Living Joyfully

I wanted his confidence and his opinion of himself to remain intact and not be tested out of him by tests that are a literal black and white picture in this Dolby surround sound, IMAX, color version of life. ~ Karen Matthews Karen Matthews joins me on the podcast this week! Karen and her grown son, Tyler, own a furniture and wood craft business together. We talk about how their unschooling journey began and how following Tyler's interests has not only been a rewarding path for him, but also for her. Karen shares some of the big a-ha moments she had and paradigm shifts she made through the years. We also talk about questioning our cultural views around productivity and expectations. Karen's focus on following her son's joy and cultivating his passions has led them to the connected relationship and wonderful life they enjoy now.

What do they appreciate most about growing up unschooling? To me, the answer is that I’m just incredibly grateful for all the free time that I had in my teens to just use these tools and start practicing, effectively, and gaining relevant life experience a lot earlier. It’s just been an awesome leg up. ~ Allen Ellis The freedom growing up was great. It was a nice feeling to have. But for me, it taught me how to deal with the shadow side of freedom, too, which is analysis p...aralysis. When there’s infinite decisions and infinite choices that you can make, how do you possibly make them? So, dealing with that, being able to learn how to turn over each of those stones or to try one thing and follow it for a little bit and trust that you can back out and go a different way if it doesn’t work out, not feeling like stuck in a rut of that one choice that you make, that you have to go for it and you have to stay with that. And that’s been really helpful in running a business, obviously. ~ Laura Ellis Siblings Laura and Allen Ellis join me this week to talk about growing up unschooling! They share how their childhood interests and experiences inform the work they currently do and some of the realizations they’ve had along the way. We talk about how their mom supported their interests and provided opportunities to pursue their goals without controlling their choices or adding weighty expectations. Laura and Allen also describe the benefits they see in retrospect from having grown up unschooling. It’s wonderful to hear their perspectives and to see how their unique journeys have unfolded so far!

We see what they love, what's lighting them up about it, what's making them come back to that frustrating thing in a game or something they're trying to dolearning a flipwhatever they're putting their mind to. And that helps build trust because we understand what they're up to, how they're getting there, what's happening, all the different pieces. But it also builds their trust in us because they see that we truly carethat we're interested in what they love and what they'...re excited about. Anna Brown joins me again this week! This month in the Living Joyfully Network, our theme is Finding Our Guides. As I wrote about in The Unschooling Journey, our children can serve as our most valuable guides, helping us move through our fears towards joy and connection. Anna and I talk about how handing our children the weight of our worries and fears impacts them and erodes trust, how connecting with our children helps us navigate our fears, and how being part of a community of like-minded parents inspires us and enriches our unschooling lives. It was such a fun conversation and a great reminder of the value of being truly present in the moment with our families.

After you’ve experienced the joy and depth and breadth of learning through pursuing both passions and fleeting interests, you will not need to trust that your child is learning every day, you will know it. And once you are comfortable with that, you will still want to stay deeply involved and connected with your kids and their interests precisely because you will have discovered that they are wonderful, amazing human beings who are lots of fun to hang around with and to know... intimately! This week, I share my essay, Unschooling Passions. Unschooling is about learning through living. As unschooling parents, we want to open up the world for our children to explore. But what if your child is passionately interested in just one thing? Doesn’t that close off his access to the world and limit his learning? I have two children who have discovered passionate interests. Instead of spending my time trying to convince them to try new things, I decided to explore their interests with them. I was amazed at how much of the world came to life when they were free, and encouraged, to immerse themselves in their deep, passionate interests. https://livingjoyfully.ca///02/eu265-unschooling-passions/

Deschooling for me has been a processand is an ongoing processof slowing down and finding space for that pause. Finding space for the kids to be so much more of what they already are. And then, in connection with me and who I am and how I work in the world, having these honest conversations about my energy and my ability to support various activities. ~ Julia Triman Julia Triman joins me to share her family's unschooling journey. As a mom of two young children, Julia refl...ects on how her understanding of parenting and learning has changed through observation and being present with them. We talk about the incredible depth of her children's play and how powerful it is that they can choose what they spend their time doing. Julia also shares about her ongoing process of deschooling and what led her to start posting photos of her children's snack plates on Instagram. It was such a fun conversation! See more