Young children learn by doing. Actually, we all learn best by doing- it’s the best way to create the neural pathways in our brain that allows learning to really “stick.” But, young children especially need a lot of time to use all their senses in learning. Young children also want to do real things. I…
15 Interest-Led Learning Families You Should Get to Know
Unschooling blogs usually read like a diary. A peek into other people’s lives. It’s not that you don’t get that peek in more traditional homeschooling blogs, but unschoolers tend to live unusual lives….and I like unusual! You get to see what resources and materials they use in the context of their lives. You get to…
10 Not-Your-Usual Fun Fall Ideas
There’s five more days of summer left. That’s it. Not that I’m complaining. Since we’re a school-free family, our lives are not that affected by the days of the year. We can still play outside all day if we’d like, or stay inside and work on projects indoors. Instead of feeling the crispness of the…
Instead – An Unschooling Poem
I thought I ‘d do something a little different today. Since I was in a creative mood I wrote a poem. INSTEAD Instead of waking up in a flurried frenzy of speed dressing, food gobbling and “Can you hurry, up please?” we’re eating breakfast in our p.j.s, rubbing sleep from our eyes, and…
Getting Rid of Your Unschooling Fears
I strongly believe in giving children freedom to learn the things they’re passionate about in their own time and in their own way. But even those families who have been unschooling for awhile can be swayed by the mainstream way of thinking about education. During those “back to school” months, it’s even more difficult to…
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The Difference Between Pushing & Challenging
Do you push or challenge your children? Sometimes I think there’s a fine line to walk when we want to encourage our children to succeed. We might see that they have gifts, talents or skills they are not using, or we know that with just a little more effort they could reach their goals. But…
15 Unschooling & Interest-Led Learning Travelling Families You Should Get to Know
To wrap up my September travel series, I’d like to pay homage to some of the many blogs and websites by travelling unschoolers & interest-led learners who have inspired me to pursue even greater adventures. They’ve shown me how travel can make learning richer and deeper. They’ve taught me to go outside my comfort zone. …
10 Resources to Help You Plan Your Next Interest-Led Trip
My family loves to travel. We travel as often as we can. For us travel is a way to learn more about our current interests and discover new interests, too. The next time you’re planning a trip you can easily go to your local bookstore and check out the latest edition of Fodor or Lonely…
25 Things my Kids Have Learned from Watching Scooby Doo
My kids love watching Scooby Doo. They’ve watched all the seasons of the What’s New Scooby-Doo? series as well as dozens of episodes of the original Scooby-Doo series, too. My son watches mostly for the monsters, and my daughter for the mystery. I’m sure that anyone just casually watching my kids viewing a Scooby Doo…