In our house we do what we can. We have children with illnesses which means sometimes they are well and sometimes they are not. Sometimes one is well and the other is not. It’s not always easy and it’s not always fun, but the mantra is that we do what we can when we can….
Opportunistic Unschooling
Today we went for a trip to some caves. It was magical and wonderful and was supposed to be my effort to quietly fill them with some fascinating geography and it worked. On the drive home we passed a truffle farm. I’ve never tasted truffles as my budget and tastes swerve me away from the…
Precious Curiosity
When I was a child I can’t remember feeling love for my school life. It’s not that it was a terrible experience, but there were plenty of times I was embarrassed, humiliated, unsure, doing things just because that was what I was told to do. I handed in the homework with minimal effort done, mostly…
Love First, Education Follows On
When I was researching homeschooling and particularly unschooling, there were lots of posts explaining where to start. Perfectly natural, people need a beginning. It can look so different to everyone, recommendations on activities, curriculum, styles. The truth for me is that the relationship is the place to start. If you are new to homeschooling your…
Maths at the Arcade
One of the toughest and the best parts of the job is trying to make things engaging and with topics like maths that can be a challenging topic. I was excited to come across the idea of making a fantasy arcade. A lot of sites that are meant for teachers and school children have brilliant…
How Unschooling is going for us now
It’s been an interesting journey to lead us to unschooling. I’ve had to trust my children more, I’ve had to trust myself more and I’ve had to let go of a lot of voices and pressures from my past in order to allow me the freedom to unschool my children. I desperately wanted to see…
Gin and Tonic Toothpaste
I took my children to the children’s services dentist recently. While I was in there the adverts caught my eye. It was an advert for a toothpaste set for with alternative flavours for children who hate mint and therefore will not brush their teeth. (It happens I know one.) It made me laugh as a…
The problem with school hours
Years ago when I first told my grandmother I would be taking my children out of school her response surprised me. She didn’t seem phased, one of her friends homeschooled their children. Her comment was “you have to have hours. That’s the key.” I thought about this a lot. I told her immediately, “No. that’s…
Being calm with big changes
Today we have reached the end of term. I do a lot with the kids, they love keeping busy. I organize a tween group with weekly sessions, we sometimes got to a home ed group, they did bowling class, pottery class with various play dates in between. One evening a week was Scouts. It’s always…
Inspiration walls and unschooling
I love the idea of unschooling. When I first heard of it I thought it sounded like an easy option and possibly reckless abandonment. Then I looked into it properly. Then I tried it. In my opinion it is one of the hardest, but most useful and certainly the most engaging methods of education I’ve…
The Messy Old Fashioned Home School Kitchen 