Two Canadian sisters, nine spectacular kids, no school.
This is unschooling this week: Recently I really got into the soundtrack of the Broadway musical Hamilton, and after lamenting that I wish I could just see the storyline so I’d understand better what was going on when I listened, my husband Brad found this this video, and we watched the whole thing. Since then,... Continue Reading →
I was talking to a friend the other day about changes that have been in the works in our local school system. I didn't know this, but apparently for a few years now the elementary schools have been working under a new grading system, where they don't rank the children by numbers or letters. Instead,... Continue Reading →
So in general I am a laissez faire type of mom. I started out that way beginning with my first pregnancy and have become even more so as time goes on and I see with hindsight how many things were not worth the worry I put into them. One of the things I don't... Continue Reading →
The weird thing about unschooling is that the name is kind of terribly misrepresentative--unschooling isn't about school at all. It's about believing that learning happens naturally, all the time, and that if natural learning is fostered, then it continues unrepressed forever. So "unschooling" isn't just a thing that children do in lieu of school. It's... Continue Reading →
My homeschooling friend posted this article today by Ann Karako who has taught public school as well as homeschooled her own kids. I loved it so much I wanted to write a response as an unschooler and talk about why unschooling takes all her great points and brings them even farther! The article compares public... Continue Reading →
It’s been a busy few weeks, participating in the week-long camp for the homeschool play, and starting performances of the community theatre show. E and G had fun stretching themselves and making friends during the homeschool production, but they have been most excited to perform in the real serious money making adult participation community show.... Continue Reading →
I have been wrestling the past few days with a philosophical paradox. It started when E complained to me about a couple schooled cohorts of hers who like to quiz her on some of the dubiously useful trivia they picked up in school. She didn't have the answer, and she doesn't have trivia of her... Continue Reading →
Over the course of the year 2018, three friends from my immediate circles have announced that they are getting or have gotten weight loss surgery. My friend who's having hers done soon said to me, "everyone's having it done these days. It's so common, really there's no reason not to!" Despite the willingness of so... Continue Reading →
You probably didn't know this about me, but I live a half hour from a Unesco World Heritage Site. Yeah. Alberta's that cool. It is, of course, about dinosaurs. Yeah. Alberta's that much of a desert wasteland. Joking! Sort of. Our climate zone is definitely on the "arid" side of temperate, but Dinosaur Provincial Park... Continue Reading →
One of the local elementary schools is in my neighbourhood, so I pass by their sign board relatively often. Over the summer, this is the message they had up: And I thought it was cool how, in principle anyway, we seem to have shared values. The difference, I suppose, is in application. Their admonition to... Continue Reading →
The Unschool Sisters 