06 homechooling – Parenting for the Future

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

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 09 For Parents

What on earth is the difference between homechooling and unschooling?

There is some confusion as what on earth Unschooling actually is. So for clarity here is an excerpt from our book that breaks it down from our persepective. How does unschooling differ from homeschooling?Home schooling is teaching school subjects and following a curriculum outside of a learning institution such as a school, usually at home. Home schooling parents may collaborate with other home-schooling families. A home-schooling family can have widely varying approaches to learning but the core principle is the teaching of children to a curriculum linked to examinations. Many

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.

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 31 Technology

You don’t need school to learn maths.

Is it really possible to learn a subject in a few months as opposed to a few years? The answer is clearly, yes and that goes against everything I thought about learning. I kind of thought you had to slog away for years and years to learn a subject. It is simply not true. If you are truly motivated and love what you are learning then you will learn it. I have seen this with the kids, our girls know that they will need Maths and English if they want

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 08 self-directed learning, 09 For Parents

How do Unschoolers take Exams?

This morning I woke up at 6am in an Airbnb room, the girls were asleep and I was convinced that I had left the lights on in the car and that the battery would be flat and that I wouldn’t be able to get to the exam room on time. Like in a bad dream. In a panic, I stepped outside and checked the car, the car was fine. I wasn’t, I was anxious, knowing that the girls were taking part two of their IGCSE Italian. They were breezy, I

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 32 Mindfulness, 37 Mental Health

Unschooling and the Fear of Failing

I heard a lovely interview on the radio the other day with a man whom I think is brilliant. He is Sugata Mitra and he won the TED Prize to work on something called S.O.L.E. projects. Which stands for Self-Organised Learning Environments. He believes that children learn very well by themselves, with a computer. Look him up if you can, as he and his project I think are very interesting. The interviewer said something along the lines of ‘Do you know that a lot of people think that what you

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 20 Creativity

The First Step towards Unschooling is Unschooling yourself

Three sentences ring out when I think back on our journey of unschooling ‘Just let me live my life’ ‘Mum, the best thing you could do with my reading, is leave me alone’ ‘Mum, we are fine’ I used to lesson plan, I used to day plan, I used to lie awake at night thinking about what I could do with the kids the next day to broaden their learning. I made the perfect classroom, put loads of work up on the walls. I put the subjects in sections, art

by Lehla Eldridge in

02 parenting for the future, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 20 Creativity, 31 Technology, 30 Screen Time, 70 Age 0 to 7yrs, 71 Age 7 to 14 yrs, 72 Age 14 to 18 yrs

Could Minecraft hold the key to the future of how kids learn…?

‘That is it I have got it, the future if education is Minecraft’ I say to my husband then he looks at me across the kitchen coffee in hand, ‘erm, am not sure you are right there’ he says. I am not sure I am right either but I think I am on to something. I then go on to tell him that a university in the UK aims to teach children biochemistry using Minecraft and he thinks about that. The reason for my revelation is this. Well there are many

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 05 Alternative Education Schools, 06 homechooling, 07 Unschooling, 08 self-directed learning, 09 For Parents, 39 learning maths, 41 Socializing

An Interview Between a Mother of Three Young Unschoolers and an Older Unschooler/Self Directed Learner.

Why does Marissa have a tattoo of a hat and a bunch of tulips on her arm? I had been wanting to ask her from the moment I saw her arm. Then I did. So I know the story. Marissa is here as a Workaway with us, it is no surprise that she found us, or that we found her. She is twenty two and from America and was/is a self directed learner from the age of fourteen. She is ten years on from what we are doing now, considering

by Lehla Eldridge in

01 Alternative Education and Learning, 06 homechooling, 08 self-directed learning, 09 For Parents, 70 Age 0 to 7yrs, 71 Age 7 to 14 yrs

Our Unschoolers want projects! Ideas for Project Based Learning.

So last night as I tucked the kids in to bed one of my daughters said. ‘Mummy, I want homework. Could you give me a project, make me do it and if I don’t do it be really mean to me?’ We both laughed. Then the other two chimed in ‘Yeah, me too, me too!’ What I gleaned from this is that they are hungry to learn, they want something to do and they want to be challenged. They also want me to stick to a boundary to make sure

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