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

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by Lehla Eldridge in

Unschooling Demystified: Tackling Your Top Questions

This is an extract from Parenting the Future, a revised version of our original book Jump Fall Fly, coming soon. Are you taking the kids out of society if they are not in school? Schooling is not the only gateway to social interaction or societal involvement. So yes we are definitely part of society. If you see society as a much bigger all-encompassing picture, which is how we see the word, then no we are not taking them out of society. Do your children have any friends? Yes, our children

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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!’

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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

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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

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