Two Canadian sisters, nine spectacular kids, no school.
I wish their were a better word for the lifestyle we live. Unschooling is the most widely known and used term, but the word has some PROBLEMS. For one thing, it already had a meaning before John Holt used it to describe the educational philosophy we follow and it was NOT GOOD. Check out this... Continue Reading →
I don't know. Honestly, I'm just going to start with that. Maybe let out a hearty bewildered sigh. Shake my head. Shrug my shoulders. Seriously. Idk. I've seen all the philosophies. I've read all the articles; the blog posts; the studies (ok no I haven't. I've read articles about studies though. So); I've discussed with other parents,... Continue Reading →
Sometimes unschoolers will describe what they do as "interest-based learning". It's a quick, easy to understand phrase that satisfies the casually curious without triggering shock and confusion. It's not the totality of what makes unschooling...well, unschooling, but it's accurate that interest-based learning is a key component to the philosophy. I have learned, though, that while... Continue Reading →
If you choose not to send your kids to school, one aspect of your success as an unschooling family will be to find a community. In big cities this isn't a problem. There are tons of homeschooling and unschooling families. But I live in a small town, and while there are a number of homeschooling... Continue Reading →
So the thing, for me, about unschooling, is that it doesn't mean applying the same applicator brush to every child. I thought for a while that it did, and maybe I'll change my mind again on that down the line. But in my current experience, unschooling offers the opportunity to really distill priorities into what... Continue Reading →
On Monday E had a really "unschooling win" kind of day. And by that I mean, as much as we unschool parents may appear to be all chill and confident and laid back about our life choices, like any parent worth their salt we, too, spend the occasional moment panicking that we are ruining our... Continue Reading →
I think a lot of people have a hard time imagining how a day works when you're an unschooling family. I thought I'd tell you about my day today. This is how a Tuesday works: 6:00 am: Seven year old son comes into our room and wakes us up. Husband goes downstairs to spend some... Continue Reading →
On top of the drama camp, one more thing of note occurred last week. This one's pretty Alberta-specific, full disclosure. Last week I had my initial home visit with my facilitator (the lovely lady who was busily engaged in running a drama camp for a motley crew of whippersnappers by day). So if you're considering unschooling in... Continue Reading →
If you don't teach your kids to read, will they be illiterate for life? There has been a lot written by other unschoolers addressing this topic. Sandra Dodd has a good little collection of anecdotes here. And Dr. Peter Gray wrote this article on the subject. Here's how it worked for us: My oldest is... Continue Reading →
It all started with a mysterious coincidence, and Facebook. As modern things do. It was 2010, E, my first, was just two years old. I was scrolling through my Facebook--wall, or whatever the thing was back then--and I came across a post Facebook had generated that said, "Amy and Janine like 'Thomas Jefferson Education'". In later... Continue Reading →
The Unschool Sisters 