Xmas is a time for family, yes, but when you add children to the mix, it becomes extra special. Nothing can build holiday excitement faster than seeing the wonder on small faces as they watch the Xmas lights or visit… Read More ›
children
Coconut Ice
‘Tis the season to indulge, and what better way to do so than with a classic Xmas treat, Coconut Ice. Pleasing to the eye, and containing enough sugar to satisfy even the sweetest tooth, this is a holiday snack your… Read More ›
Top Ten Horrible Histories Songs
Horrible Histories is a popular British television series based on the best-selling book series by Terry Dreary. The show was produced for CBBC by Lion Television with Citrus Television and ran from 2009 to 2013 with an additional ‘reincarnation’ in 2015…. Read More ›
New Clothes & First Dogwash
Only two things of note happened today. First, Dad took the kids shopping for clothes. Given that they rarely get brand new clothing and that they love spending time with their Grandad, you can imagine just how pleased the children… Read More ›
30 Day Book Challenge Day 11:
Favourite Classic Book I don’t seem to have read a lot of the classic books that others have, though many are on my wishlist. I think it may be because people often make it their mission to read as many… Read More ›
30 Day Book Challenge Day 6:
Book You’ve Read the Most Number of Times I am a bit unsure as to the answer for this one, since I am assuming books read over and over (and over and over and over) to my children don’t count…. Read More ›
Thirty Day Book Challenge Day 1:
A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just end already Warning: Contains Spoilers! This is a difficult one for me because I am generally fairly happy with the length of series’ that… Read More ›
Ditto's 'Keep Safe' Adventure Show
I have just had the (dis)pleasure of watching a DVD called Ditto’s ‘Keep Safe’ Adventure Show. This is a show developed by Hetty Johnston’s Bravehearts Organisation. It is pitched at 3-5 year olds and comes with a ‘Keep Safe’ colouring… Read More ›
Excess
Osama bin Laden has 53 brothers and sisters, 13 wives, 28 children and is worth over $300 million. But he hates Americans because of their excessive lifestyles. — Allan & Barbara Pease in Why Men Lie and Women Cry
Powerlessness
Powerlessness creeps in as a result of setbacks children experience as they strive to feel confident and self-assured. They can’t do things as well as their older siblings or peers, so they feel frustrated. They are criticized and punished and… Read More ›
Education
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. — United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, quoted in The Unschooling Unmanual
Learned behaviour
People who imagine that children are resistant to learning have a nonexistent understanding of how human culture developed in the first place. Culture is no more and no less than the totality of learned behavior and information that is passed… Read More ›
Observation
How do unschooling parents know their children are learning? The answer to this question is, to put it most simply, direct observation. — Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual Related articles The Teenage Liberation Handbook (kk.org) ‘Unschooling’ – education fad… Read More ›
Evaluation
The assumption that unschooling parents somehow lack awareness of their children’s progress, and therefore require formal evaluation of that progress, is related to the fact that unschoolers function outside the arena of the schools, and our philosophies and methods are… Read More ›
Growing children
It [unschooling] is a little like watching a garden grow. No matter how closely we examine the garden, it is difficult to verify that anything is happening at that particular moment. But as the season progresses, we can see that… Read More ›
Cooperation
Some people think that a child’s cooperation is something adults are entitled to; they think it is something they can demand. But genuine cooperation cannot be demanded – it can only be earned, and must be given freely. When children… Read More ›
Pets
— Herbert V Prochnow & Herbert V Prochnow Jr. in Jokes, Quotes & One Liners Volume 2
Sharing Life
— Rue Kream in The Unschooling Unmanual
Crazy Joker
We celebrated Annie’s tenth birthday yesterday. We don’t have a party every year, just on the important birthdays – 5, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21 – and Annie wanted it to be special. She requested to have her party at… Read More ›
snippets of birthdays past
I am unsure which of my birthdays is my most memorable. My memory isn’t the best. At best, I have mere glimpses – snippets of birthdays past. I don’t remember, but know from photographs that I had at least one… Read More ›
Classrooms
…it is our responsibility as teachers to have in our classrooms what the children need, to make a rich and varied environment for them to live, learn and grow in. ‘The school won’t let me get anything’ is not an… Read More ›
Supporting Powers
Supporting powers is, of course, exactly what we do not do in most schooling. We do not give children extra time to work at what they like and are good at, but only what they do worst and most dislike…. Read More ›
John Holt in ‘What Do I Do Monday?’
“One of the things adults do, and above all in schools, is invade, in every possible way, the lives and privacy of their students. There are master keys to the students’ ‘lockers’ in schools, so that administrators may search them… Read More ›
John Holt
“To trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we couldn’t be trusted.” ~ John Holt
Darkness Creeping by Neal Shusterman
Opening Sentence: History tells of a man named Pavlov. Synopsis: Imagine being trapped forever in someone else’s nightmare, with no means of escape. Or caught on one of the most terrifying roller coasters of all time, when suddenly the tracks… Read More ›
Maggie Hamilton in ‘What’s Happening to Our Girls?’
“Time outside has many benefits, and it’s up to parents to lead the way. One doctor recently expressed his concern about how many children he’s now seeing with broken bones. Although he hasn’t done any formal research, he suspects children’s… Read More ›
Tommy Pope (Union County Solicitor) discussing the death penalty, November 23, 1994
“Nowhere fries ’em quickly enough, not if you want to use the electric chair as a deterrent. You don’t spank your children twelve years after they misbehave, especially if you want your other children to take note.” —Tommy Pope (Union… Read More ›
Francis Baker in ‘Essays’, 1597
“The joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears; they cannot utter the one; nor they will not utter the other. Children sweeten labors; but they make misfortunes more bitter.” —Francis Baker in ‘Essays’, 1597
Rafferty's Rules is Closing Down 