by Lehla Eldridge in
01 Alternative Education and Learning, 08 self-directed learning, 27 Play Hanging out and Fun, 30 Screen Time, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Great grades without years of schooling? Yes! Here is the recipe.

In all truth, I wouldn’t have 100% believed that years ago but the answer is a definite yes, a child can get their grades without years of schooling!Our 17 year old daughters were not homeschoolers but solid self directed learners for 8 years, from the age of about 8 through to 16. Nor was our son homeschooling. He was also self directed aged 5 through till, well he is still doing it. Prior to that they had a few years in school and a few years of me not really

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
02 parenting for the future, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Community, Parenting and Reaching Out to your Tribe

My husband tells me that according to a book that he has just read that monkeys raise their young not always knowing who is who, they look after each child like it was their child. That years ago before the age of agriculture patriarchy didn’t exist and that the need for one’s own child was irrelevant, that men looked after other children as if they were their own. That children were raised in troupes or flocks and that every child was everyone’s child. I am not entirely sure how I

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
03 Parenting and Working, 08 self-directed learning, 09 For Parents, 18 Self Care for Parents, 27 Play Hanging out and Fun, 28 Self Care, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

The Best Time to Embrace Alternative Education is Now

Embracing Alternative Education During a Pandemic By Lehla Eldridge Everything has shifted, nothing is as it was, the world is changing then surely so should we. Having the whole family at home is a normal situation for me, as we have been unschooling (I will get to that bit later) for nine years. Only in the last year have our older children decided to go to college and THEY LOVE IT and are now going on to do A Levels. We have had a lot of experience of them being

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 09 For Parents, 18 Self Care for Parents, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Letting go of Perfect

This is a post I am writing in seven parts, so my aim is to do one a day for a week, as a reminder to myself as well as to other homeschooling/unschooling parents who are out there doing their best to raise their kids at home. Right now some of you have been thrown in to this crazy but beautiful world. It isn't always easy, so here is day one!! This is for me as much as it is for all of you!These are short snippets, so feel free

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 06 homechooling, 18 Self Care for Parents, 28 Self Care, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Get Connected

If you are totally overwhelmed with homeschooling or unschooling and what is going on in the news right now, connect up with others. I hear this a lot from parents who are isolated and who are not in connection with other people. I think community is so very important, even if you are physically a long way from any one else. Use the phone, the internet, Skype. Don’t tough it out and isolate yourself, connect up with others and make time to chat. Even if it is for twenty minutes.

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 18 Self Care for Parents, 28 Self Care, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Be Nice to Yourself

This applies to everybody. If I am not nice to myself as a mother I am not really nice to anyone else around me. So this means listening to what I need to do for myself. So this can  be anything as simple as making time to jump into a candlelit bath at night, to going for a walk at some point in the day to taking time to meet a friend (this we can’t do right now but the time will come when we can!) or cooking something really

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 18 Self Care for Parents, 28 Self Care, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Enjoy What You Have

Sometimes, having one or both parents at home means that your finances can run extremely low, I am particularly feeling this today! Especially if you have lost your work due to the coronavirus. Resources can totally deplete and this can be stressful. Make use of what you have, this sounds simple but it is true I think that the less I have in life the more I make use of what I do have. You don’t have to spend a fortune to feel good, so even if it means buying

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 09 For Parents, 14 Work Life Balance, 16 The healthy child, 18 Self Care for Parents, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Not Back to School

We are not going to the shops and buying school clothes for the next year, our kids are not mentally preparing themselves for what lies ahead in a few weeks, shoes are not getting shined, shirts not ironed, books not being especially bought, in our household none of this is going on.  As we are not going back to school. Our household isn’t all Instagram shiney, we aren’t always on to the next thing smiling and laughing without a care in the world. There are days when I look at

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 09 For Parents, 28 Self Care, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Picture No 5. EAT WELL

I was meant to post yesterday, as I committed to doing this for a week but I didn’t as it was my birthday! So anyway here is this  little post about self care, a day late but hey, here is day five! Eat well and drink lots of water. In my moments of feeling isolated or stressed when I was in Italy I found myself with my head in the cupboard or fridge eating a lot of chocolate and crisps, especially around 4pm. I felt bloated and had low energy.

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in
04 Family Wellbeing, 09 For Parents, 20 Creativity, 017 Happy Healthy Parents Introduction

Keeping Kids and Ourselves Creative is so Important in Challenging Times

When the news is all gloom and doom it is easy to give up and think ‘whats the point’ but I feel that now is the time to be extra creative, what ever that means to you. I was very lucky to be brought up in a very creative household. My father is a painter and one of my earliest memories is watching him mix paints in his attic. I particularly remember the way the light shone through the skylight, I remember being distracted by the dust floating in the

Continue Reading