The Unschool Space

Today I am chatting with Ruth Rinaldi, a former maths teacher now unschooling parent of two. We talk about what led Ruth not only to home educate her children but also to leave her career as a maths teacher and head of department, which she had worked so hard at. Ruth shares how the experience has looked for her and her family, and what it felt like to make such a huge change. We also talk about maths, of course, and the problems with how it is approached in schools. And Ruth gives us all som...

My guest in this episode is May Ling Thomas. May Ling lives in London with her husband and two daughters, who are 13 and 10, and who have always been unschooled. May Ling came across the idea of unschooling when her oldest was still a baby, and it felt a natural fit with how she and her husband wanted to raise their children. We talk about what this all looks like and, of course, all the unlearning we have to do. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Connect with May Ling: https://www.maylingtho...

Today I’m with Mariam Carter who lives in Southern California with her husband and two sons, who are 12 and 9. Their oldest son is autistic and the family’s jouney to unschooling journey began during the pandemic. Mariam describes the shift she had to make from equating life success with academic achievement, what it means to trust the journey when your child learns differently, and how her job as a mental health therapist is such a parallel journey. And we talk about what it means to crea...

My guest in this episode is Nicola Leyland. Nicola has two children who are now 19 and 17. Her journey to unschooling began when her son was just eight years old and had an accident that resulted in a brain injury. Nicola talks about her experience of seeing everything fall apart, and her son’s traumatic return to school, and the consequences of following what others said she should do rather than what she felt was right. And she shares the journey of taking her children out of school and slo...

Today I am chatting with Esther Grimes, who lives in Australia with her husband, and three sons, who are 1, 4 and 8. Although Esther and her husband were already looking at less conventional ways to live as a family, they hadn’t questioned school. It wasn’t until it became very clear that their oldest son couldn’t cope with school that they started to figure out another way. We talk about their journey to unschooling, how hard it can be to step away from the well trodden path and how life loo...