Remembering to Trust

Our family is problem solving. The oven is broken so we can’t cook scones, muffins, cakes, and biscuits: all those treats we really enjoy. We talked over the problem while we ate lunch. “We do have a microwave…” I started…

From Unschooling to Successful University Learning

A couple of days ago, Imogen logged into her Open Universities account to check some details she needed for her youth allowance application. She checked her mail while online and received a nice surprise. “Hey! I got a Distinction for that…

When Unschooling Spills Over into Parenting

Some random thoughts about unschooling and parenting… Sometimes I get the feeling most of the world thinks I’m a little strange. Whenever I post a parenting story I wonder if there are people out there thinking, “Wow! She’s a bit…

Small Steps Towards Unschooling: A Challenge

For the past year and a half or so, I’ve been writing unschooling challenges for our Stories of an Unschooling Family community. Each challenge is designed to stimulate thought and discussion about a particular aspect of unschooling. Hopefully, the challenges…

Latest

Encouraging Kids’ Ideas

The other day, I was telling you about my plans to transcribe parts of my podcasts. I want to make them into blog posts. I found some software called Transcribe to help me, and this afternoon, I tried it out. I transcribed a segment from podcast episode 52, Getting Older, Unschooling, and Moving On. It’s about encouraging children’s ideas (and not being afraid to try out our own ideas). I’ve used this segment before. If you’ve watched my short video,…

One-on-One Times: Are They Important?

I got up early this morning. The house was quiet until our three cats, and one dog saw me. Meows and pitiful whines accompanied me to the kitchen. Apparently, our animals were on the edge of starvation. It’s just as well, I appeared. Once I’d tossed food into each pet bowl, I filled the kettle. As I stood waiting for the water to boil, I heard a sound. My daughter Sophie was up. I placed her cup next to mine and…

Making a Music Video in the Australian Bush

On a hot summer’s evening, we head into the beautiful Australian bush: Imogen, Sophie, Gemma-Rose and me. We follow a narrow stone-strewn track that winds between gum trees until we arrive at a cave-like rock on the edge of a cliff. Sophie and I have cameras and tripods. Gemma-Rose has an iPod. And Imogen has a golden cardboard box. Imogen sits on a rock next to the cave. She places the box on her lap. We point our cameras towards…

How All Kids Are Amazing

The other day, I read a parenting article in which the author said that parents can love their kids too much. I told my daughter Imogen about this and she was horrified: “You can never love a child too much!” I wonder what the author meant by love. Maybe he thinks parents give their kids the idea they are something special, and then they go out into the world and discover they aren’t quite as wonderful as they have been…

10 Reasons Why You Should Read My Blog

What if someone said, “Sue, there are lots of people writing about unschooling. Why should I follow your blog and read your posts?” What would I say? I did some thinking and came up with 10 reasons why you might consider reading my blog. And here they are: 1. Do you want to ponder unschooling ideas without feeling pressured to do things a certain way? Then you can do that here. All families are different. But we can still share…

Life after University: Following Dreams

My daughter Imogen has finished her Bachelor of Arts degree. For the past three years, she’s been studying Professional Writing and Publishing. Now Imogen is about to set off on new adventures. So what will she be doing? I thought I’d interview Imogen to find out. Imogen was very happy to answer my questions about her university experience and her plans for the future. They include: Did she like studying online? What does she want to do now? The quick…

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. She even slept through the night. I thought I was a perfect mother. (What was everyone else doing wrong?) But my second child wasn’t quite so obliging. Cracks began to appear in my perfect mother image. My third child? When he joined our family, all my high opinions of myself fell in a heap. He had…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

Boy Stories

Usually I speak and write about my four youngest daughters. But not today.  For this week’s podcast, I share some boy stories. I received…

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Curiosity, Flexibility, and Trust

I’m a Lady Fixing the World! Cecilie Conrad kindly invited me to join her and Sandra Dodd for Season 2 of her podcastThe Ladies Fixing the World. We recorded our first unschooling conversation together in November 2024 before life got extra-busy with Christmas, and it has just gone live! The audio version. Here’s the audio version: You can also listen…

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!…

The Math Myth: How Do Unschooled Kids Learn Math?

There are many unschool maths questions. Here are just a few of them: Can kids really learn maths without formal instruction? What does unschooling maths look like? Can we strew unschool maths? Is it possible for registered homeschoolers to unschool maths? How can we provide evidence kids are learning maths when we don’t have formal records like workbooks and test…

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…
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