sandra before publishing it. Was…

Unschooling: A Slow but Productive Way of Life

My beautician and I have thought-provoking conversations. Yesterday, while Bonnie was taming and tinting my ageing eyebrows, making them look fierce, we chatted about time. We started with photography and how phones have simplified the process of capturing images. After buying an iPhone 15 Pro Max—I saved up for it for weeks—I no longer drag my DSLR camera around with me. If I see something I want to photograph, I just reach into my pocket for my phone. It’s convenient…

Unschool: Be Brave, Adventurous and Just a Bit Daring

Sometimes we have to be brave, adventurous and daring. We can’t remain on the sidelines of life where it feels safe. We’ve got to get involved, take up challenges, live life to the full, and not let fear hold us back. But what about the danger? Most times, we inflate it. We tense up and think, “What if?” when maybe we shouldn’t. Is that true when we consider unschooling?…

Strewing to Share Passions and Keep Our Bonds Strong

Driving past a cafe in town, I spied a blue racing car. “I need a photo of the car to send to Callum!” I cried. So Andy turned the car around and headed back to the cafe. As we parked the car, my husband said, “Do you want to jump out and get your photo while I sit here?” Of course, that’s not what I wanted. We were outside a cafe. I needed coffee. So, Andy ordered coffee while I…

Do You Need to Follow an Older Unschooler? (Part 2)

I choose the photos I share online with care, looking for ones with good, flattering light. I also need my photo smile to be just right. Sometimes, my smile looks a bit goofy because of my overbite. I reject these images, wanting to hide my imperfection, though it’s not my fault my teeth are like this. It’s just the way I am. I wonder: what if I let my overbite smile shine bright? I could post myself from all angles…

Do You Need to Follow an Older Unschooler? (Part 1)

Our fluid intelligence – our ability to focus and problem solve – will inevitably decline as we age. Listening to Arthur C. Brooks say this during a YouTube interview, I instantly protested, “No!” What if I keep my brain active by playing lots of video games? I could practise my memory skills. Maybe if I stay interested in everything, look after my health, and keep fit, I can avoid mental decline. I can be the person I was at 30…

How Unschoolers Own the World

What comes to mind when someone mentions nature studies, famous artists, or living books? Charlotte Mason? What about classical novels, The Great Books or Latin? Classical education? Do you think about unit studies when you hear someone is exploring a topic in many different ways? And what about notebooking? Perhaps someone who writes down details of their learning is using this method. We often associate resources and learning techniques with particular homeschooling methods, don’t we? However, Charlotte Mason doesn’t own…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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: 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!…

Christian unschooling

Speed Angel Joy

I am sitting by the lake watching four girls scooting along the path. They are the Speed Angel Sisters and they are fast! Every now and then the girls veer off onto the grass and come to a sudden halt: a pedestrian is approaching. Now the speedway is clear again, and strong legs start pushing, wheels are revolving, hair…

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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