Conversation with Caro Giles

About this episode

Layla O'Mara converses with Caro Giles about her memoir 'Unschooled' and the challenges of advocating for children in a rigid educational system.

Earlier this week myself and Caro Giles sat down to have a conversation about her wonderful new memoir Unschooled: The story of a family that doesn’t fit in. We could have spoken for another hour on all she touches on in it , we had so much to say, but I think we managed to cover some really fascinating topics in the hour we did have together ! Unschooled is a book about trying to advocate for your children’s needs in an education system that does not serve them and describes the often Kafkaesque bureaucracy Caro is forced to navigate to access basic supports for her children, two of whom have a diagnosis of autism and can’t access the traditional school system. It is a book about not being heard - as a woman, a mother, a carer - and how sometimes it is hard to work out how these roles can fit together. It is also a love story - written to her children and to her partner who she met after seven years single parenting and feeling very alone. And it is a book advocating for thinking outside the box, for being a little bit wild, for dreaming big and, above all listening and being kind. We spoke about so much during this conversation - 𓇸 what it means to fit in and whether that is…

People in this episode

Host: Layla O'Mara

Guest: Caro Giles

Topics covered

• education
• autism
• parenting
• memoir
• advocacy
• bureaucracy

Keywords

• Unschooled
• Caro Giles
• education system
• autism
• parenting
• memoir
• advocacy
• bureaucracy

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Unschooled

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