by Lehla Eldridge in

Ten Things I Tell Myself to Remember Around Parenting

How do kids learn things that connect with their souls and set their imagination on fire?How do the fireflies of inspiration spark their spirits? Can I help keep those iridescent lights of creativity shining?I ask myself these questions...they are big questions.I know that for me putting the kids in a schooling environment stopped being an option when I saw them shrinking and the sparkle diminishing from their eyes.I also know that this may not be easy to read, especially if in your heart you feel through my words that there is

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

Uplifting the Next Generation and Gently Changing the Course of History

How we show up is so important for our children and we are shaping who they are to become.  I was struck by this thought the other day. I am raising children that will most likely go on to have children and I am modelling for them how to be as a parent. We as parents have a choice as to how we show up and we can change script for future generations. If you stop and think about it that is an amazing thought! I was brought up in

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

Unschooling vs. Homeschooling: What’s the Real Difference?

This is a question I get asked a lot and there is a very big difference between the two. Have a look below as here is an excerpt from our book that breaks it down from our persepective. Home schoolingHome 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

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

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

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

No Such Thing as a “Late” Reader: The Power of Self-Directed Learning

A story about reading from when our kids were younger. We pack the car to go on a family trip, our girls need to go back to the library to renew books. The library is a new thing we haven’t been in English speaking countries for a while, now we are, the library is exciting. Our son says ‘I don’t have a book for the journey’ we say ‘Use the library’ he chooses three books, he marvels that it is a free service. ‘What, for free? A book? Really? Amazing!’

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

How Do Kids Learn To Read if you don’t teach them?

A short story about when my on was learning to read. ‘I will read when I can read’ were my sons words. At aged ten he is on the edge of flying in to the world of words. The ‘not being able’ to read bit is soon to be a sweet memory. I sit with him as he speaks the words out, I see a big complex word on the page and part of me hopes he will stumble, which is a funny thing to admit as it is counter

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

A Letter to a Parent About reading

This is what I would I have told my worried self about reading and my children about three years ago. One of children was diagnosed with Irlen’s syndrome and so I was very stressed about whether she would be able to read or not. As time went by she did. But here is a letter that I would have liked to have read as worrying  served nothing for me. Dear Lehla, Please stop it, stop worrying about the children’s ability to read. Have more faith in them. You have been

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

The First Step Toward Unschooling: Unschooling the Parents.

‘Just let me live my life’ were the words that came out of my sons mouth yesterday as I tried to teach him about following a recipe. He was furious. He was wanting to cook, I was wanting to help him cook. He was wanting to make biscuits, I was wanting him to follow a recipe. He didn’t want to. I wanted him to. We hit a stalemate. ‘Just let me live my life and let me learn how I want to learn’ I caught myself in that moment, caught

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

Self Directed Learners on a Mission: Creative Project Ideas for Hands-On 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

Continue Reading
by Lehla Eldridge in

A Sonnet to Minecraft

I love the way you have been so thoughtful and that the music that twinkles in the background when you are present is actually very soothing to my adult ear. The way you guide my child through the land of the unknown, how you let him be the king of his world. That he can say no to the walkers with white eyes and not let the creepers creep and that in peaceful mode I know that no one will get him. I love the way that your square sun rises as

Continue Reading