How Children Learn According to Sophie
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Getting Older, Admitting One’s Age, Lines and Wrinkles!
I wonder if I am the only person who’s finding it difficult coming to terms with an ageing appearance.”A lot of women feel that way,” says Imogen. “I guess there wouldn’t be such a huge anti-wrinkle cream industry if everyone…
Does Respecting Older People Begin with Respecting Kids?
Whenever someone says I look young for my age, I grin. I accept the compliment. But recently, I’ve wondered: what’s wrong with looking my real age? Do I need to appear younger than I am? There’s an older woman…
My Unschool Unplanning Strewing Notebook
How can we unschool and, at the same time, be registered homeschoolers? What if our kids have to follow the school syllabus in order to fulfil the registration requirements? And what if we have to present a plan of how…
The Catholic Radical Unschool Cheese and other stories
After a 2-month break, I’m back with a new podcast episode! Yes, this morning, I plugged the mic into my computer and started talking. I had lots to share! In episode 87, I answer the following questions: What is unschooling? Why…
When Will I Use All This Maths, Mum?
My older children all learnt maths in a formal manner, using a text book course. All three started the advanced maths course and all three dropped out partway through, complaining they hated it and were no good at maths.“When are we ever going to use all this maths, Mum?”“But you have to do maths!” I insisted. Isn’t it an essential of education? As a compromise, my children agreed to do the general maths or maths in society course instead. So they learnt…
What to Do When Strewing is Rejected
Recently I found all kinds of things to strew in front of Charlotte. I came across a website and DVD series that has an episode about a man who settled on the uninhabited Cocos Islands, later making himself king over the workers of his coconut plantation. His family ruled for 150 years before Australia brought that rule to an end. Doesn’t that sound interesting?p I discovered a TV program about Mao’s Last Dancer, Li Cunxin, and told Charlotte about it.…
Encouraging Kids to Become Independent Learners
Many years ago, at a homeschooling picnic, I met a family who had a baby a little less than a year old. I watched her as we sat on a picnic rug together, eating our sandwiches. The little girl reached for a knife. It was rather big and sharp. I looked at the mother and father, expecting them to take it off their child. But they didn’t make a move. I felt obliged to do something, so I smiled at…
A Real Maths Learning Moment
Sometimes real life maths turns up when I least expect it. Maths learning moments suddenly appear. And if I take advantage of these moments, some wonderful real maths learning can happen… Yesterday the girls and I were watching art history videos on the Kahn Academy website. Before we moved off the site, I did a bit of exploring and found something else that looked very interesting: computer science. There were tutorials for using JavaScript codes to produce drawings and animations.…
Giving a Child Unasked-For Help
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How Much Is Enough?
Once upon a time I used to worry about how much learning my children were doing each day. “Can we go now, Mum? Have we done enough school work for today?” How much is ‘enough’? I used to look at my records book. Did it have enough written in it? I used to look at the clock? Was there time to fit something else into the day? I rarely looked at my children. How much was enough? Would my children…
Some Bits and Pieces…
The other day I was looking at a letter Gemma-Rose had written to a friend. It was long and detailed and her spelling was almost perfect. “When did you learn to spell so well?” I asked. Gemma-Rose shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I do read a lot, you know. Maybe I remember what the words look like.” Well, she must have read many ‘ought’ and ‘aught’ words because I have never introduced her to those phonic sounds. Gemma-Rose once told…
Nurturing Independent Learners
To me, unschoolers are independent learners. At least mine are. What further can I say? Because one sentence isn’t much of an article, I decided to do a little research to see what other people have to say about this topic. I did some Googling, but before I found what I was looking for, I got side-tracked by an article written by an author who believes it is irresponsible for parents to allow their children the freedom to learn in…
Changes
This week, in episode 106 of my podcast, I’m talking about changes both in my online and offline lives. I’m sharing: Some further thoughts…
How NOT to Be Your Child’s Worst Nightmare
Have you ever seen this meme? I am not your friend I am your parent I will stalk you I will flip out on…
Perfectly Them
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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 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…
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.…
Can Christians Unschool?
Can Christians unschool? We’re Christian unschoolers. Maybe you’re Christian unschoolers too? There are lots of us living this way of life. But are we doing the right thing? Or are we side-stepping our responsibilities when we choose to unschool? Are we choosing the easy, lazy path? I often hear of parents who are struggling with homeschooling. Their kids aren’t doing…
The Problem With Being Too Nice
Are you too nice? I am. I want to help everyone. Support and encouragement are my middle names. Send me an email and I’ll spend hours answering it. Write me a comment and I’ll always reply. Ask for some mentoring and I’ll do my best even though you tell me you can’t pay. I write a book. And another. Then…