Changes
This week, in episode 106 of my podcast, I’m talking about changes both in my online and offline lives. I’m sharing: Some further thoughts on kids, screen time and Internet usage The future of my unschooling blog and podcast A…
Nurturing Independent Learners
To me, unschoolers are independent learners. At least mine are. What further can I say? Because one sentence isn’t much of an article, I decided to do a little research to see what other people have to say about this…
Could This Be Your Best Unschooling Year Ever?
You can find the following words on the back cover of my unschooling book, Curious Unschoolers: Have you ever wondered how unschooling works? What do unschoolers do all day? Perhaps they don’t do much at all? Or do unschoolers live…
How Do I Turn Unschooling Life into Homeschool Records?
Sometimes life is quiet. We can stay at home and relax. There’s plenty of time to say such things as “Would you like to watch a Shakespeare play with me?” We read books and drink hot chocolate. We write and…
My Unschooling Teenagers’ Typical Days
On a typical day, my daughter Sophie (16) gets out of bed soon after 5 am. By 6.10 am, she’s heading out the door with sister Imogen who drives her to work. A few minutes later, Gemma-Rose (14) and I…
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…
A Baby’s Birth and Death, and Christmas (Again!)
It was our son Thomas’ birthday on Sunday. The next day was his death day. We’ve been remembering these two days for the last 15 years. Yes, Thomas would have been 15 if he hadn’t died as a baby. I’ve been thinking about that. We’d have had another teenager in the family. Thomas probably would have been far taller than me by now. I wonder what colour his hair would have been. Who would he have looked like? What would he have…
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…
Why Some Kids Are Willing to Help with the Chores
I said that I have to be a good example if I want my children to help me get the house organised each morning……
Unschooling, Homemaking, and a Mother’s Role
Erin wrote: What does the idea of homemaking mean to you? Is it a certain skill set or talent? Does it need to look…
Following My Mothering Instincts
Some years ago I came across a talk on discipline by a well-known speaker, an experienced family man, an ‘expert’ perhaps. The talk went…
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…
Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?
There are loads of unschooling questions we could ask about learning: How do we know unschooling kids are learning? Should they be learning particular things? Is there knowledge that all kids need? Are our unschooled kids learning enough? Can they get behind? Should we just trust our kids are learning? But what if we have doubts? Or what if we…
Resources for Unschoolers
Strolling towards the shopping centre, I spy an older man with three hand-reared brightly coloured parrots. A few wide-eyed kids are gathered around him, and as I watch, he transfers a parrot to one of their shoulders, where it bounces lightly upon its feet, nuzzling a little ear. The child grins, hardly daring to move. The children have questions which…
When We Don’t Know What to Do
I’ve just updated my blog. I started at the first post I ever wrote and then worked my way through 14 years of stories, reading each one before deciding whether to keep it or revert it to draft. I then checked the formatting of the retained posts, rearranging paragraphs, eliminating dead links, and changing or improving the images. As I…
Unschooling and Trust
I have been struggling with this post for a while now, and wondering why I’m having so much trouble finding the right words. And I have decided it’s the language. I want to write a story from a personal point of view like I normally do. And I can’t. We had such a gradual transition to unschooling, I didn’t really…