Saying Yes
When Gemma- Rose asked if we could get a puppy, we could have thought of many reasons to say no. But we didn’t. A year ago, a tiny Shar Pei/ Great Dane puppy joined our family and we called her Quinn. Quinn (who has grown enormously) has brought us enormous joy. All the extra work and expense are nothing compared to the love and fun this dog has brought us.
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You might be wondering if you should say yes or no to some request. Will a yes bring joy into your family’s life?
Free Range Kids
Do you have free range kids? Or do you worry about their safety and so limit their freedom? Perhaps we’re not allowed to let our kids roam free because others will criticise and accuse us of being negligent parents.
Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) talks about this topic in episode 300 of The Art of Manliness podcast: How to Raise Free Range Kids.
I don’t suppose The Art of Manliness podcast is aimed at mothers, but I find some of the episodes very interesting!
How Children Learn Right From Wrong
When children feel close to their parents, they want to “follow” them. Going against their parents would be going against the most important people in their lives. That’s why connection is 90% of parenting. Until the child feels the connection, she isn’t open to our direction.
This quote comes from the article How Children Learn Right From Wrong by Dr Laura Markham.
I like the ideas in this post. How about you?
Are You a Curious Unschooler?
How do we cover the school syllabus (if this is necessary for homeschool registration) without compromising our unschooling way of life? By being curious unschoolers!
During our last homeschool registration visit, our Authorised Person (AP) from the education department told us about the coffee pod ban in the government-run buildings in Hamburg, Germany. I said, “We could google that to find out more (because we’re interested) and then I bet we could match up the coffee ban to some of the syllabus outcomes… looking after the environment, energy, recycling… ” The AP agreed.
Yes, if we take an interest in what’s happening around us, what we hear in the news, what we see, what people are talking about … if we are curious unschoolers… our kids might get excited. They might want to know more. We might all learn new things and we won’t have to go looking for notes to add to our records books. We’ll find plenty to record at the end of each day.
So are you curious unschoolers?
(Now I’m wondering… what could used coffee pods be turned into?)
I’m curious: Have you read my blog post, Are You a Curious Unschooler?
An Unschooling Blog
I might share a few blogs I like. I’m sure you’ll enjoy Hayley’s blog, Taking a Kinder Path. Why not hop over and take a look and then stop by to say hello?!
Happy Birthday Andy!
It’s my husband Andy’s birthday today. I’m posting Imogen’s Loch Lomond video in honour of this occasion. I love how Andy is always willing to join in with our children’s interests. He’s always learning, sharing passions, encouraging our kids, trusting and supporting them, being a good example of unschooling!
Hello Sue
I’m a new follower and I’m so glad I found you! I’m new to unschooling and have been homeschooling my 14yo daughter for 12 months – but it wasn’t working. It’s difficult to find unschooling stories about teens, especially in Australia. Thank you so much for your blogs, videos and podcasts, they have been, and continue to be, a tremendous support.
Looking forward to the next blog.
Rae (Evernote Convert)
Rae,
We both have 14-year-old daughters!
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a difficult first year of homeschooling. But I’m glad you’ve found your way to unschooling! I hope you and your daughter are now happier. If I can help in any way, please let me know. If you have any questions and I can answer them, I will. Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me know that you’re finding my blog, podcasts etc helpful!
Evernote convert? That makes me smile!
Hi Sue, our family has also said “Yes” to pets. For us it is a love of animals ( my husband Herb got us hooked!) But also for our 2 youngest Nathan and Emily (19 & 23) respectively , who are on the autism spectrum and have other special needs. Particularly Emily who feels comfort when she cuddles one of our animals. Our list includes Cheyenne our chocolate lab, Lola our rabbit, Timothy our hamster, Cooper our Guinea pig, Tanner and Loki our Nigerian dwarf goats ( they are so adorable and our newest, they are only a couple months old, and then 6 chickens that we raise organically, they lay brown eggs which of course we eat and also sell. Our children are learning life skills about taking care of God’s creation entrusted to us. Since we also sell the eggs, they see how our egg money pays for more feed for the chickens, and the extra on top of that has even helped their older brother and his family buy groceries one week when his military pay was low. We have also been able to bless family and friends with gifts of eggs. In all , we feel that having pets has taught all our children to be more benevolent and caring adults. Sue, I love seeing pictures of Quinn, so adorable. Happy Birthday to Andy! Blessings to you all. Hope you are enjoying this time of year. For us here in the U.S. it is hot summer. Enjoy, Nancy
Nancy,
I enjoyed hearing about all your pets. It’s obvious they bring a lot of joy to your family. Nigerian dwarf goats? I’ve never seen one. I shall do some googling and find an image!
I’d love to have chickens, but I know one of our dogs would chase them. They wouldn’t be safe. Our neighbour used to give us some of her eggs. Yes, each time we received some, we felt like we had been blessed with a gift!
No hot sun for us. It has been cold and windy here. It hasn’t been very pleasant running weather. I’m looking forward to spring. Each day, I look at what time the sun is rising. Our days are getting longer!
Thank you for Andy’s birthday greetings. Sending love to you and your family. xxx
Hi Sue. Thanks for your blog. I recently read A Little Way of Homeschooling and then found your blog. We’ve been doing school at home and had so much angst and so much mummy guilt in not meeting my self imposed schedules and goals. I’ve tried to start on unschooling gently in the last few weeks and the difference in our home and the children is indescribable. We can finally relax and enjoy what we love together – trips to the beach, looking up things that sparked our interest in a gallery, having deep and meaningful conversations way past when the experts have told me bedtime should be. Thanks you For your inspiration- I’ve devoured your articles as I start this journey. God bless. Vicky
Victoria,
I’m so glad you found your way here. Suzie Andres used to have a page on my blog before she created a website of her own. I enjoyed sharing my Internet home with her!
Sharing experiences and ideas is good, isn’t it? I’m glad you’ve found some inspiration in my posts. It sounds like gentle unschooling has led your family to a happy place. The description of your days makes me smile!
Thank you so much for stopping by. It’s good to meet you!
I very much enjoyed this bits and pieces post! Saying Yes can be challenging at times but can also be so rewarding and enjoyable as we see our kids light up and want to explore new possibilities. We all learn so much along the way.
Thanks for sharing about the ‘How To Raise Free Range Kids’ podcast; I look forward to listening to it.
I liked the article ‘How Children Learn Right from Wrong’ – there are so many good points in it. It reminded me again of just how important modelling behaviours in our own lives is for our kids to see, and just how much I need the Lord to help me as I can’t be such a good example of love, forgiveness, patience etc without His help!
I have read your ‘Are You a Curious Unschooler?’ blog post and I’ve just re-read it. I really love being so curious – it’s so exciting and freeing to jump in and follow rabbit trails. I love modelling being curious to my girls and enjoying all we learn along the way. 🙂 I really appreciate the related posts at the bottom of each of your posts – I often re-read your blog posts and also come across ones I haven’t read yet.
Thanks for sharing about Hayley’s blog. I hadn’t come across it before and it has many very interesting articles I’d like to read. Have you read any blog posts on the christianunschooling.com website, Sue? I’ve slowly been reading through their archives and read this post recently which I really liked – http://www.christianunschooling.com/2015/02/23/unpacking-the-parent-child-education-conundrum/
I hope Andy had a lovely birthday. 🙂
Alison,
I’m pleased you liked this post. I have lots of useful links, quick thoughts and small bits of interesting info that I could share. Perhaps I’ll write regular bits and pieces posts!
Thank you for the link. I have read some of the Christian Unschooling posts but not this one.
“If you were to put together all the hours of every day that they have spent with their thoughts, in contact with their feelings, in contact with their awareness… and compare it to the amount of time you have spent with their thoughts, fully in touch with their feelings, fully understanding and connected to their awareness… they would still outstrip you in this area of experience, no matter their age.”
Oh yes! Sophie is always saying that no one knows a child like a child knows herself.
I also like these words: “But the distance between who they uniquely are and who we uniquely are is part of the deal. It never goes away. Relationship is not eliminating that distance, but ceasing to let it matter.”
Thank you for visiting Hayley’s blog. Yes, lots of interesting posts. Hayley has helped me by transcribing some of my videos. You might come across some of her transcripts as you’re rereading my posts!
Andy did have a happy birthday, thank you. We took the dogs for a walk through the botanic gardens. It was warm enough for a picnic!
It’s always good to chat with you. Enjoy the weekend!