How to Make Evernote Unschool Records Look Impressive

Every two years, an Authorised Person (AP) from the Education Department comes to visit our family as part of our homeschool registration process. We have to show her what we’ve been doing. We have to prove to her that my…

Reluctant Spouse: Unschool Bits and Pieces

Reluctant Spouse What does my husband Andy think of unschooling? Was he always in favour of it? Or did I have to convince him that unschooling is the right thing to do? Parents frequently ask me these questions especially when…

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…

What if Unschoolers Don’t Know How to Write Essays?

What if unschoolers don’t know how to write essays? Will they be at a disadvantage if they want to go to university? This post follows on from How an Unschooler Learns to Write. My daughter Imogen taught herself to write.…

No More Nice, Dead People!

This is a guest post by Carolyn Blessington. Late 2012, about when the world was supposed to end and more than two years before my first child was born, I took a class called REALationship 101 with a guy named…

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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…

A Musical Interlude

Let’s lighten the mood. Let’s smile and feel joyful. Let’s have a musical interlude. Last night I finally got my husband Andy, and children Callum, Imogen and Charlotte together. (Callum has been busy at work.) They gathered around the piano and sang The Carol of the Bells, in four parts. Of course, I had my handy pocket camera on the tripod and recorded every note. The Carol of the Bells? Isn’t that a Christmas carol? Hasn’t the Christmas season finished?…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

Unschooling: Trust, Autonomy, and The Realities of Learning

The Ladies are Fixing the World again! Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing the words ‘self-regulation’ and ‘limits’. When we say, “I’ve let go of control, and now I’m waiting for my child to learn how to regulate his time playing video games (for example),” do we have expectations about what that regulation should look like? Do we want…

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 Is Carried by Conversations

Dinner tables, car rides, bedtime chats, and café corners are the real places where unschooling lives and grows. Conversations—often unscheduled, informal, and unplanned—can become the central structure of a learning life. Gathering at the Dinner Table In our house, we never met for breakfast or lunch. Those were meals where people ate what, where and when they liked. But we…

Christian unschooling

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