Embracing Gaming: An Unschooling Challenge

What do we do if our kids want to play games for hours, and we’re not happy about that? We could limit their screen time. Make some rules about when and what and where children can play games. We could…

Are We Becoming the People We Want Our Kids to Be?

Last weekend, my son Callum came home for a visit, and on Saturday morning, we had a breakfast picnic together at our local lake. After we’d eaten, we took Callum’s dog for a walk around the lake. It wasn’t a…

When an Unschooler Feels Like Taking a Course

Do you ever feel like taking a course, reading a textbook, or following someone else’s instructions to learn something? Do you want someone to say, “Follow my plan, and when you get to the end, you’ll know how to bake…

Lunch with Charles Dickens

We are sitting around the table. It is lunch time and as we eat, someone starts a lively conversation. “Do you remember that strange old lady in Great Expectations?” “The one who sat in her wedding dress, day after day…

Have I Changed My Unschooling Mind About Screens?

If I had younger children, would I give them iPads of their own? Would I encourage them to spend as much time as they liked using technology? Is this the right unschooling thing to do? I’ve pondered these questions a…

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Enjoying an Unexpected Little Adventure

The kids pile into the car. I settle myself into the passenger seat and bang the door shut. My eldest-at-home daughter, Imogen makes sure her ‘L’ plates are attached to the front and back of the vehicle, before sliding into the driver’s place. We are off to town. Charlotte has a piano lesson and Imogen is going to drive us. When we get to the end of our street, Imogen pulls onto the road leading out of our village. She…

Interviewing My Children and Other Family Movies

 I have this brilliant (?) idea. I might have to learn a few new skills to put it into action. “Girls, do you want to learn how to make videos? We could make some and post them on our blogs.” “What will we film?” my daughters ask. “We could film our everyday lives, our outings, things we do… I could interview you, ask you questions. I’m sure you’ll think of some entertaining answers.” The girls roll their eyes. “Not only…

Giving Up My Perfect Start-of-the-Year Plans

On the other side of the world from us, homeschoolers are ‘going back to school’. Catalogues have been browsed, curricula, resources and books have been bought, plans have been drawn up, and hope and excitement are in the air. When I was a fairly new homeschooling mother, I had similar feelings of excitement and anticipation at the start of the new school year. After weeks of preparation, I was ready. I had a stack of perfect must-have resources. I’d written…

Live Life to the Full, Have No Regrets

Today we are going on an adventure.  The girls giggle. “We’re going on a ‘school excursion’!” they say. We imagine a long straggly crocodile of paired off and name-tagged children, walking hand-in-hand. Where are they off to? The museum? The zoo? The fire station?  No crocodiles for us. No museum or fire station. We pack a picnic, pull on our track pants and running shoes, and grab our cameras. We are off to the lake.  We thump our water bottles…

When Worry Gets in the Way of Love

Sometimes life can feel very overwhelming. Parenting is not always easy. There are so many concerns and worries.  It starts very early:  Do I have enough milk for my baby? When will my child sleep through the night? Will she ever wean? How long will it be before she’s out of nappies?  Then when a child gets to school age it gets worse, especially if we decide to homeschool: Will my child learn to read? Will she ever learn to…

What do Children Need for a Happy Childhood?

Sometimes my children’s words warm my heart. “Don’t you just love being us?” asked my daughter Imogen, turning to me with a huge smile. I was surprised. Why did she suddenly feel like a big ball of happiness*? It wasn’t as if we were doing anything special right at that moment. “You don’t wish you belonged to another family?” I asked. “No! We have a good life. I’ve been writing. We have our singing lessons later. But before that, we’re…

How the Girls and I Take a Weekly Trip Overseas

Every week the girls and I take an overseas trip. The week before last we went to Vietnam. We flew into Hanoi, the city of rickshaws and mopeds and many people. We stood, rather bewildered, as streams of two-wheeled vehicles surged past us. Before long, we’d mounted our own bikes and were puttering out of the busy city headed for the quiet and peace of the delta.  “Rice paddies!” someone shouted.  The Vietnamese farmers smiled and waved at us. We…
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My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

Unschooling Isn’t Freedom Gone Wild: Why Choices Matter More Than Ideals

My husband Andy returned to work today after two weeks at home. Holiday time is over. We’ve now moved into term time. A whole term of possibility days stretches before me. I’m free to do whatever I like with my time while Andy is at school. My eyes light up with delight. But then I remember there are many…

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…

Christian unschooling

Christian Unschooling: the Foremost Task of a Parent

A few days ago, in my Stories of an Unschooling Family community, I posted these thoughts: A parent does her best to give her child a good education but should concentrating on academic success be her main focus? Perhaps a parent’s most important task is to teach a child about love. Intelligence and academic achievements are highly regarded by the…
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