Stories of an Unschooling Family

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to leave a comment about anything we talked about in this episode. You could just stop by and say hello. And please join me on Instagram!

147: A Big Chat About Unschooling Teenagers Feb 09, 2019

Show notes

My daughters Imogen and Sophie join me to talk about unschooling teenagers:

What do teenagers need?
Should parents introduce more structured learning during the high school years?
Or do teenagers need to be free to continue to explore their passions?
What should we do if a teenager doesn't appear to have any particular passions?
What about university?
Do parents keep teenagers safe by keeping a tight hold on them? Is this the responsible thing to do?
Or do we keep teenagers safe by giving them their freedom to discover who they are?
Should parents be friends with their teenagers?
Is it never too late to build close relationships with our teenagers?
Is it essential we do this?

These are just a few of the many questions we discuss during our big chat about unschooling teenagers!

Show Notes

Imogen Elvis

Website

Write.Rewrite.Read

Youtube

Write. Rewrite. Read

Imogen's novel

The Crystal Tree

Sophie Elvis

Instagram

Youtube

Sophie Elvis

My Instagram

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

146: Finding Unschooling in Unexpected Places and Other Things Feb 01, 2019

Show notes

This week my daughters Imogen and Sophie join me to talk about:

Imogen’s novel ‘The Crystal Tree’ and its sequel ‘The Shattering Song’
YA or Young Adult novels
Imogen’s book review videos
How parents hold the key to a child’s happiness
How some parents push their kids to fulfil their own dreams
The YA novel ‘A Thousand Perfect Notes’
Imogen’s opinion of my first unschooling book ‘Curious Unschoolers’
How we’re getting on with the formatting and publishing of my unschooling book
A progress report for my second unschooling book ‘A Radical Unschool Love’
How Sophie is teaching Imogen photography
The joy of sharing passions
Creativity and learning
How we all have bad days
How our family isn’t perfect
Sophie’s new job
Sophie’s transition from unschooling to structured learning
Sophie’s beta personal training clients
How it can be difficult for parents to accept help and advice from their children
How kids can outlearn their parents

Show Notes

A Novel

A Thousand Perfect Notes by CG Drews

Imogen Elvis

Youtube

Imogen's novel

Instagram

Website

Sophie Elvis

Instagram

Youtube

Sophie Elvis

My Instagram

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. Or you could just stop by and say hello. And please join me on Instagram!

145: Taking the Unschooling Yeti for a Test Drive Jan 05, 2019

Show notes

This week, my teenager Sophie joins me to test drive my new Yeti mic! Hopefully, our conversation sounds good!

We talk about:

Sophie's vlogging plans
Encouraging children's ideas
How we shouldn't be afraid to try new things
The temptation to edit our pasts and rewrite our stories
The temptation to delete early blog posts to eliminate our unschooling mistakes
The problem of looking like we've never made any mistakes
How we can impact other people's lives in a positive way
Do I have an online persona?
How we can capture our life stories
How choosing the right gift can make a difference to the receiver's life
Planning our year instead of making New Year's Resolutions
Things I want to achieve in 2019
My unschooling book news
Things Sophie wants to achieve this year

Show Notes

Imogen Elvis

Youtube

Imogen Elvis

Imogen's novel

The Crystal Tree

Sophie Elvis

Instagram

Youtube

Sophie Elvis

My Instagram

Should Bloggers Edit Their Past

My Unschooling Newsletter

Philip Mott's Podcast

School's Out

Sallie Borrink's Blog Post

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Perhaps you have a question or topic you'd like me to discuss in a future podcast episode. Please let me know so that I can add it to my planning notes for next year.

144: Reading Out Loud and a Generous Christmas Dec 14, 2018

Show notes

This week, I'm answering some questions about reading out loud:

What is our reading out loud process?
Should we have a time (for reading) built into the flow (of our day)?
What if this time crowds out other projects our children are working on individually?
How do we choose books?

I talk about

Why I never enjoyed listening to books being read aloud as a child
How I used to regard reading out loud as the dessert of my kids' education rather than the main course.
How we should move over and let our kids occupy the reader's chair
How we have to be patient while our kids are learning how to read out loud
My reading-out-loud experiment: What happened when I stopped correcting my daughter when she made reading-out-loud mistakes

I also return to the topic of Christmas presents:

Do presents belong only to the commercial side of Christmas or do they have spiritual significance?
Can we tell others to be generous?
Or do we only learn about generosity by experiencing it ourselves?

Show Notes

Blog Posts

Respecting Kids and Christmas Presents

The Reading Out Loud Experiment

A Main Course of Reading Out Loud

Listening

Instagram

My Perfect Christmas Present Secret

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Perhaps you have a question or topic you'd like me to discuss in a future podcast episode. Please let me know so that I can add it to my planning notes for next year.

This is my last episode for 2018. I'm taking a break over Christmas. Please join me again in 2019!
Happy Christmas!

143: Respecting Kids and Christmas Presents Dec 08, 2018

Show notes

This week, I'm sharing some news about my unschooling book.

I'm also sharing two stories, one about respecting children, and the other about perfect Christmas presents and love.

And I'm discussing the following questions:

Is it the right of every child to be respected?
How do we show respect to children?
Do we sometimes do things for our kids only because we want them to do things for us?
Is it okay to buy and enjoy giving Christmas presents?
Is it okay to look forward to receiving them?
Can choosing and giving presents be an act of love?

Show Notes

Blog Posts

Making an Aussie Bush Christmas Tree

YouTube

Imogen Elvis

Imogen's Christmas Music Playlist

Instagram

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. Perhaps you have a question or topic you'd like me to discuss. Or just stop by and say hello. And please join me on Instagram!

142: An Unschooler Talks About Life, Work and Dreams Nov 30, 2018

Show notes

This week, my teenage daughter Sophie (17) joins me to talk about:

How she balances her busy unschooling life with work
Why it's important to trust kids and not squash their ambitions
Why she is choosing not to go to university
Sophie's dream to be self-employed and how she plans to achieve it
How a lot of people react when they hear Sophie is working full time in a cafe
NaNoWriMo events and making friends
How we need to believe in our kids and cheer them on

Show Notes

Podcasts

Episode 133, A Balanced and Productive Unschool Life

Episode 139, Unschool Socialisation: Making Friends, Being Different

Instagram

Sophie Elvis

Sue Elvis

When Excitement for Learning Appears to Disappear

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to leave a comment about anything we talked about in this episode. Perhaps you have a question for Sophie. Or you could just stop by and say hello. And join me on Instagram!

141: When a Child Is No Longer Gripped by a Passion Nov 23, 2018

Show notes

This week, I'm answering the question: "Have your kids ever been between interests?"

I talk about:

Exciting times when kids are gripped by a passion
Quiet times when they appear to be drifting along
How we can help our kids during quiet times by trusting and strewing
Some strewing ideas

Show Notes

Blog Posts

Regaining Her Enthusiasm for Learning

Preparing our Kids for an Unknown Future: Can We Do It?

What Happened When I Strewed a Painting on the Wall

Unschooling, Strewing, and Unplanning

My Unschool Unplanning Strewing Notebook

Podcasts

Episode 4: Exciting Times, Slow Times, and Unschool Holidays

Episode 83: How to Start a Great Art Conversation

Novel Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo

Coding Lessons

Codecademy

Youtube Exercise Channel

Fitness Blender

My Unschooling Newsletter

Instagram

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

140: Difficult Things Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

This week, I'm talking about things that are sometimes difficult:

Letting kids do what they want even if there is a risk of failure
Taking risks so that we continue to learn
Not pushing kids to use their talents
Balancing the role of school teacher with that of unschooling father
Talking to reluctant spouses about a desire to unschool
Listening and building up trust
Writing a 50,000-word novel
Losing a child
Reaching out to those who are grieving

Show Notes

Pam Laricchia's Podcast

Exploring Unschooling

Episode 150 of the Exploring Unschooling Podcast: Stories of an Unschooling Family with Sue Elvis

Novel Writing

NaNoWriMo

Instagram

Gemma-Rose (9) Talks about Novel Writing

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!

Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. Or just stop by and say hello. And join me on Instagram!

139: Unschool Socialisation: Making Friends, Being Different Nov 02, 2018

Show notes

This week, I'm talking about unschooling and friends.

Is it sometimes difficult for unschoolers to find kindred spirit friends because we're different?
What if our kids don't have many friends?
If someone doesn't want to be our friend, is there something wrong with us?
How do you become a cool kid?
Should we pretend to be someone we're not so that we'll be accepted and have friends?
Or is it better to be ourselves?
Do we need lots of friends in order to learn good communication skills and how to get on with other people?
Or maybe some 'socialised' people who have no trouble talking don't actually have many communication skills?

Of course, some unschoolers may be part of big unschooling groups and have no trouble finding like-minded friends!

I'm also talking about

NaNoWriMo and friends
My unschooling book
How I stepped outside my comfort zone and had an exciting adventure!

Show Notes

Podcast

Episode 48: Do Unschoolers Mind Being Different

Novel Writing

NaNoWriMo

Video

Pam Laricchia's Podcast

Exploring Unschooling

Instagram