Getting Kids to Help with the Chores

Should parents expect kids to help with the chores? How do we encourage kids to have a generous attitude and want to be part of the family team, helping with the work? Here’s a simple suggestion that doesn’t involve chore…

Why We Need to Support Our Kids’ Choices

The other evening, we were watching an old episode of a cooking competition TV show. It was elimination night. For three hours, the contestants measured and mixed and baked and decorated. They also made mistakes, felt discouraged, picked themselves back…

Why Do Unschoolers Do What They Do

When we first set out on our homeschooling adventure, we thought we were unschoolers because each day, I stood back and let my kids get on with learning. I thought I’d got unschooling all worked out: I recognised my kids…

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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?…

The Problem With Being a Younger Sister

Younger sisters want to do everything older sisters can do.  The other Sunday at Mass Imogen was the psalm cantor. I glanced at Gemma-Rose while her older sister was up at the lectern singing, and noticed she had a big smile on her face. “Would you like to sing the psalm when you’re older?” I whispered in her ear, and she nodded emphatically. Imogen’s abilities inspire Gemma-Rose. She wants to be just like her older sister. The only problem is…

The Joy of Singing Together

It is Christmas Eve. Music is wafting through my bedroom door, voices raised in song. “Shall we try that one again?” suggests Imogen. “Can you give me the first note?” asks Andy. “Does Callum know this one?” “Oh that sounds good!” says Charlotte. I have to agree. I smile. In a few hours’ time we will be at Midnight Mass. Andy, Callum, Imogen and Charlotte will be singing with the choir. The rest of us will listen from the pew.…

Teenagers are People Too

At Mass on Sunday, during the Prayers of the Faithful, we were asked to pray for sullen teenagers. When we returned home, Imogen was most indignant. “Why does everyone automatically think teenagers are sullen? Charlotte and I are teenagers and we’re not that way.” “It’s the typical teenage stereotype,” said Charlotte. “It’s not necessarily true.” I think my teenage girls are quite right. Society tends to think of teenagers in a certain negative way. Parents expect trouble when their children…

When Unschooling Spills Over into Parenting

Some random thoughts about unschooling and parenting… Sometimes I get the feeling most of the world thinks I’m a little strange. Whenever I post a parenting story I wonder if there are people out there thinking, “Wow! She’s a bit weird. She’s wrong too. Parenting like that would never work.” I admit it. I’m weird. I know I have drifted into dangerous waters. It was quite okay when we were only unschooling as a method of education. That was weird…

When a Child Can’t Cope

A few months ago, a family story made big news in a city newspaper. One Sunday, a married couple decided to take their small son to a restaurant. It wasn’t long before the young boy started to make a fuss. He wouldn’t sit quietly in his chair and do what his parents wanted, and soon he was the centre of attention. Fellow diners complained about the child’s noise and behaviour, and the restaurant manager felt compelled to ask the parents…

The Changing Seasons of the Unschooling Year

I saw a friend the other day who asked, “When are you finishing school work for the year?” I grinned wickedly and replied, “Finishing? We haven’t even started. We haven’t done anything for a long time.” I shouldn’t joke. People will think unschoolers are lazy and do nothing. I should take the time to explain properly exactly what we do. For of course we do lots of things. We’re always learning. The girls are just not doing ‘school work’ in…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

How All Kids Are Amazing

The other day, I read a parenting article in which the author said that parents can love their kids too much. I told my…

The Ladies Fixing the World

How Unschooling Doesn’t Guarantee a Fairytale Life

Yesterday evening, like all Sunday evenings, my kids who live locally came to dinner. Six of us gathered around our dining room table, savouring a meal cooked by my husband while enjoying the usual end-of-the-week lively catch-up conversation. There was a time when we dreamed that all our children would buy houses on the same street as our family home.…

Learning to Read and Trusting Unschooling

It is absolutely essential that we are curious people who are excited about the possibilities in life. The atmosphere in our homes gets picked up by our kids so they think it’s normal to learn, to be curious, to follow thoughts and ideas and try things out… I was battling with my kids for a while. They kept saying, ‘Why…

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…

Christian unschooling

Is It Okay if Parents Want to Influence Their Unschooling Kids?

Is it okay if we try to influence our unschooling kids? What if we’d like them to acquire particular values? Can we expose them to our beliefs? Or should we stand back and try to keep quiet about the things we base our lives on and let our kids work out everything for themselves? Let’s say we decide it’s…

Should We Encourage Our Kids to Follow Their Dreams?

What did you want to be when you were a child? I wanted to be a writer. I had a cardboard box inside my wardrobe where I stored my scribbled stories about princesses, dragons and faraway kingdoms. At night, in bed, before dropping off to sleep, I’d think up stories about large happy families who were a lot like the…
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