Stories of an Unschooling Family

48: Do My Unschoolers Mind Being Different?

This week, my 14-year-old daughter Sophie joins me to talk about being different. She answers the following questions in her usual lively way:
In what ways are you different?
Do you like being different?
Is there an advantage to being different?
Even though you don't fit in with the crowd, do you still have a need to belong?
I also talk about how tricky it can be recommending resources. 
What if someone thinks one of my resources is totally unsuitable for children?
Are we affected by adult peer pressure when deciding whether something is child suitable or not?
Do parents have a need to feel accepted and approved of?
Even though there is always the possibility I might be criticised for my choices, I did share some resources! 
 
 
You can find me and the podcast notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.
You can find my children's novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon (and other places).
 
 
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

47: When Our Help and Strewing Are Rejected

This week I answer the following questions:
What mistake have I been making when strewing for my youngest daughter Gemma-Rose?
What do we do when a child seems not to want our help?
What criteria do we use when deciding if unschooling is successful?
When did I go splat and embarrass myself?
What does 'cowboy up' mean?
What Pinterest board did someone pin my blog post 'Bite-Sized Pieces of Unschool Maths'? to
I told a lot of stories in this episode, but I did manage to squeeze in a resource segment too!
 
The podcast notes are on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family
 
My children's novel is called The Angels of Abbey Creek
 
And the podcast music is 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)!
 
Thanks for listening!

46: Liking, Tweeting, Pinning, Aching...

In this week's episode, I...
explain why my legs are aching. (I'm sharing my daughter Sophie's latest passion!)
ask a question about exercise which I hope you'll answer
chat about social media
share a few resources and tell you where you can find lots more
You can find the notes on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family.
 
My book: The Angels of Abbey Creek
 
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)

45: How Registered Homeschoolers Can Unschool

In this week's episode, 
I talk about how we unschool even though our children are legally required to follow the school syllabus.
I describe a method for recording unschooling in an impressive way
I share how I translate natural learning into the necessary educational language for registration purposes
and how I work out what the official documents such as the school syllabus actually mean
I discuss what we can do if a child refuses to learn something that's required by the educational authorities
I offer a few positives (!) of homeschool registration
and also some examples of how I record unschool learning experiences
I use the words 'syllabus' and 'curriculum' interchangeably and wrongly, I'm sure! (I think you'll still get the idea.)
I also made a mistake about the required hours of schooling. My number was too low.
I can't go back and fix up my mistakes: I had to work quickly on a borrowed computer and unfortunately I've run out of time. Sorry!
If you are interested in homeschool registration resources, you'll find lots of relevant posts, videos and other podcasts on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. 
 
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

44: Strengthening Family Bonds

In this week's episode,
I share some ideas for strengthening family bonds
I tell a few stories about our recent holiday to the Blue Mountains
I describe some of the interesting places we visited
and share a little bit of (hopefully accurate!) Australian history
I reveal how silly the Elvises are
and talk about why silly is good
The audio quality is a bit poor in places due to computer problems. I'm sorry about that. I hope you'll listen anyway!
I plan to share a few resources associated with this podcast on my blog, Stories of an Unschooling Family. If you're interested, please watch out for the post!
60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 

43: On Holiday: History, Geography and Record Keeping

In this week's podcast, I talk about: 
how we can be tourists in our own town
how we can make the most of our away-from-home holidays
how we can visit the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone 
how we can travel the world without leaving home 
how I record all our rich holiday experiences in my homeschool records book 
how I found lots of interesting history, geography and science resources  
My daughter Sophie also joins me to chat about The Wedding! We tell the story of Elsa the Bride!I hope you'll join me for this week's episode. You will find the notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

42: Mothers and Daughters-in-Law and Love

By the time you listen to this podcast, my son Callum will be married and I'll have a new daughter-in-law. In this week’s episode, I talk about mothers and daughters-in-law and love.I answer the following questions:
Why is it so important we tell people in words we love and accept them?
What have I learned from being a daughter-in-law?
How am I going to be a good mother-in-law?
What is real love?
I also share some resources appropriate to the theme of love!
 
You can find the podcast notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. Please visit!Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 

41: Chores and Our Typical Unschooling Day

In this week's podcast, I talk again about typical unschooling days. 
 
I answer the following questions:
Are our unschooling days really as ordinary as I made them sound in last week's episode?
Do all unschoolers have similar typical days?
How can we get kids to help with the chores?
Can we encourage kids to do more than their fair share? Can they become generous without counting the cost?
Do I sometimes get fed up of being a good example? Do I sometimes fail?
And what resources do I share this week?
You can find the podcast notes on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family. Please visit!Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 
 

40: A Bit of Murder in Our Typical Unschooling Day

This week I talk about:
 
My first year as a podcaster: Why did I nearly delete my very first episode? And why is it important I don't worry about the opinions of others?
A typical unschooling day: Do our days have rhythm? Or are they wildly unpredictable?
Two tips for joyful unschooling: (I offer them, but you are free to reject them!)
What we should do if our children reject our strewing
Some science and maths resources I discovered
Please visit my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family where I'll post some program notes.
 
 
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
 
 
 

39: How I Made a 'Huge' Mistake and Was Forgiven

In this week's episode:
I tell you about a 'huge' mistake I made
And how that mistake turned into a story about forgiveness, love and joyful unschooling
I also share some updates  for some earlier stories
And lots of interesting resources!
I made a couple of small mistakes while making this episode: (I've made a lot of mistakes recently!)
I turned Mary Anne Cotton into Anne Cotton.
And something went wrong with a tiny section of the audio. Please keep listening. It only lasts for a few seconds!
Music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
The podcast notes can be found on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family.