As the refugee issue has heated to a boil in our country, my girls have formed their own opinions on the matter. They decided to do something to make refugees in our country feel more welcome. They, practically on their own, organized a holiday drive for the refugee center closest to us. After about…
What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. The joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.
— Gregory Leigh Mallory
If you had always been free to learn, you would follow your natural tendency to find out as fully as possible about the things that interest you, cars or stars. We are all born with what they call “love of learning,” but it dives off into an elusive void when we go to school.
I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like being taught.
— Winston Churchill
Little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about it. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought, that lies at the heart of all true learning. Can we bring ourselves to let children learn and grow through that love?
— John Holt
It’s not other people’s concern and comments over socialization and “keeping up.” It’s not the worry that you’re doing it wrong. It’s not the moments when your kids are bored and trying to figure out what’s next. It’s not the constant work of making sure your kids have what they need to explore their various…
This right here is one of the things I love most about unschooling. Strengths are the focus and drive of our lives, not our weaknesses or struggles. Every weakness is a strength in disguise, and I believe that unschooling gives my children the chance to figure that out.
Most parents have an acutely tuned sense of responsibility–to the point where they consider relaxation and leisure, for themselves or their children, a self-indulgent luxury. By taking nature experience out of the leisure column and placing it in the health column, we are more likely to take our children on that hike–more likely to, well,…
It’s not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.
— L.R. Knost
The beneficial effects of getting just a little true play can spread through our lives, actually making us more productive and happier in everything we do.
We make it into Yellowstone at least once a week right now. It requires a lot more effort than in the warmer months, but it is worth it. From the moment I enter those borders, I am home. (This is Richie, the girls’ hiking mascot. Every kid should have a mascot, don’t you think?) :)…
A little over a year ago, my daughters attended Yoga for Congo for the first time. They had helped me prepare for the event many times, and we had discussed the subject matter and the seriousness of the issue. Nothing could have prepared me, though, for what it was like to have them in that…