Episodes

Roya Dedeaux left school at age ten and her family began unschooling. Now an adult, she has a Master’s degree in Counseling and is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, as well as a lecturer at California State University. She’s also married with a wonderful child of her own, and a busy life of fun […]

Anne Ohman is a long-time unschooling mom and Library Director at a small, rural library in New York state. She has been writing about unschooling since 1998, and has a been student of her children since they were born. She is the founder of the Shine with Unschooling community, and co-host (with me!) of the Childhood Redefined Unschooling Summit. In this episode, Anne shares her perspective on why children at school are expected to learn to read early, why unschooling children who aren’t yet r...

Lainie Liberti is mom to 16 year-old Miro. They backed into unschooling in 2009 through what was meant to be a one-year mother-and-son backpacking trip. Now in their seventh year of travelling, Lainie is co-producer and host of the weekly online show, For the Love of Learning: Voices of the Alternative Education Movement, and she and Miro host Project World School, inspiring temporary learning communities / retreats around the world for teens and young adults. They also recently gave a talk at T...

Anne Ohman and Anna Brown, both veteran unschooling parents, join me to answer listener questions. QUOTE OF THE WEEK “How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?” ~ Henry David Thoreau SUMMARY OF LISTENER QUESTIONS 1. My daughter is 12 and in year 7 of high school. […]

Dr. Carlo Ricci is a graduate studies professor in the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University in Ontario Canada and dad to two daughters, ages 11 and 13, who have both unschooled and chosen to go to school over the years. His research focus and teaching includes unschooling, self-directed learning, reading, free schooling, and […]

Jody Lilley is an unschooling mom to three children, ages five to eleven. I’ve known Jody for years through unschooling conferences, and I reached out to her to chat about play because the pictures she posts online of her children at play always make me smile so big. It’s not so much that they’re busy doing lots of things, but that she captures such joy and engagement in her children even in the ordinary moments, like colouring, or playing with their toys. In this episode, Jody shares stories a...

Jennifer McGrail is a long-time unschooling mom to four lovely children, blogger at The Path Less Taken, and host of the Free to Be unschooling conference. This week I had a wonderful conversation with her, touching on the topics of burnout and self-care, the disconnect between how adults treat other adults and how they treat children, the concept of natural consequences, hosting the Free to Be unschooling conference, and more! Quote of the Week “Start with love and respect and all the good thi...

Anna Brown joins me to answer listener questions! Thanks to everyone who has shared their questions, I’m sure many listeners have gotten so much out of it. Click to submit your own question for the Q&A Round Table episodes! Quote of the Week “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” ~ Paulo Freire Listener Questions 1. We’re radical unschooling...

Jenny Cyphers is a long-time unschooling mom of two daughters, ages 14 and 22. After reading her answers to unschooling questions online for years, I was delighted to get a chance to chat with Jenny about the teen years. We talk about trust, rebellion, patience, comfort zones, honesty, communication, and just how much we love our […]

Heather Newman is a long-time unschooling mom. She and her husband have three children, and I really enjoyed speaking with her about our shared experience of bringing our children home after they’d started school, and from there, moving to unschooling. We talk about what their days looked like when the kids first came home, how Heather came to trust the process of unschooling, and how her relationships with her children changed. Quote of the Week “How I hated schools, and what a life of anxiety...

Joyce is a long-time unschooling mom, and creator of the wonderful unschooling website, joyfullyrejoycing.com. She has been answering unschooling questions online for many years, in fact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t looking forward to reading her responses! Quote of the Week “Radical unschooling is about understanding human needs and getting to know each child’s particular needs and how that child needs those needs met.” ~ Joyce Fetteroll Ten Questions for Joyce 1. First, can you sha...

Anne Ohman and Anna Brown, both veteran unschooling parents, join me to answer listener questions. Click here to submit your own question for the Q&A Round Table episodes! Quote of the Week “Real, natural learning is in the living. It’s in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the breathing, the choosing, the reading, the playing, the DO-ing, the BE-ing, the loving, the Joy. It’s in the JOY.”” ~ Anne Ohman Summary of Listener Questions 1. I’m currently unschooling my 5...

Idzie Desmarais is a 25 year old grown unschooler and author of the blog, I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write. I’ve know Idzie’s mom online for many years, and watched from a distance as Idzie became interested in the process of unschooling itself and started her blog, way back in 2008. In 2010, I was hosting the Toronto Unschooling Conference and asked if she’d be interested in speaking. I was thrilled when she agreed, and she spoke in both 2010 and 2011. The TUC Talks are available free on my web...

Brie Jontry is an unschooling mom I’ve connected with a few times over the years because we share the experience of having a child who is living with a chronic illness. At first glance, it might seem like you’d need to drop some unschooling principles when your child’s health is in question, so I was […]

Rick Rossing is a stay-at-home unschooling dad. He and his wife, Deb, have one child, Joshua. I’ve known him and his family for years through unschooling circles and we’ve met a few times at conferences and gatherings. In today’s episode, Rick and I talk about his unschooling experience. Quote of the Week “Do not ask that your kids live up to your expectations. Let your kids be who they are, and your expectations will be in breathless pursuit.” ~ Robert Brault Questions for Rick 1. Can you sh...

Amy Childs is an unschooling mom to three lovable, and now adult, children. She’s also the producer of The Unschooling Life Podcast and a happiness consultant. In today’s episode, I ask her ten questions about her unschooling experience. QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Raising children with an emphasis on intrinsic rewards is not a technique, a method […]

Anne Ohman and Anna Brown, both veteran unschooling parents, join me to answer listener questions. Click here to submit your own question for the Q&A Round Table episodes! Quote of the Week “We live in a world awash with information, but we seem to face a growing scarcity of wisdom. And what’s worse, we confuse the two. We believe that having access to more information produces more knowledge, which results in more wisdom. But, if anything, the opposite is true — more and more information with...

Anna Brown is a long-time unschooling mom to two lovely daughters, ages 16 and 18. I met her online years ago through the Shine with Unschooling email list and have loved connecting with her more deeply over the years. She gave a talk a couple of years ago at an unschooling conference that I loved and I was very excited to dive into it again with her. In this episode, Anna talks about parenting ideas that she found helpful in her family’s unschooling lives. Quote of the Week “We don’t yet know...