Are you making your kids weird? I know I am. I love to travel. All year, I save so that I can go on wonderful trips. I’m not a big spender on things, but I love to spend on experiences. My daughter likes to travel too, and I enjoy taking her with me. We get to have adventures together, and they’re very educational of course. We’ve learned about the tropical rainforest by going there and walking through it. Most recently, we’ve explored great European works of art (and yes, ice cream and lots of carousels) by traveling through Italy and … Continue reading →

Recently an article was published stating that unstructured or unschooling students under performed on standardized tests while structured homeschoolers out performed on standardized tests in comparison to their schooled counterparts. If you have been around the homeschool block long enough you standardized tests appear to be the measure used to determine if homeschooling qualifies as education in the eyes of non-homeschoolers. First, the standardized test was not developed to compare schooled children to homeschoolers. The standardized test is an accountability system to ensure schools were teaching the basics to their students. I fail to understand why national standards and standardized … Continue reading →

When I first heard the term “unschooling,” I thought it meant to take knowledge from the things around you without necessarily sitting down to study. As I have looked more into various ways of homeschooling, I’ve come to understand this term a bit more. According to The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith, “Unschooling… means learning what one wants, when one wants, in the way one wants, where one wants, for one’s own reasons.” This was an eye-opener for me—to learn what you want to learn, when and how you want to learn it. Is this possible? Can you really do … Continue reading →

Yes. In a word, yes. You should talk about serious social issues with your child. My daughter was sick this week and we were watching The Sound of Music. Until a few months ago, I had never watched this movie. I’d played its music ad infinitum in band classes from grade 6 on, but I’d avoided watching it. However, my daughter loves musicals, so The Sound of Music it has been, over and over for the past few months. The Sound of Music is a relatively light movie until just over halfway through. It involves a lot of singing and … Continue reading →

Since your child learned to talk, she has been saying no. Often, my daughter says no when I want her to say yes. Noncompliance is frustrating, but I want to teach her to trust her own no. What do I mean by that? I want my daughter to understand that when she feels worried or scared or overwhelmed by something, she does not have to do it. If she feels that something is not right, she does not have to do it. It does not matter who is asking her to do that thing. She simply does not have to. … Continue reading →

I was never the kind of kid who would skip class. No, in high school I was a superstar: diligent, focused, and driven. Now I look back and I wonder exactly what I was driving towards so intensely. While it’s unlikely that I would have come up out of my focused state to look around, smell the flowers, and consider other options and opportunities, I can promote that saner alternative to those who are students now. High school can be a pressure cooker, but why? There are many skills to be learned in the great, wide world. Taking some time … Continue reading →

I don’t really like taking the kids with me when I have a doctor’s appointment—it’s so much more hassle in some ways—but I have to admit, when they’re with me, I do have my fair share of giggles. Today it was my six-year-old who provided the entertainment. We were at the chiropractor’s office and the assistant was putting the electrical stimulation pads on my neck and shoulders. My son walked up to her and initiated a conversation like only he can. “Did you know there are red blood cells and white blood cells?” She acted suitably impressed. “There are?” “Yes,” … Continue reading →

As an unschooling-leaning parent, I believe that life is my work. Sometimes it is hard to articulate this. I hope that my daughter grows up with an understanding of the whole of her life as a masterpiece. This began as a letter to my daughter. In my work, I am a mother. I am an educator. I am a volunteer. In all of these, I work in professions that are undervalued and misunderstood by many. Parenthood is probably the one that is the most fraught with angst. Anyone who has been a parent knows that it is hard. It is … Continue reading →

This time of year makes me happy. It’s almost spring, and the bulbs are poking out of the ground. Little snowdrops stick their pale faces out and droop away from the sun. The ground is damp and the snow is melting. The birds are singing, and the woodpeckers are attempting to drill holes in the telephone poles. > Children and their families are riding around on bikes. They’re visiting local attractions on field trips, signing up for courses, and kicking the ball around on the field. They’re climbing trees and playing in the playground. Sometimes, they’re indoors watching movies and … Continue reading →

Yes, I am a recovering Star Trek nerd. In high school, I loved that show. My sister was worse. We even went to a Star Trek convention together. However, this blog is not about Star Trek. Scratch that. Let’s talk about space instead. It’s the final frontier, and I’m not talking about exploration of known and unknown galaxies here. I’m talking scheduling. We all have schedules. Some of them are crazier than others. They shift from time to time, and sometimes space opens up, and sometimes we fill that space up again with more activities. Homeschoolers may not be in … Continue reading →