Love and a Mother’s Heart Stories

Children bring us great joy. Our hearts overflow with love for them. We enfold them in our arms and enjoy. But sometimes that same love can cause our hearts to ache. There are times when we wonder if our soft…

Christian Unschooling and Other Things

I made a new podcast episode! Yes, after an absence of a few weeks, I’m back. So where did I go? Nowhere in particular. I was just at home enjoying lots of slow summer days. Maybe I was feeling lazy.…

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.…

A Homeschooler’s Thoughts on Her First University Exam

Yesterday, I spent over two hours sitting in the car outside the Flight Centre at Goulburn Airport. Inside this building, Imogen was doing her very first university exam. She has spent the last semester studying the unit Introduction to University…

Latest

REAL LIFE Junk Mail Catalogue MATHS

Yesterday I noticed a pile of junk mail catalogues sitting on the kitchen bench, waiting to be thrown into the recycling bin. I had an idea… “If I gave you $500 what would you buy, if you could choose anything from these catalogues?” I asked my youngest daughters. Both Gemma-Rose’s and Sophie’s eyes lit up as they began thinking of all the wonderful things they could buy. “Is the $500 real or imaginary?” asked Sophie hopefully. “Imaginary, of course!” I…

A Typical Unschooling Day at Home

Yesterday… The phone alarm beeps at 6.10 am. A few minutes later, I swing my legs over the side of the bed, and pad down the hall to the girls’ bedrooms. I open their doors and say, “Anyone want to come running with me?” I can see vague shapes stirring in the semi-darkness. Soon after 6.30 am, Charlotte, Sophie, Gemma-Rose and I are walking down the road to the park. It is quiet and cool, the best time of day.…

Time for Some Strewing

Sometimes life provides my children with more than enough learning experiences without any help from me. A bushfire might be burning on our doorstep, giving everyone a unique learning opportunity. At other times, ordinary life provides one question after another for us to answer:  We might discuss the problem of a broken washing machine or we’re anticipating the installation of a hot water system. We might have a pile of books we’re engrossed in, or we have dozens of projects we’re working on. There’s lots going on. We are…

The Curriculum of Life

What curriculum are you using this year? The girls and I are going to be using the curriculum of life. Surely day-to-day life doesn’t provide many learning experiences? Most days are the same, aren’t they? And perhaps this is true unless we regain our sense of awe and wonder about life, and keep alert. How often do we wander from day to day without asking any questions? I am sure we miss many opportunities to muse and ponder and take…

Team-Writing a Fantasy Novel

Or how I’m writing a third of a novel I am writing a novel. More accurately, I am writing a third of a novel. I am part of the team, the fairy tale writing team. The other evening when I went into the younger girls’ bedroom I discovered Gemma-Rose scribbling in her notebook. She and Sophie were discussing the novel they are going to write together. They told me they intended to write alternate chapters. “Sophie is going to write…

Everything is Educational, Even Disney Princesses

I’ve been thinking… Are some things more educational than others? And what makes something educational anyway? Can Disney Princesses be educational? Or are some things only fun things? The other evening I discovered my teenage daughters, Imogen and Charlotte, in the family room deep in conversation. One had a white-board. The other was typing furiously on her computer. “What are you girls doing?” “We’re planning a new novel,” Charlotte told me. “We’ve brainstormed ideas on the whiteboard. Now Imogen is making…
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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…

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

Does Christian Unschooling Interest You?

I’ve written three unschooling books: I focused on the educational side of unschooling in Curious Unschoolers. I extended the unschooling story in Radical Unschool Love by sharing parenting thoughts and stories. And I offered practical suggestions for turning all those interesting unschooling ideas into something real in families’ lives in The Unschool Challenge. Three books. A trilogy. Everything I can…

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…
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