Homeschool and Unschool Q&A Are you considering taking this homeschooling or unschooling path but you've come to a standstill? Are you having doubts about your ability to homeschool or a lack of confidence in unschooling?  How do you juggle homeschool and work? What about working full time? How can we best support reading and writing skills?  I invited a few of my homeschool mama friends to join me on this Homeschool and Unschool Q&A episode. Liana Francisco is a grown...

The Impacts of Technology on Learning The world of learning today looks a lot different from the learning world that I grew up in. When my kids were younger they loved the story I told of a memorable day in my first grade class when my teacher rolled a large machine into our classroom. As we sat there in silence, she announced that the contraption she had brought in was called a.... computer! And the entire class would get a chance to use it. You can imagine our excitement. The computer...

Overcoming Fears and Doubts Homeschooling fears got you down? Parenting doubts keeping you paralyzed? Does the worry and fear wear you down?  Erica Kesilman joined me on this episode to talk about the fears and doubts we face as homeschoolers and parents and how we can overcome them.  Erica helps parents grow strong family relationships without yelling, guilt or overwhelm. She utilizes trauma-sensitive, somatic, body-centered therapies for nervous system healing of complex developmental,...

The Unschooling Journey- From Childhood To Adulthood with Missy Willis Missy is a mom to two, writer, and self-directed education advocate.  As a trained teacher, she imagined a life devoted to traditional education, but in 2007 she moved away from the standardized schooling model with her own kids and hasn’t looked back.    Let ‘em go Barefoot is the community and podcast she created to share stories, insights and research on conscious parenting and education. Her work has reached...

This community conversation was all about risk taking.  My friends Kelly Edwards and Tira Hunter joined me to lead this this community conversation on the importance of allowing our kids (and teens) to take risks and what that looks like in our lives. In This Episode Kelly Edwards is the founder of the 90 Minute School Day. She is a homeschooling mom to her 3 daughters, ages 15, 8 and 5. Tira Hunter unschooled her daughter Zoi who is now grown, runs a business and is a mom to Zoi, a...

Evgenia is a homeschooling mama of one boy and the founder of Fit Mama Method. She was born in the Soviet Union and lived in Russia until 29 years old. She holds 2 Master Degrees in Journalism and Sports. Evgenia came to Canada to complete a college program and decided to stay. She was the head coach of an Acrobatic Gymnastics Program and a personal trainer until she decided to stay home with her son.  Evgenia is a homeschool mom and entrepreneur. Her Nourished Motherhood Program has helped...

How Do You Know If Online Learning Is The Right Option?  Technology has become a powerful tool in learning, transforming education in numerous ways. It has increased access to education, information and resources. Learning opportunities are now, quite literally, right at our finger tips.  Technology has not only increased our access to information, but it has also broadened our access to where and how we want to learn and who we choose to learn with.  One format that has grown is online...

Free To Learn and PLAY with Dr. Peter Gray Peter Gray is an American psychologist, author and research professor. He has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. His research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves, through play and exploration, when they are free to do so. He has expanded on these ideas in his book, Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make...

How Unschooling Affected My Life: Liana Francisco Has anyone ever said to you that this whole idea of Unschooling does not end well? That kids will never be self directed? That there is no evidence that self directed learning actually works?  Have they listened to my podcast? Have the heard the interviews I and countless others have shared? Well, here is more to add to the list. This is part of a series I am exploring on grown homeschoolers and Self Directed Teens.  In This Episode~...

How Homeschooling Affected My Life with Amanda Schenkenberger Amanda Schenkenberger is a grown homeschooler that now homeschools her own 4 children. She is also a homeschool coach and mentor to moms that are busy trying to find more joy and less anxiety in homeschooling. You can connect with Amanda and access her support through her website, moms.heartsmarthomeschool.com You can also connect with her through Instagram @homeschoolcoachingmama In this episode Amanda took time out to share...

How Can We Build FEARLESS Learners?​ Kohila Sivas is the founder of Fearless Learners by SuccessCodes, where all children can learn and grow fearless with a Learning Success Coach by their side. Kohila's certified Learning Success coaches make learning easy with their proven holistic coaching methodology which is a unique and superior alternative to tutoring and teaching. Kohila Sivas is also the creator of the revolutionary MathCodes Method™ and Meta-Learning DeStress Method™, a unique...

Build Your Community~How To Be An Awesome Homeschooler  Have you ever felt  disconnected from community? Even more so now that you homeschool?  Are there times when you feel like your ideas on learning and living your family life are too different from others around you?  Do you want to connect wth others that "get you"? Do you want to build your community? Kelly Edwards and I have been in your shoes. As homeschool parents we have felt like taking the leap to home educate has isolated us...

Unschooling Q&A How do I talk about Unschooling with my family and friends? In Unschooling we can focus on following my children's interests but what happens when my child is not interested in anything and they are doing nothing all day? How do we go from the structure of school to freedom? What is the transition to independence?  We Unschool but I have a child that wants to do workbooks. What do I do because this doesn't seem like Unschooling!? How do we know when to trust, when to...

Building Joy~The Power of Play & Partnership  Shannon Loucks considers herself a fierce defender of childhoods. Ever since her first job, she has sought out opportunities to be in the presence of children as they explore the world around them. From babysitter, to camp counselor, to a Degree in Education, to finally landing as a full time witness of fun to two boys who have become her greatest teachers. Each of these opportunities led Shannon to believe in the power of play and...

Welcome to Season 7! Season 6 was a focus on Deschooling. It was a look back and reflection on our beliefs, expectations and what's most important to us.  Season 7 is a shift. We are moving from pause and reflection to action.  Having our why lead our way. You may know that I often reference the learning journey to being on a family road trip. We are on this adventure together and everyone has a different reason for taking a family road trip. Some may have a specific destination that they...

Modern Miss Mason: Leah Boden​ Leah Boden is a mom to 4 kids and a long time home educator. She is a speaker, a podcast host, homeschool coach and runs workshops sharing the beauty of a Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, motherhood and education. She and her family live in the West Midlands, England. Leah's new book, Modern Miss Mason is your invitation into an adventure where Leah shows you the fresh face of an age-old perspective on motherhood, childhood and education. And no, you do...

Reflections For The Homeschooling Year As we get closer to the end of season 6, I invite you to take a moment of pause and reflection. Season 6 began as a time and place to step further into Deschooling and growing without school or the easily recognized beliefs and structure of school. We explored  Deschooling and Growing Without School Conscious Parenting Teens and Unschooling~What that can look like Minimalism Defining Success Resilience Supporting Passions Natural Learning...

The Landmark Study: Parents Want Independent Meaningful Learning What do parents want in their child’s learning experiences? Self-Directed Education: Landmark Research on Family and Student Interests and Needs, the first US national study of its kind, provides key insight into what parents want, suggesting that millions are open to and desire expanding  ways of learning. In fact, this study shows that nearly 19 million families are searching for a better learning experience for their...

How Are You Able To Work And Homeschool? With Erika Brown “How are you able to work AND homeschool your boys?” Erika Brown is asked this question at least once a week as they are out and about meeting people. Unfortunately, society pushes the idea that women must either work outside of the home or stay at home. The idea of doing both seems to be a foreign concept. Erika chooses to reject that ideology while being a part of a generation that blazes new trails and refuses to settle. Erika...

Will Unschooling leave my kids unprepared for the adult world?  This is a question or fear that weighs on the minds of parents that are considering unschooling or are even possibly already involved in living an unschooled life.Parents always want the best for their kids. They want the most for their kids and the thought that our choices will cause detriment to their futures can be a heavy burden to carry.  But this is a question that I have also heard from parents sending their kids to...

CoLearn~Bridging Unconventional Education Approaches  In this podcast I want to share unique learning journeys. These learning journeys don't fit the mold of the classroom and challenge the idea of what is possible in life learning.  This is important because if we don't hear about these experiences, then how will we ever know that they are possible? Not only that, we are in a new era of remote and hybrid work and learning. Our working life looks different, so why wouldn't our learning...

Setting Up Your Homeschool Space I get it. As a homeschooling or unschooling parent we want to create the best learning environment ever. We don't want to just replace school. We want to be better than school.  So what do we do?  We plan, we purchase, we organize and we create a space that will offer as much as possible to our children's learning life.  Some families create a separate space. A "school room" where homeschooling takes place.   Other families create or use learning spaces...

Learning, Partnering and Parenting With Teens~Lainie Liberti Did your homeschool see a major shift once your children became teens? Or are you looking ahead as to how you can best navigate the teen years to come? Want to stay connected to your teen and support their positive mental health? Lainie Liberti joined me on this episode to talk about Parenting and Partnering with our teens. Lainie is a best selling author, international speaker, teen mentor,  worldschooler, partnership...

Why We Need To Get Rid of The Math Worksheets and Use Problem Solving and Board Games Instead Math. What feelings does that word bring up for you? Are they warm and fuzzy? Does it put a big smile on your face remembering all of the fun math lessons, problems and homework that you did? Or does the word MATH bring about feelings of anxiety? Worry? Fear? It is surprising how much weight a 4 letter word like MATH can hold. Often it's not actually the word MATH, but the memories...