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…

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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…

Teenagers, Rules and Rebellion

“My daughter will be 13 soon,” says a mother. She groans: “There’s trouble ahead!” The other mothers nod in sympathy. Yes, life is about to get very difficult. It always does when there’s a teenager in the family. But are teenagers really trouble? I discuss this question with my own teenage daughters, Imogen, Charlotte and Sophie, in this week’s podcast. We talk about the pressures teenagers have to face, and how a parent can unwittingly magnify those pressures. We discuss…

Should a Child Be Given the Freedom to Choose?

If children are given the freedom to do whatever they want, will they choose to do nothing at all?… Imogen, would you like to discuss this question with me, in this week’s podcast?” My nearly 20-year-old daughter said, “Okay!”, so I grabbed my notebook and we began brainstorming points we could talk about. Soon we had a list of additional questions: Is anyone actually capable of ‘doing nothing at all’? When mothers shout, “Go and do something!” to their kids,…

Mothers, Unschooling and a Lazy Way of Life

Is unschooling a lazy way of life? Do mothers choose to unschool because they can’t be bothered putting together a proper homeschool program for their children’s education? Perhaps unschooling mothers don’t actually do much in a day. My daughter Imogen and I discussed these questions in today’s podcast. Along the way, we also talked about how we can encourage a love of learning, strewing, tiredness and how everything is potentially interesting, even maths! I also chatted more about fulfilling rather…

How We Unschool Despite Strict Homeschool Regulations

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we didn’t have to answer to anyone and could unschool our children with total freedom? I guess some people are fortunate to be able to do this. But we’re not. In our state of Australia, if we want to homeschool, we have to fulfil certain requirements. Our children are supposed to follow the same syllabus as the one used in schools. And we have to prove they’ve done that. But how can we do that…

Why Picnics are Important

Many years ago, parenting and homeschooling could sometimes seem rather overwhelming, Some days my children refused to do what I asked. Or everyone needed me at exactly the same moment. Or I felt so tired I didn’t want to do anything at all. It sometimes became too much and I wanted to run away. “I’ve had enough!” I’d yell before running outside. I’d sit on the garden wall, my body stiff with tension. Then gradually as I calmed down, I’d notice…

Maths and Other Wild and Yummy Stories

We’ve just had a very wild week. A week ago, we thought we’d arrived at summer. But by Tuesday we’d been thrown back to winter. The temperature plummeted, the rain fell and the wind howled. On Wednesday morning we woke up to find part of our backyard fence lying splat on the ground. Resurrecting the fence, before Nora our dog escaped, was the first challenge of the day. We’d planned to go out to our usual weekly homeschool meeting, but…

Beginnings and Endings and a Simple Christmas

We’ve had a lot of beginnings recently. Last week, the new school term began, and Andy, my school teacher husband, went back to work.  On that same day, my daughter Charlotte celebrated her birthday. She began the 18th year of her life. And the girls have begun a new project which they’re hoping will earn them a little pocket money. Some beginnings are closely followed by an ending. On 9th November 1999, our son Thomas’ life (after birth) began. A…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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…

Christian unschooling

Is Trying to Impress Others a Waste of Time?

Strolling between the gum trees on a winter’s morning with Nora and Quinn, my fingers painful with the cold, I meet Matilda. I smile and stop. So do my dogs. They thrust their grinning heads into the undergrowth, happy to sniff up all the smells of the bush while I exchange a few words with my next-door neighbour. We talk…
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