All Blog Posts (584)

i love how conversations amble along…you start in one place and end up down the street in a completely different neighborhood. yesterday, silas and i had a conversation like that. we were in the car on the way home from the orthodontist and somehow we started talking about moving, i think because scotty is finishing school this year and there was some brief discussion the night before about “what if we had to move away if he got a job somewhere else, etc.” he asked why people always want to…

Why are those two words never paired together? I’ve been reading about families who try to create environments that might coax their sons to write more. So I think it’s time to share how we dealt with writing, when my son was growing up.

I never really paid a lot of attention to Michael’s penmanship or his writing skills when he was in school. Maybe because he was only there for Kindergarten and First Grade!

I hadn’t read a lot about homeschooling before we…

I lay my littles down for bed. As usual, Zarah stayed up to play after story time and songs. After a while, as I always do, I open the door to take a peek and see how she's doing. Tonight, she was bent over and quickly looked up at me when she heard me step in and said: It's you mommy look... I built you! v Picture below v…

For the last couple of years, I started to withdraw from the whole unschooling community. My energy was waning and activities slowed down from my lack of energy as well as severe financial constraints. We left a good paying job after hubby had 2 heart attacks at 38 years old.

It also happened to happen at 2008 when the economy crashed. We moved from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to North Carolina. We went a whole year without a job and paid our bills from scrap metaling alone. This…

Hi all,

We're new to this network, though have been unschooling/ homeschooling our kids, 7 and 3 1/2 years old, for a couple of years now.

We're a french family,we  still live in France, but we're currently considering to move to Columbia, Missouri. So I susbcribed to this network beacuse we'de like to know more about homeschooling in the USA. Are there many unschooling/homescooling families in the area of Columbia, as we think and hope? I think that the USA …

last year, samuel started recording music in his bedroom. he was frustrated with not being able to find anyone to start a band with and decided to just do it all…

i made a joke earlier today that watching any series on netflix was a full-time job. and it’s true. but it got me thinking about the many different “jobs” i have had over the years under the single title of “mom.”

this year all three of the kids are turning milestone ages: 13, 16, and 18. my mind has been on this a lot lately. i’m reminded of when they were all 5 and under and people would ask what it was like to have 3 young children. i would often describe it as having 3 very…

How willing is the system that names, categorizes and assumes, based on isolated, limited information to drop all its theories and start researching all over again? How willing is it to confess its inability to know that which lies beyond its limiting perception?

These are just rhetorical questions of course, for the answer is obvious to the less submissive. Revolutionary answers cannot arise from a system that uses a closed thought process that is based on…

Not all homeschooling families start out with the intention to homeschool. Some do, of course—I’ve met lots of parents who knew they would homeschool long before they had school age kids, who came to homeschooling as an extension of their parenting philosophy– but others, like us, had blithely assumed that their kids would happily head off for school at five and spend most their days there until they were, oh, eighteen or so.

I love homelearning, I love unschooling, I’m glad we’re…

Today, my pastor gave a perfect analogy for my education philosophy. He described how when you get a new tool or your child gets a new present, you don’t get out the instruction manual first, read it and then just leave the tool or toy in the box. No, you rip open the box, get out the toy or tool and you start trying to use it. Then, a few minutes into it you realize, “Oh, I may need to read some instructions on how to use this thing.” So, then you start reading the instructions;…

I’ve heard this question a few times over the last month or so. Actually, it seems to be right up there with “What about socialization?”on the list of things people say when you tell them your child doesn’t go to school. Tiresome, maybe, but it’s actually kind of an interesting question to unpack.

First of all, “keeping up” isn’t really a concept that…

From my blog, Lifelong Learning: For us, it's a Life Full of Saturdays!

I logged onto Facebook this morning to discover, thanks to the Peace Corps group,  that TODAY is …

The Rise of mini Engineers

I know that for some of you in the UK the rain has been quite a problem, but sometimes it is good to focus on whats great about it. Last week during a heavy rain storm, my family walked 4 miles to the shop instead of using our car. We loved the walk despite being soaked to the bone. We thought about the sun coming out, and right as we were reaching home- the beautiful sun shone through the clouds, drying our close. Priceless.…

I am setting myself a challenge for the week ahead. I am going to reduce the amount of times I use the word 'NO' and negative words such as 'don't' 'can't'  and 'shouldn't'

I actively encourage my daughters to turn their positive hopes and dreams into reality, each word that one uses speaks directed to…

It’s September, which means it’s time to not-go-back-to-school.

It sounds like a non-event, and in many ways, it is. September looks pretty much the same as August in our house.

On the other hand, it’s hard to tune out the back to school sales, the fall program guides, the general flurries of haircuts and shopping and…

Some tips for helping get you through all the Back-to-School hype from my blog, Lifelong Learning:

You can't miss it. "Back to School" ads. "School Clothes" shopping. Even conversations among complete strangers who run into each other at the grocery store, eagerly anticipating their child being away from them soon. It's August, and there's so much excitement surrounding the kids starting their new school…

It feels great to have "started school" at home and not be stressed by fixed schedules, waiting in a line of cars to pick up my child, etc. Wishing the rest of you well - today and all year!

      Hey there all, I am a mother of 2, ages 7 and 4. My daughter who is 7 doesn't seem to be into writing or reading much, and although we do have may notebooks and books to read, her interest is elsewhere. More like in playing outside, and playing waitress all day. With all the snacks I end up eating during the restaurant games, Im afraid soon I won't be able to keep up! hehehe... So although I do love and enjoy that she plays a lot more than the "conventional" reading and writing, I…