Stories of an Unschooling Family

This week I talk about beginnings and endings. Last week the new school term began, my daughter Charlotte started a new year of her life, and two of my girls have begun a new project. (They're hoping to earn some money!) Some beginnings are followed closely by an ending, like the death of a baby. I ponder whether grief is something of interest to only a few, or will we all experience grief at some...

This week I chat to my husband Andy and our 19 year old daughter Imogen. We talk about Andy's two roles: school teacher and unschooling father. Andy shares his own learning story as he tells of his redundancy, and his return to university mid-life which led to a whole new career. Along the way we discuss a few unschooling principles, the ways fathers can be involved in his children's lives... and...

This week: I talk about the definition of unschooling.  Are labels useful or an invitation for criticism?  I ponder if there are such people as unschooling experts.  And can a radical unschooling family use a chore roster? No? Perhaps? I chat about how my ideas have changed over the years. And how inconvenient it is to have my past ideas published somewhere in black and white, for all to see, when...

This week I chat to my 19 year old daughter Imogen about writing.    Imogen is in her final year of a Professional Writing and Publishing degree at university. So how did she get there? Did she learn to write by doing a structured course? What about spelling and grammar? Surely she learnt all about essay writing before she started her university degree? And how did she write before she knew anythi...

This week I talk about how exciting it is when a child finds something she is passionate about. And how I can be tempted to get anxious when a child doesn't seem to be interested in anything particular at all. I discuss the changing seasons of our unschooling year, and whether or not unschoolers have holidays. If you're interested in mistakes, I mention that as well!   You'll find the program note...

This week I talk about ageing. Why do some of us find it so difficult to adjust to our changing appearance as we get older? Why do I find it difficult to admit my age? And what are my daughters learning from my attitude towards ageing? I ask my 13 year old daughter a few questions related to this topic. Along the way, I speak about such things as leading by example, and how we will continue learni...

Sophie, my unschooling teenager and I chat about our shared love of learning and all the interests we have in common. I mull over how important it is for mothers to be a good example of learning. And how mothers usually end up learning so much from their children. We discuss Sophie’s least favourite question related to learning. And we talk about perfection and why it isn’t necessary. Along the wa...

I talk about why I want to try podcasting and I mention some of the podcasts I've been listening to recently. I chat about the Catholic Digital Media Conference and the blogging workshop I was invited to co-present. Other topics that I touch on are my new children's novel "The Angels of Abbey Creek", how I came to be a blogger, homeschool meetings and lice!