The other day, my daughter (11.5 years old) came to me and said: “Mom, I think you are too easy on me”. (I did not ask what she meant. It was much more valuable to leave it as an all-encompassing statement, not area specific). I only said: “I sometimes think that, too, but then you … Continue reading
Category Archives: Unschooling
Where do you want to get to in life?
While we were making cookies tonight, my daughter shared with me that a friend told her she will get nowhere in life if she continues to watch Anime (Japanese animation) all the time. I told my daughter to ask her friend where does she (the friend) wants to get to in life. My daughter thought it was a funny … Continue reading
At their own pace
I recently took my daughter to her friend’s birthday party at a skating rink. I had some errands to run so we agreed that I’ll help her put her skates on and then stay only until she feels comfortable skating again. While she went into the rink, I stood there watching her and another friend … Continue reading
Strengths (part two)
As I see it, when it comes to allowing your child to live from his or her strength, the most important non-step is to “First, do no harm!”. Meaning, interfere as little as possible with how your child goes about learning and figuring things out. Since every person’s learning style is as unique as his or … Continue reading
Strengths (part one)
More than a decade ago the strength movement was born ((http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx, for newer developments: http://tmbc.com/). Around the same time positive psychology also emerged. Both claimed that we need to focus on what is right with us rather than analyze and fix what is wrong with us. Let’s find and develop our strengths and not struggle to fix … Continue reading
The Video-games/Computers/TV issue… (Part two)
“Video and computer games were now an integral part of our lives. My boys spent many hours playing these games, as they did with many other games. Being unschooled means your time as a child will be spent playing games many, many hours a day, almost all the time, especially when young. Children, in general, … Continue reading
The Video-games/Computers/TV issue… (Part one)
I’d like to share this translated article with you. It was published in November 2006 but talks about the time between 1993 to 2006, and it addresses my personal journey as a homeschooling Mom grappling with the issue of video-games/computers/tv in our life, going from total resistance through reluctant acceptance, to total surrender and finally to understanding: “I recently read Steven … Continue reading
How did you learn?
One of the more useful ways to get in touch with how learning really happens is to ask yourself the question: how did you learn x, y or z? Most of the things we do as adults we learned “on the job” or through trial and error. Rarely did we learn any of what we … Continue reading
Opening Note
Unschooling to College aims to attract all who are interested in unschooling, whether seasoned “pros” or new to the idea and practice. Unschooling is an educational “non-system” that provides children with the freedom they need to allow learning to occur naturally while following their own unique way of making sense of the world around them. In other words: children who are unschooled do … Continue reading
Unschooling to College 