What is the School Wound?
Some of us get sweaty palms and short of breath when that musty smell of the school corridor hits our nostrils. Some of us become a quivering mess when talking with our child’s Head Teacher, despite our high powered jobs. Others of us are just quietly dealing with a low level sense of failure or […]
Circle unschooling membership – what people say!
Seven Unschooling Principles to help you navigate screentime
There are some incredible unschooling principles that can help you celebrate and honour your child’s love of screens. Being in a position of understanding why your child enjoy’s watching and gaming and learning via the internet is an important part of our role as unschooling parents. However, it doesn’t mean we have to provide unlimited […]
6 bad reasons to embrace unlimited screen time in your unschooling home
1- You can’t figure out what to do with screen time, you have conflicted thoughts, so you take the path of least resistance The problem with having unlimited screens for this reason is that you end up feeling wracked with guilt when your kids end up sending days on end in front of the screen. […]
What is meant by de schooling?
De schooling is divesting from the School Fixated Society – both its mythology and practice. It is about deprogramming our minds but it is also about removing compliance with the myths of School Fixated society. Deschooling examples: Over the last twelve years of unschooling my children I’ve been on a massive deschooling adventure! it doesn’t […]
How is unschooling different from homeschool?
I watched Ramona learn to swim when she was four. We were at that very campground on a little family adventure and one day Ramona sat on the edge of the pool for hours watching an older girl swim back and forth. After the girl left Ramona asked me to step deeper into the pool. […]
What it means to unschool?
The supermarket checkout worker asks why Ramona, 10, wasn’t at school. “We don’t go to school” she replies, nonchalantly, packing the bags. “Oh, you’re lucky to have your mum teaching you!” the worker says. Ramona pauses, looks her dead in the eye, says “My mum? My mum doesn’t teach me a thing.” Words crowd my […]
Unschooling, Chores and Pocket Money!
Right now this minute my nine year old, fully unschooled daughter Juno is cleaning the walls. We are about to move out of our rental and knowing we need to keep it sparkly clean she is joining in. Plot twist – she is keeping a ledger of her work and charging herself out at ten […]
What are the essential aspects of self directed learning?
For a year now we’ve held a Self Directed Learning group at our home every Tuesday. It’s a day where parents can drop their kids off, where the kids are unschooling, but unschooling together. By “unschooling” I mean living a life without school, curriculum, teachers or enforced learning. Each morning the kids have a Circle […]
Are unschooled kids successful?
One of the big questions parents want the answer to when they are considering pulling their kids out of school or settling on a homeschooling style is if unschooled kids are successful. We need to consider three questions first: What do we mean by successful? For me, I don’t need to raise kids who have […]
The difference between unschooling and radical unschooling
Once you’ve entered the radical world of unschooling you realise that, even in this passionate movement of families raising their kids without school, rules or curriculum there is an even more extreme version of it! So let’s begin with the definition between unschooling and radical unschooling. What unschooling means? There are many definitions of unschooling. […]
From unschooling Misfit to Movershaker
Say hello to the Rebel Outcast archetype Many of the parents who are drawn to unschooling tend to be agitators. People who refuse to comply with the status quo. We’ve often spent a lot of time on the edges. We are often the black sheep of the family. These black sheep and edge-walkers […]
Deschooling our bodies
Akilah S Richards defines deschooling as “shedding the programming and habits that resulted from other people’s agency over our time, body, thoughts, and actions.” Many unschoolers begin with shedding beliefs about learning and education but we quickly move on to other areas. As the deschooling process unfolds it touches our beliefs about success, time, relationships, […]
Learning to read without panic requires de-centering literacy
One of the most controversial opinions I have is that de-centering literacy is essential in our quest for a thriving childhood for all children. For home educators, de-centering literacy allows you and your child to move out of panic and into a reading journey full of joy. Unlike quite a few of my opinions, which […]
Six Unschooling Archetypes – the doorways and the mirrors
I was an incorrigible non-parent. I had all sorts of ideas – no child of mine would ever sleep in my bed! My child would eat ALL of the dinner I cooked for them! My child would attend their local school because education is a common good that all decent citizens support! Of course, once […]
What is the School Wound
Some of us get sweaty palms and short of breath when that musty smell of the school corridor hits our nostrils. Some of us become a quivering mess when talking with our child’s Head Teacher, despite our high powered jobs. Others of us are just quietly dealing with a low level sense of failure or […]