People often have favourite breeds of dogs, don’t they? Maybe they love greyhounds like a couple living in a nearby town who dress their trio of thin dogs in bright-striped pyjamas to keep them warm on below-zero days. Or they might be dachshund people like…
I used to think the defining word of unschooling was freedom. Freedom attracted me. I wanted to be free to do whatever I liked. I wanted to get up each day and do anything or nothing at all. But I soon realised there’s a problem…
Andy and I take Nora and Quinn to the vet for their annual checkups. We wonder if our dogs are the correct weight for their size. Are their coats clean and shiny? Do they look happy and well cared for? The vet says our pets…
Strolling through the bush on a spring afternoon, sunscreen on my bare arms, a dog on a leash, I round a bend in a track and almost trip over a writhing venomous brown snake. With my heart beating fast, I jump, tighten my hold on…
Do you ever feel like taking a course, reading a textbook, or following someone else’s instructions to learn something? Do you want someone to say, “Follow my plan, and when you get to the end, you’ll know how to bake bread, fix a car, understand…
Should our kids be our whole world? Should we dedicate all our time and effort to raising the most precious people in our lives? Or is it okay to combine motherhood with our own interests? Could there be advantages in using our gifts and pursuing…
If we’re willing to learn new skills, persevere through any problems, put in a lot of effort, and ignore our fears, we can achieve our dreams and inspire our kids to do amazing things of their own. So, what’s your dream?…
How do we encourage our younger children to say thank you? Do they need only our good example to copy? Is learning good manners enough? Our kids could just repeat the polite words. But is it better if their response comes from their hearts? Do…
As I exit the car, the tree attacks me. It grips and twists my hair with its sticky fingertips. It pokes me sharply in my ribs. “Could you have parked [...]
In my post, The Spark, I told you I was updating my first children’s novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek. I was revising the words and, with AI’s help, generating [...]
We give our daughters our Aldi pod coffee machine when they leave home. “We’ll treat ourselves to a new one,” we say, not realising there isn’t a single Aldi coffee [...]
I ask, “Watch the movie or read the book? Which one do you prefer doing first?” Imogen replies without hesitating, “Read the book.” Then she adds, “Unless the book is [...]
Discover how video games helped one person cope with difficult times and how finding the right game can offer a chance for success. Explore the benefits of playing puzzle games and how they can improve thinking skills and creativity. Read on to learn more about…
“If children are given the freedom to do whatever they want, will they choose to do nothing at all?” I ask my daughters. Sophie smiles and says, “It’s not possible to do nothing.” “But I’ve heard parents say to their kids, ‘You’ve done nothing today!’”…
If our children misbehave, what do we do? Make them sit on the time-out chair? Punish them? Perhaps we should withdraw our love. Be cold and distant. Make things unpleasant for our kids because they need to know how upset…
I’ve written three unschooling books: I focused on the educational side of unschooling in Curious Unschoolers. I extended the unschooling story in Radical 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…