Stories of an Unschooling Family

This week, I'm sharing some stories about the love we have for our children. Even though that love brings us great joy, it can sometimes make our hearts ache. Or the joy of parenting can become buried under a heap of tiredness. I hope you enjoy these love and a mother's heart stories: Because I Am a Mother How to Have Demanding Children Who Rule the House A Mother's Hug Sons, Scrapes and Love Breeding Like Mice You can find me on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  You can find my children's novel The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon. If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter, please do. I'd love to have you on my team! You can find the details in the sidebar of my blog. If you feel my podcast is helpful, please consider sharing my link and writing an iTunes review. Let's spread the word about unschooling! And please feel welcome to comment or you can email me if you'd like to chat or just say hello. Next week my podcasts will be back to normal. Enjoy your week! Podcast music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

This is a special holiday episode. (My husband Andy is home for a couple of weeks because it's the school holidays.)  This week, I tell a few family stories.  Locked Out, Locked In and Lies Andy Elvis Presley There's a Dead Body Near Our Running Track A Doctor's Waiting Room Education You can find links to the original stories in the show notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. While you're on my blog, why not sign up for my new newsletter? I'd love to have you on my team! If you enjoy stories, how about taking a look at my children's novel The Angels of Abbey Creek? It's available on Amazon. I hope you'll consider writing a review of my podcast and share my link. Let's spread the word about unschooling! Thank you to my kind listeners who have already done this. I appreciate it very much! Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

This week, I discuss the following questions: Are we reluctant to try new things because we fear we might fail?  Why do we fear failure when we know we learn from our mistakes? How can we encourage our kids to give new things a go? How do we react when they do make mistakes? And are some people afraid to try unschooling? I also share some stories and a few resources.   You can find the show notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. If you have time, please consider writing an iTunes review of my podcast. I'd appreciate it very much! And if you share my link, we can spread the word about unschooling!   Podcast music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)  

This week, I ask:   How do we respond to the critical comments of other people? Do our fears about unschooling increase when we are faced with negative opinions? How do we deal with that?  Are communication skills important? How can we pass on good skills to our kids? Is it really possible for an unschooled child to direct her own learning? Do a parent's words and fears affect a child? How can we encourage a child to write? Would free-writing help a reluctant writer? Can a visit to the doctor be recorded as real life maths? You can find the show notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. Please feel welcome to comment on this episode. I hope you'll share the podcast link. And if you have time, I'd be grateful for an iTunes review. Thank you for listening! Podcast music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

This week, I answer these questions:  What was it like recording Imogen's latest music video with an unexpected audience? If we are experiencing dark and difficult times, is there hope? Will joy return to our days? Isn't it wonderful watching kids working with confidence and skill? Why would an unschooling teenager choose to go to school? (We ponder, but maybe we don't have all the answers because we're not unschooling teenagers who want to go to school!) I also talk about the joy of living an unschooling way of life our recent videos zombies and running a few resources the joy of living in the moment how I'm going to cope when time moves on and I'm no longer living life as it is today how we all need a feeling of belonging You can find the show notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family   Please take a look at Imogen's latest music video, Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen   Podcast music:  60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)   Thank you for listening, and Happy Easter!  

This week:   I talk about movies:  Are movies educational?  If a child watches lots of movies, won't she be missing out on other things?  Can we tempt our kids away from the screen?  And how can we turn movies into notes for our homeschool records book? Also: Can we use websites designed for traditional homeschooling/schooling in an unschooly way? Is there such a thing as too many resources? I share a story about kids and joy. Should I be embarrassed by my early podcasts which are far from perfect? Should I get upset when I think about my mothering mistakes? I also share lots of resources. You can find the show notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family Podcast Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

My young adult daughter Imogen joins me for this episode.   We talk about:     Do parents need to continue trusting their young adult children while they are pursuing their dreams? Imogen tells us about her dream of becoming a successful online musician. She shares her thoughts on a classical musical education. Is she glad she worked her way through the exam system? Imogen describes how she and her sisters record the music, and then film and put together their music videos. What is the best way to learn? Do we need to ignore the possibility of criticism and get out there and learn on the go? Imogen shares her thoughts on marriage, love, and children, and how these relate to her own career dreams. Is it important for children to see mothers using their talents? Was Jane Austen a modern woman ahead of her time? We talk about Imogen's latest music video, a frightening moment with a huge kangaroo, and how a team of kids can do fantastic things.                     You can find the show notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. You can find my children's novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon.    

This week, I discuss the following questions:   Why do little kids love doing chores but older ones don't? Should we thank our kids more often? Should we avoid talking to people about their grief? Perhaps it's better not to upset them? What's wrong with a lot of real life maths resources (in my opinion!)?   I also share some maths and geography resources including games, videos, podcasts and websites.       You can find the show notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. You can find my children's novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon.   Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

In this week's episode, I talk about: Celebrations and joy: Why should we celebrate the small everyday things in life? Cake: Did I make my kids adopt a sugar-free diet? Do we no longer eat cake? Perfection: Are we a perfect family? Do we need to be perfect if I'm sharing my family's experiences on the Internet? Mistakes: If I do make mistakes, am I going to lead you astray? What if I tell you something that's wrong? Christian unschooling: Are we an obnoxious religious family? Is unschooling not a very Christian thing to do? Listening: How do we encourage kids to talk to us? How can we improve our listening skills? Popularity: Do I want to be popular?  I also tell my mean kids story, the one I forgot to talk about last week! You can find the show notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. You can find my children's novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon. Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

In this week's episode, I talk about our busy week and the need for occasional catch-up days .  I also tell a few stories about:   my girls' recent music video shoot how I made a few Youtube interview videos what we did with our inside cats while our house was being fumigated to get rid of fleas recording and editing audio for a local radio show my unique way of finding Valentine's Day gifts for my husband   I also ponder the questions:   How do we prevent sibling rivalry? If we seem to have all the answers, is that discouraging to others? Are seemingly 'perfect' families off-putting?   In my introduction, I did say I was going to speak about 'mean kids', but I forgot. Maybe I'll tell you that story next week! I hope you enjoy my podcasts. If you do, perhaps you can spread the word about unschooling by sharing my link! Please visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family where you'll find the show notes. You can find my children's novel The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)