The Difference Between Radical Unschooling and Unparenting

Someone says, “Radical unschooling is an irresponsible way of life. I know a family of radical unschoolers. Their kids are wild and out of control.” And someone else replies, “Are you sure that family is radically unschooling? To me, they…

Forcing Kids to Learn and to Eat, and Should We Test Them?

“What shall I speak about in this week’s podcast?” I ask my daughters. “What are you thinking about at the moment?” asks Imogen. “Next week’s homeschool registration visit. Perhaps I’ll start with that and see where it leads.” And this…

The Power of a Few Encouraging Words

Have you ever had a dream? I have. When I was a child, I wanted to write children’s novels. But somewhere along the way, I gave up the idea of becoming an author. There was no time for dreams. I…

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…

Unschool: Experiencing Energy and Gravity

Do parents need to teach kids about such things as forces, gravity, density, heat conduction, friction, the seasons, energy, and life cycles? Or will children learn a lot about these things by experiencing them while engaged in play and other…

Latest

The Non-Super-Mum’s Approach to Creative Arts

I am sadly not one of those super homeschooling mothers who organises impressive art and craft projects for her children. I like to hop around the blogosphere enjoying everyone else’s beautiful photos and ideas, but rarely do I say to my kids, “Today we’re going to make… sew… paint… this.”  Instead I buy books and supplies, and I let my girls create by themselves. I am always on the lookout for good art and handicraft books. We have quite a…

With So Much Freedom, Will an Unschooler Choose to be Lazy?

If a child is given the freedom to choose what she wants to do every day, isn’t there a risk she will choose to be lazy and not do anything at all? Or maybe she will decide to do what is easy, rather than what is challenging… While we were driving to town this morning, I asked the girls if they’d brought along some books they could read, while waiting their turn to have their piano lessons. “I’ve got Les…

Never Ending Unschooling

Imogen has started full time university work. She’s studying professional writing and publishing. She’s also having singing and piano lessons and preparing for exams. You wouldn’t think she’d have much time left over in her day, would you? But recently… Imogen has pulled on her running gear, and headed down the tracks with us, whenever I’ve suggested a run. She was eager to watch the TV series, Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, when the other girls and I settled…

Why Do Some Children Love Writing?

The other day, Sophie appeared with a huge smile on her face. “I’ve written a blog post,” she announced, and then added, “I wrote it your way. It’s like one of your stories.” “Tell me about it,” I encouraged. “Well, I mentioned my feelings as well as the action… and I used the present tense like you do sometimes. I like the present tense. It puts the reader right in the middle of the action.” Sophie is right. I use…

Thinking about Maths Creatively

It seems to me there are three main ways of learning maths: the workbook way, the real life maths way and the messing-about-with-numbers way. Sophie once learnt maths the workbook way. She wasn’t actually using paper books. She was using an online structured maths course. The course looked attractive, even exciting. There were flashing and colourful interactive activities, cute avatars to change each day, virtual rewards and points to collect… But really, online maths courses are just a dressed up…

What if…?

What if instead of doing what you usually do, you did some of those things your children have been wanting to do for ages. All that fun stuff that usually has to wait until all the serious stuff has been completed. The stuff there’s never time for?  What if you and your children read a funny book aloud, and watched an entertaining movie, and sang along to some upbeat music, and strolled down to the park to feed the ducks,…

A Real Science Education

The other day I was writing about our experiences unschooling high school science. I mentioned a couple of books I thought my chemistry-loving-daughter, Charlotte, might like to read. Of course, I couldn’t help myself. After publishing the post, I just had to buy both books. Well, it is the start of the new school year and everyone (on this side of the world) is busy buying resources. It’s the natural thing to do. I know…  we have heaps of books and…

An Unschooling Way of High School Science

I hop from blog to blog, sampling a homeschooling science program here, and one there, and I become alarmed and a bit unsettled. The programs all look so impressive and detailed. I creep quietly back to my own little blog and our own little way of unschooling, and I hope no one asks me about my science program, because we don’t actually have one.  Now this doesn’t mean my children don’t learn about science. They do. They just don’t learn…
1 … 95 96 97 98 99 … 109

My Unschooling Books

Parents and Kids

The Ladies Fixing the World

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…

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…

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…

Christian unschooling

Love or Fear? What Guides Our Lives?

There are so many things we could fear. We might be too afraid to send our kids to school if we listen to the loud voices telling us how bad traditional education is. We might choose homeschooling because of that fear. If we decide to homeschool, we’re still not safe. Fears could follow us. We might be too afraid to…

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…
Go toTop