Stories of an Unschooling Family

Latest Episodes:

38: Is Unschooling Just Living Life? Aug 17, 2015

Show notes

In this week's episode, I discuss the following questions:

Is unschooling just living life?
Or is there more to unschooling than that?
What if life is too quiet or too busy or there's a crisis?
Has unschooling changed as my children have grown older?
Did Charlotte (17) give herself a good education?
Was she prepared for tertiary learning?
Or should I have supervised the last year or so of her high school years?
Am I a proud mother?
Is it possible for siblings to successfully teach siblings?
And should we push children to develop and use their talents if they are not motivated to do this themselves?

I also share my latest resource discoveries!.
You'll find the program notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. I hope you'll listen to this week's episode!

37: Books, Weddings and Lots of Passion! Aug 10, 2015

Show notes

This week I talk about:

our preparations for my son Callum’s wedding
my new favourite website that I will still love when I’m a yummy granny!
the perfect wedding present I’ve chosen
how my family helped me produce a new edition of my children’s novel
how unschooling children love to share ideas, talents and their help
the new blog page I’ve created for unschooling author Suzie Andres
some great free resources that can be found online
how wonderful it is watching children involved with their passions
my daughter Charlotte’s university experience: how did she get on writing her very first essay?

Please visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family for the podcast notes, and to see Suzie Andres' new page! You can also find me on my Facebook Page.
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

36: Encouraging Kids to Write (and the Youngest Child in the Family) Aug 02, 2015

Show notes

Some of the things I talk about this week include:

Do youngest children have a privileged position in the family?
Or do they have things harder than people might imagine?
Did my eldest child suffer because she had an inexperienced mother?
Can youngest children have an advantage when it comes to learning?
How can we encourage children to write?
What about spelling?
And handwriting?
And what if a child, despite our efforts, just doesn't want to write?

You'll find relevant blog posts and other program notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. And you'll also find me on my Facebook page of the same name! Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

35: Popularity, Learning to Read and Shakespeare Jul 27, 2015

Show notes

I haven't been checking the stats for this podcast so I don't know if anyone is still listening. Does it matter if I'm talking to myself? In this week's podcast, I talk about blogging, podcasting and popularity.

I also talk about the following:

is there such a thing as a typical unschooling day?
how about a typical unschooling week?
the uneven nature of learning and how this affects homeschool record keeping
our passion for Shakespeare
learning to read:
how I thought I was a wonderful teacher
how I discovered I wasn't
the mistakes I made with my children
what I finally learned about learning to read

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family and my Facebook page, and also Sophie's blog The Techno Maid. Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

34: Learning from My Daughter and Other Unschool Stories Jul 20, 2015

Show notes

This week's episode is a bits and pieces podcast. I tell some stories about what's been happening in our family, ponder some thoughts and share a few resources. More specifically, I discuss:

something exciting that happened last Friday
whether or not we can prepare our children for an unknown future
why we are glad we have an active dog
how writing about Jane Fonda led to a new passion for Sophie.
the importance of encouragement and sharing children’s passions
how I discovered some muscles I haven’t used in a long time
how unschooling children persevere even when no one is pushing them
novel writing
how children’s knowledge can soon exceed a parent’s and how they can end up teaching us
how younger children can learn from older siblings
some of the DVDs and videos we’ve been watching
and some of the things I’ve been working on

Please visit my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family for the program notes! 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

33: Starting Unschooling Jul 09, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s podcast, I discuss the topic of starting unschooling.

Is moving to unschooling a big step for children?
How can we encourage children to get excited about their own learning?
What if a child just wants to sit in front of the television or computer?
Do adults and children have different ideas about what kind of learning is valuable?
And what about trust?

I also ponder the future of this podcast. Please visit my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family for this episode's notes. Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

32: Kids and Computers Jun 25, 2015

Show notes

This week my daughter Imogen joins me to talk about computers. Some of the questions we discuss include:

Should children be allowed to use the computer?
What kind of opportunities for learning do computers offer?
Can Facebook be valuable?
Should children’s time on the computer be restricted?
How do we encourage a child to balance her computer time with other activities?
Should we respect a child’s creative space?
Can playing computer games be a worthwhile thing to do?
Can people make a living out of playing computer games?
And is there a way to guide our children other than applying rules and regulations?

This podcast contains our thoughts on children and computers, but we respect other people's opinions which might differ from ours. It's okay to disagree. Friendly debate is always good! Please visit my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family for the program notes including links to related posts. Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

31: From Unschooling to University Jun 08, 2015

Show notes

My 17-year-old daughter, Charlotte has just started her first Open University unit. In this week's episode, I talk about her transition from unschooling to university. In particular, I discuss the following questions:

Can homeschooling children earn a 'score' or qualification, equivalent to the HSC, the school leavers' certificate?
How can unschooling children get into university?
Are unschoolers at a disadvantage when they attend on-campus universities?
Are unschoolers prepared for university learning?
What about essay writing skills?
What are the advantages of studying for a degree online?

I also talk about some other things I've been doing recently:

Making unschooling videos
Creating a new blog
Facebook pages
And Imogen's and my podcast plans

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family for more unschooling to university stories, and other podcast notes Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

30: Wild Inside: Why Classical Music Isn't Enough May 18, 2015

Show notes

So what's Wild Inside? It's an off-shoot of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast. I'm recording it with Imogen, my adult unschooler, and we're going to be discussing all our wild thoughts. We hope you'll listen!

This week we explore creativity:

Why are some people more creative than others?
Can you be an artist and not be creative?
Can everything be approached creatively? What about maths?
Will there ever be another Mozart?
Why is a diet of classical music not enough?
Are all classic novels good?
How can we encourage our children to be creative?

Please feel welcome to visit our blogs: Stories of an Unschooling Family and Gossiping with Dragons. Music: Twombly by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

29: What I Think Unschooling is All About May 07, 2015

Show notes

This week, I tried something new because I've been having trouble turning the ideas in my head into the right spoken or written words. In this podcast, I use some old words.
I tell a story (from my blog) in which ...

I talk about the label 'unschoolers'
I ask the question: are labels useful?
I describe what I used to think the word 'unschooling' meant
And I share what I now think unschooling is all about

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to read the original post or any of my other unschooling stories!

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