From Unschooling to University

My 17-year-old daughter, Charlotte, is now a university student. It’s hard to believe. When did she grow up? Charlotte is studying her first unit through Open Universities. It’s part of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Design. She may…

Creativity: Why Classical Music Isn’t Enough

I had an idea: “Hey, Imogen, would you like to record a podcast with me? We could discuss all those wild unschooling thoughts that keep bubbling up inside of us.” My 20-year-old daughter nodded, and asked, “What shall we talk…

Unschooling: Absorbed

Many of us have a hard time focusing on the things we really want to do. We are easily distracted. We check emails or our social media notifications because that’s easier than getting down to some serious work. I had…

Latest

How Jesus Was Stolen & Other Christmas Tales

Last night Jesus disappeared.  While eight heads were lying on eight pillows, four feet padded down the hallway towards him. In an instant, in the quiet of Christmas night, Jesus was abducted.  I slept on, oblivious to the danger. I must have been tired. I didn’t even hear the cry of triumph, the presenting of the gift.  When I got up this morning, Mary’s arms were empty. “Baby Jesus has been stolen!” I shouted to the girls. “Keep a look…

Why We Are Rotten Parents and Other Christmas Stories

I almost recorded this week’s podcast on my own. Then at the last minute, just as I was about to begin, Gemma-Rose appeared. “I’ll talk with you about Christmas, Mum.” This week in my Christmas edition podcast, we chat about: A magical Santa Christmas A magical Christmas without Santa Advent and Christmas traditions Why the Three Wise Men set out to find Jesus before He is even born Why St Nicholas isn’t very reliable Why we are rotten parents Why…

Chores and Kids: What if We Said, “Yes”?

My most popular post ever is Getting Kids to Help With the Chores. After publishing it, readers flocked over to see what I’d written. Had I discovered the secret to having helpful and considerate children? Some readers were very skeptical when they read my words: “That sounds too easy!” But sometimes the easy sounding things don’t turn out to be so easy after all. And sometimes we are called to do the difficult things of life. Have you read my…

Books, Music, Burnout and a Mystery!

This podcast is a few days late or a couple of days early, depending on how you look at it. It’s also not the same podcast I originally recorded. This week I reveal what happened to the first one and I also talk about… Beginnings: How do we capture an audience’s attention? Books, especially Australian ones Free music which can be used for podcasting, video making and any other purpose My new Zoom audio recorder and how it performs What…

Pi and Tea, and Our Dog’s Tea Bag Collection

Our puppy Nora has a tea bag collection. She keeps it under the conifer tree at the bottom of our garden. Every day she pushes her long doggy nose between the wooden slats of the compost bin, in search of new treasure to add to her pile. One day Nora decided to sample more than tea bags. A few hours later she wished she’d hadn’t. I did too. “We can’t have the dog gulping down everything we put into the…

How to Talk and Save Lives, and Can I Mention the Weather?

I ponder a few questions in this week’s podcast: Is it okay to talk about the weather or should that topic be avoided if you want to have an interesting conversation? Is it important for our children to have good conversational skills? How do they get such skills? We know bushfire fighters are heroes as they battle to save lives and property, but can school teachers also be heroes? Should we all know how to do CPR just in case?…

My Old Portmanteau

This morning, as we drove along the back road that leads into town, we saw three children waiting for the school bus. One of them was sitting down reading a book. I thought at first he was sitting on his school bag, but he wasn’t. He was sitting on a rock. “I don’t suppose modern school bags are much good for sitting on,” I remarked to the girls. “They’re not like my old port.” Port? “When I was a girl…

About Me, About Podcasts, About Adventures!

I have made 13 podcasts. I never expected to make that many, and I never expected to have any listeners other than a few and encouraging friends. I guess that’s why I never introduced myself properly when I first became a podcaster. There didn’t seem to be any need to do that. My friends already know me. No explanations were needed. But 3 months down the track, I suddenly realise there might be some listeners who don’t know much about…
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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…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: Should Parents Demand Obedience from Their Children?

Not so long ago, I was reading a spiritual book that mentioned monks and their life of poverty, chastity and obedience. And this got me thinking about obedience. Monks are obedient to their superiors and the rule of their order. They are imitating Jesus who was obedient to God the Father even until death. Obedience is obviously good so perhaps…
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