Stories of an Unschooling Family

I'm trying something new this week: a shorter single topic episode.  In ep 83, I talk about: My ideas for future podcast episodes How to strew paintings How paintings can lead to all kinds of great conversations Ferrets and how ours came to a crunchy end! You can find the show notes on my blog  Stories of an Unschooling Famil y . Join me in  The Not So Proper Unschoolers  Facebook Group, and my  S...

This week, I discuss the following questions: How can we become best friends with our spouses? Can we be friends with our children? Or can we be a parent or a friend but not both? What should we do if our kids get into trouble? What if we put effort into our relationships and we don't get the response we're hoping for? Is unschooling just as much about a parent as it is about a child? I also talk...

This week, I talk about: strengthening bonds between spouses finding a balance between family life and work how a parent's fears can hold back a child how we need to be adventurous and daring parents being silly as a family some of the stories in my children's novel, 'The Angels of Gum Tree Road' guest posting. Would you like to write an article for my blog? essay writing. Do our kids need to prac...

This week, I discuss these questions: Is radical unschooling about allowing kids to do whatever they like? But if we stand back and give our kids that kind of freedom, will life become chaotic and unproductive? Could radical unschooling require an active rather than a passive response from parents? And how did our family become radical unschoolers? I also share some family news, some local history...

This week, amongst other things, I discuss the following questions:   Does working together strengthen family bonds? What about doing hard things together? Is it okay to support our young adult children as they pursue their dreams? How can we turn real life into homeschool records notes? Do we sometimes overlook opportunities for making notes? And do we miss opportunities for strewing? I had some...

This week, I answer the following questions: Where have I been for the past few weeks? What have I been doing? Where am I going? Am I making a difference? Are you? Should we encourage our kids to go out there and make a difference? Will kids learn something if they have a need? What new Evernote feature am I excited about? And lots more!   You can find the show notes on my blog  Stories of an Unsc...

This week, I'm talking about my podcasts, blog, and videos. What are listeners/readers/viewers looking for? Is what I'm producing helpful? In an attempt to answer these questions, I ponder my ten most popular blog posts ever. Are the unschooling ideas and principles, contained within them, what people want to know about?  My top ten list includes posts about: chores getting kids to do 'school' wor...

This week, I talk about our unschooling days: Is there such a thing as a typical unschooling day? Do our days change over time? Is it time to share a new typical day? Along the way, I chat about things related to our days: How can we share our beliefs (Catholic or otherwise) with our kids? Do I force my kids to say family prayers and go to church? Does the Church force me to attend Mass? Do my gir...

Today, my 21-year-old daughter Imogen joins me to talk about siblings, writing, and music. Is it possible for siblings to teach siblings? What special challenges are involved? What benefits are there to siblings sharing their talents? Can siblings work together on a single project? Is it possible to make everyone feel part of the team? Imogen talks about the piano and singing lessons she gives to...

This week, I discuss the following questions: Should we condemn people, including children, who are having a bad day? Or can we help them? Do adults need to play? What about teenagers?  What happens if we don't play? Is it okay for kids to spend all day playing? Do kids need time to play without a parent's involvement? What are the benefits of play? What are the best toys? Should we let kids play...

This week, my 21-year-old daughter, Imogen, joins me. We explore a lot of questions including: Do children's talents need the right environment in order to be discovered?  How can parents create that environment?  How can we support a child's talents? Should we be worried if a teenager doesn't know what she wants to do as a future career? Do we put too many pressures on teenagers? How can we help...

This week, I talk about: ageing, appearance and associated insecurities video making Facebook Livestreaming resources which might spark off some new learning experiences if life is a bit quiet I also ponder a few unschooling questions such as:   Are some kids so resourceful they have no need of basic skills? You can find me on my blog  Stories of an Unschooling Family ,  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  Y...

This week: I talk about tired days: do we plough on when we are overtired, trying to do all we normally do? Should we slow down? Ask for help? How do our tired days affect our children? And how does our attitude affect how we feel about being tired? I ponder the many different definitions of the word 'unschooling' and 'radical unschooling'. Are any of them an adequate description of unschooling? W...

This week, my 15-year-old daughter, Sophie, joins me to talk about unconditional love, respect, and trust.  These are some of the questions we explored during our conversation: Should every parent respect and love their children unconditionally? Do all children feel loved unconditionally?  If not, why not? How does Sophie know I love her? Do all parents talk to their children with respect? If not,...

This week, I talk about: ideas passions Gemma-Rose's latest passion for writing how passions lead to ideas how an idea may lead to an income how we decide if an idea is worth pursuing unschoolers and entrepreneurship what kind of jobs my kids would like to have my son Callum's recent visit home parenting adult children  Australian history resources my new  unschooling blog my newsletter You can fi...

This week, I'm sharing some stories about the love we have for our children. Even though that love brings us great joy, it can sometimes make our hearts ache. Or the joy of parenting can become buried under a heap of tiredness. I hope you enjoy these love and a mother's heart stories: Because I Am a Mother How to Have Demanding Children Who Rule the House A Mother's Hug Sons, Scrapes and Love Bree...

This is a special holiday episode. (My husband Andy is home for a couple of weeks because it's the school holidays.)  This week, I tell a few family stories.  Locked Out, Locked In and Lies Andy Elvis Presley There's a Dead Body Near Our Running Track A Doctor's Waiting Room Education You can find links to the original stories in the show notes on my blog  Stories of an Unschooling Family. While y...

This week, I discuss the following questions: Are we reluctant to try new things because we fear we might fail?  Why do we fear failure when we know we learn from our mistakes? How can we encourage our kids to give new things a go? How do we react when they do make mistakes? And are some people afraid to try unschooling? I also share some stories and a few resources.   You can find the show notes...

This week, I ask:   How do we respond to the critical comments of other people? Do our fears about unschooling increase when we are faced with negative opinions? How do we deal with that?  Are communication skills important? How can we pass on good skills to our kids? Is it really possible for an unschooled child to direct her own learning? Do a parent's words and fears affect a child? How can we...

This week, I answer these questions:  What was it like recording Imogen's latest music video with an unexpected audience? If we are experiencing dark and difficult times, is there hope? Will joy return to our days? Isn't it wonderful watching kids working with confidence and skill? Why would an unschooling teenager choose to go to school? (We ponder, but maybe we don't have all the answers because...

This week:   I talk about movies:  Are movies educational?  If a child watches lots of movies, won't she be missing out on other things?  Can we tempt our kids away from the screen?  And how can we turn movies into notes for our homeschool records book? Also: Can we use websites designed for traditional homeschooling/schooling in an unschooly way? Is there such a thing as too many resources? I sha...

My young adult daughter Imogen joins me for this episode.   We talk about:     Do parents need to continue trusting their young adult children while they are pursuing their dreams? Imogen tells us about her dream of becoming a successful online musician. She shares her thoughts on a classical musical education. Is she glad she worked her way through the exam system? Imogen describes how she and he...

  This week, I discuss the following questions:   Why do little kids love doing chores but older ones don't? Should we thank our kids more often? Should we avoid talking to people about their grief? Perhaps it's better not to upset them? What's wrong with a lot of real life maths resources (in my opinion!)?   I also share some maths and geography resources including games, videos, podcasts and web...

In this week's episode, I talk about: Celebrations and joy: Why should we celebrate the small everyday things in life? Cake: Did I make my kids adopt a sugar-free diet? Do we no longer eat cake? Perfection: Are we a perfect family? Do we need to be perfect if I'm sharing my family's experiences on the Internet? Mistakes: If I do make mistakes, am I going to lead you astray? What if I tell you some...

In this week's episode, I talk about our busy week and the need for occasional catch-up days .  I also tell a few stories about:   my girls' recent music video shoot how I made a few Youtube interview videos what we did with our inside cats while our house was being fumigated to get rid of fleas recording and editing audio for a local radio show my unique way of finding Valentine's Day gifts for m...