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24: Boy Stories

Usually I speak and write about my four youngest daughters. But not this week. In this episode, I share some boy stories. I have two adult sons who have provided me with lots of interesting moments over the years!These are a few of the questions I explore...
What if a son is 'different'? Should we make our children conform and  be like everyone else?
Is it normal for boys to be energy packed and should all mothers know how to deal with injuries?
Is it miraculous my son Callum made it to adulthood?
What interests can we share with boys?
What if brothers can't get on with each other?
What is it like to be a boy mum? How is it different to being a girl mum?
Do boys like hugs?
And what's it like to look up at a son instead of down at him?
If you'd like to leave some feedback about my podcasts, please do. It would be very helpful!Please visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family where I'll post some program notes with links to related posts!Music: Growly Snake Beat by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 
 

23: Unschool Maths: Why and How

In this week's podcast, I tell you the story of why and how we moved from traditionally taught maths to unschool maths. I share some of my own thoughts on unschool maths, before interviewing my daughter Sophie (13).Sophie used to hate maths. She told me she wasn't any good at it. Now she absolutely loves it. I challenge anyone to listen to her speaking and not catch her enthusiasm for maths!Program notes, including links to lots of unschool maths posts, can be found on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. Featured music: Twombly by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

22: Questioning Our Decision to Unschool

Sometimes events in our lives make us stop and reassess what we're doing. Something happened this week which caused me to do a bit of unschooling reassessment. I've been thinking...
Is there a better way of bringing up children?
Can we trust too much?
Is there such a thing as loving too much?
Am I ready to jump off the unschooling ship?
I share my thoughts in this week's podcast.
 
Please feel welcome to visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family
 
Featured music: Autumn Leaves by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

21: Being Honest: Talking about Mistakes and Perfection

Am I a perfect mother and unschooler? This week I discuss this question, and also:
If it is necessary for us to be good examples for our unschooling children, must we be perfect?
Or is there something far more important than perfection?
Why is unconditional love so powerful?
Do some bloggers appear to be perfect?
Are there times when we should be open and honest, even if it means revealing our mistakes?
Do I ever have bad days?
Why did I used to be called 'The Dragon Mother'?
Does homeschooling have to be difficult or is there another way?
Am I a ‘real’ podcaster?
Should I be podcasting when I make so many mistakes?
And will my podcasts improve? Will they ever be perfect?If you'd like to hear my daughter Sophie's (13) thoughts on mistakes, love and forgiveness, please listen to the end. You'll find an extra recording segment just before my final signing off.You can find the program notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.Music: Frammenti, by Andrea Carri, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) I faded in and faded out a few bars of this music to use between podcast segments.
 
 
 

20: (More) Apologies

This week I talk about apologies, and the importance of good titles. I also answer these questions...
 
Have I written any blog posts which have misled readers?
Have any readers found themselves reading my rather radical ideas by mistake?
Why is my family glad we run up and down hills regularly?
Why are the Jenolan Caves so spectacular?
How many times can I say the word 'spectacular' in one podcast?
Why did the bride cut two holes into a shower curtain and then step into them?
Why might I have to go abseiling?
Why are stories better than text books?
What is one way of igniting a new passion?
What is our latest family passion?
Am I any good at taking photos underground?
What is my latest video about?
Did I win my recent copyright disputes with Youtube?
What treasure am I hoping listeners will discover if they listen to my podcast?
And finally... What am I apologising for?
You can find the program notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family.
 
Featured music (which has been modified by fading in and fading out): By Grace by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

19: Keeping Teenagers Safe from the Dangers of the World

This week, I interview my daughters Imogen (20) and Charlotte (17), and ask them for their opinions on keeping children safe from the dangers of the world. We talk about inappropriate books, computer usage, movies, emails etc. while discussing the following points:
 
Is the world a dangerous place for young people?
Is spying on a child justified?
Does policing children's activities really keep them safe?
Could it damage child/parent relationships?
Is there another way of keeping children safe?
Can children be trusted to make the right decisions?
How do they know what is appropriate and inappropriate?
Am I irresponsible? Do I just let my kids do whatever they want? Or is there more to it than that?
The program notes, including links to a few blog posts I've written on this subject, can be found on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. I hope you'll visit!
 
Featured music: By Grace by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 
 

18: Resolutions, Reading, Writing and Coarse Language

This week, I ponder these questions...
 
What happens when we remain open to new experiences?
Do I have any good tips for anyone who has resolved to get fit?
What has running got to do with encouraging children to write?
Are there advantages to reading many books, on the same subject, by different authors?
Can I recommend some interesting novels to read?
What do I mean by the words 'multi-directional learning'?
Why am I feeling very excited about writing?
Can I pronounce the word, 'tomatometer' or does my tongue get all twisted up? 
What do I always do after reading a good book? 
Should we steer our children only towards books that portray the good?
Should parents preview every book a child wants to read?
Is there a danger with banning books?
Can some ‘wrong’ books actually be right?
Can punctuation rules sometimes be broken?
Is there a place for quick and easy reads? 
What if kids only want to read easy books with little literary value?
And do I say 'Cartload of Hay' instead of 'Cartload of Clay'? 
 
If you listen (to the end!) you'll also discover I tried a new podcast feature for the first time.
 
The program notes can be found on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. Lots of links to related books, movies, blog posts etc!
 
Featured music: Sunny Morning Exercise Club by Origami Repetika, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

17: Unschooling Resources: Discoveries of 2014

 
This week's podcast is all about interesting resources I discovered in 2014. Along the way, you'll find out the answers to these questions...
How do I discuss at least 17 resources in only 30 minutes? Do I talk very fast?
How many free trial accounts can I sign up for?
How many times can I say, “I Googled it”, in one podcast?
Has anyone ever become a successive pianist/composer without ever having a single music lesson?
Can an effective animation be made quickly and easily?
Is there a better presentation program than Powerpoint?
Is there a perfect method for keeping unschool records?
What's a glog, and can they be used for homeschool records or portfolios?
And what about mindmaps?
Can a computer screen image be projected onto a big TV screen?
What are historical reality series and where can they be found?
 
And for anyone following my learning-to-podcast adventure…
 
What new technique did I try this week?
And was it successful?
I hope you'll listen to find out!
 
The program notes, including lots of resource links, can be found on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family.
 
Music featured: The Time to Run (Finale) by Dexter Britain, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
 

16: Why We Are Rotten Parents and Other Christmas Stories

This week my youngest daughter, Gemma-Rose joins me for my Christmas edition. We talk about:
 
A magical Santa Christmas
A magical Christmas without Santa
Advent and Christmas traditions
Why the Three Wise Men set out to find Jesus before He is even born
Why St Nicholas isn't very reliable
Why we are rotten parents
Why midnight Mass isn't at midnight
The worst Christmas job that I no longer have to do
Australian Christmas traditions and carols
Why Santa wears his singlet, shorts and thongs
What Orana means...
.. and lots of other things!
 
And we listen to some beautiful Christmas music sung by my daughter Imogen.
 
The program notes can be found on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.
 
I hope you have a very happy and blessed Christmas!
 
(I apologise for any poor quality transitions. I'm still learning!)
 
 
 

15: Books, Music, Burnout and a Mystery!

This podcast is a few days late or a couple of days early, depending on how you look at it. It's also not the same podcast I originally recorded. This week I reveal what happened to the first one and I also talk about...
Beginnings: How do we capture an audience's attention?
Books, especially Australian ones
Free music which can be used for podcasting, video making and any other purpose
My new Zoom audio recorder and how it performs
What not to do if you are afflicted by blogging burnout
 
I also try something new: My podcast, for the first time, is not one long unending passage of speech!
 
The program notes (with lots of links) can be found on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.
 
Music used in podcast: mighty lilbumble bee by Origami Repetika, (CC BY-NC 3.0)