Unschooling: Clock Watching
I used to watch the clock a lot. Many years ago, when I was at school, every classroom had a clock on the wall. And each of those clocks had leaden hands that moved so slowly that I often thought…
Choosing an Exceptional Unschool Life and Other Things
Do we sometimes want to use someone else’s plan for our lives? Or are we willing to embrace adventure? Do you journal? Analogue or digital? How do we achieve our goals? I’m sharing podcasts, books, videos and thoughts that I’ve…
About Me, About Being Different
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Trust, Respect, and Love Unconditionally
Yesterday, I wrote a blog post called A Few Raw Thoughts on a Crumpled Piece of Paper. In this post, I explored some thoughts about unconditional love, respect, and trust. This morning, I told my daughter Sophie what I’d been…
Parenting: Doing Our Inadequate Best
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Aiming for Love, Not Perfection
I had a vision… By the age of 18 all my children were going to be perfectly brought up and perfectly educated. I wanted them to fly off into the world without a problem. I was going to sit back and sigh with satisfaction and happiness. Pat myself on the back: A job well done. In order to make my goal come true, I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect way of homeschooling, and stressing out over…
Nothing is More Important than Love
“What would you rather do, play that computer game or come and give me a hug?” I ask my daughters. Without a moment’s hesitation, Gemma-Rose says, “Hug you of course!” “Do you even need to ask?” says Sophie. I am humbled. What did I do to deserve such love? I love my children so much it hurts. “I love you so much,” I say. My girls smile. “We know that!” Maybe my children weren’t always aware of just how much…
When a Child Has Only One Interest.
“It’s all very well, letting children follow their own interests, but my daughter only wants to do one thing. She’s not interested in science or maths or writing… All she wants to do is cook and how’s that going to satisfy the educational authorities?” a hypothetical mother asks. What would I do if one of my girls only wanted to cook, and wouldn’t consider learning anything else? I might try an idea I picked up at the very first homeschool…
The Opportunity to Discover, the Freedom to Choose
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Guiding My Children Responsibly Without Imposing Rules
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Making Children Learn What They Don’t Want to Know
We can’t force knowledge into children if they aren’t interested, though it might appear we can. For, of course, children learn things they don’t want to learn all the time. Anyone who’s been to school is very aware of this. Bribes, punishments and even shame are used to ensure children learn things they’re not interested in. But is this kind of learning valuable? Or will children forget knowledge gained this way? Is it better to give ownership of learning to…
Falling in Love the Jane Austen Way
My older girls are busy introducing their younger sisters to the delights of Jane Austen. “You must watch Persuasion,” insists Imogen. “I’ll explain all the difficult bits,” she adds, as she notices the uncertain look on nine year old Gemma-Rose’s face. So we settle down on the sofa, the DVD is inserted into the machine and soon we are immersed in a past world of gentle romance. An hour and a half later, everyone sighs with satisfaction, even Gemma-Rose, who didn’t need any…
Watching History as it Happened
Where were you the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? I am guessing a lot of people reading this weren’t even born then. But I was. I was a young primary school student at the time. Recently the girls and I were watching the DVD series, A Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets*. It is a fascinating docu-drama, telling the story of what could happen in the future, if humans ever develop the technology which will allow us…
Old and New Stories, a Book Club and Other Unschooling Things
A few weeks ago, I received a letter from Fr James Tierney who is the author of the Bush Boys children’s books. Fr and…
Connecting Unschooling and Ageing
I’m lying on my bed thinking about ageing when my daughter Sophie appears. “I thought I’d come and have a chat with you before…
Keeping Teenagers Safe from the Dangers of the World
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Is It Working? Wrestling with Doubt in Unschooling
A grey day arrives that completely blots out the memory of all the preceding good days. We feel overwhelmed, tired, worried and lost. We wonder why we ever decided to unschool. A puddle of doubt about unschooling forms around us. What do we do? Cecilie, Sandra and I are discussing unschooling doubts and sharing our experiences in episode 10 of…
Unschooling and Connections: How Learning Is All About Creating a Web of Understanding
When I finished my university degree, I threw all my botany and biochemistry lecture notes and books into the garbage bin with relief. And I said, “No one will ever make me learn anything ever again!” I have a science degree, which was presented to me while I was wearing a fancy gown with a mortar board on my head.…
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…
Dragon Mothers and Parenting Mistakes
In a previous post, I wrote: Oh my, you should see my file of ‘failed’ podcasts. Yesterday, I added another one to the pile. “How did your podcast go, Mum?” my daughter Imogen asked me, and I replied, “It wasn’t quite right. It didn’t flow.” And with a sigh, I added, “I’ll have to record it again.” Well, today, I…
Christian Unschooling: Letting God into Our Kids’ Lives
I used to tick off my spiritual boxes religiously every day. I said a lot of prayers and read my Bible. And I got extra ticks whenever I was able to get to daily Mass, so I made the effort to get there as often as life allowed. It wasn’t easy doing all that, but I did it. I had…