Erin

Her: I’ll be getting up earlier tomorrow so don’t worry if you’re hearing a bit of noise. I’ll try to be as quiet as possible. Me: As early as this morning? Her: Not quite, but maybe like 5:30/6:00 Me: Are you heading out earlier tomorrow? Her: No, I just am going to try getting up […]

I was in Grade Two, just nicely seven that fall, when I heard the news that Santa wasn’t real. A boy in my class, L, leaned forward eagerly to inform me, eyes shining.  L wasn’t someone who had just found out himself; he was someone whose family didn’t ‘do Santa’ and he seemed happy to bear

We have our whole lives to learn and pursue our interests and so do our children. I’ve been mentoring some new local homeschool families, particularly in the areas of building community and local opportunities. I’m noticing some words come up as they start out like, “I want to make sure it’s enough,” “I want to

Unschooling, self-directed learning, self-directed education, natural learning, consent-based education, whole life learning, child-led learning, worldschooling, delight-directed education – these are all terms that are sometimes used to point to the same general idea of living and learning.  Many people agree that the most common of these – unschooling – often doesn’t capture what’s happening in

I’ve been thinking about the distinction between supporting our teens’ interests (and children’s too, but this is more about teens) and entering into shared experiences with them.  Last week I shared the following online: “Something I’ve never regretted is time spent with my teens. Ever. A lot of what I hear when parents talk about

 “Mum, I actually found quite a bit more information about nature journaling.” “Oh great. “ “I can send you the links if you want. There’s a lot here about a woman named Charlotte Mason. It looks really good. I think you might like it.”  “Ah, ok. Great. Yes, I’ll have a look at the links.

Socialisation might be one of the most nuanced and complex “topics” in home education.  Sometimes we treat the “S word” as though it’s a yes or no answer.  A simple thing. An annoying question from friends, family, neighbours and the media that we don’t want to have to answer one more time.  Can children develop

I sat across from my kids at my in-laws’ house, listening to my oldest son (23) fill us in on his last few days of a snowboarding trip to Alberta and BC. I heard him talk about some pieces that weren’t easy, yet he didn’t identify them specifically as such and recounted them in a

This post is based on a weekly piece of writing I do in the Stories of Unschooling Families Community. Here is last week’s post.  Something to Ponder this Week … What is our “Why?”  “I waved. I’m not sure if you saw.”  These words brought me joy.  Early yesterday evening, my son, S, and I

Letting experiences and feelings be what they are …  Two small lessons came to me within an hour. If you’re a parent, you’ve likely had the sense of wanting your children to have wonderful experiences, feeling joy and satisfaction as much as possible. Less comfortable feelings are, well, less comfortable. And while some of what