The Unschool Space

Once in a while it felt like it could be helpful to take a moment to answer some of the most common questions that I get. Of course, every family is completely different, so if any of these questions or worries are relevant to you, you might want to take my thoughts as a hopefully useful starting point for your own reflections. 

Let me know if this is helpful for you and if you’ve any particular questions you’d like to hear discussed in the future.  You can drop me a line at contact@esther-jones.com

So, today, I am going to dive into four questions that come up a lot

- What if my children don’t want to do anything?
- What about exams or if they want to go back to school?
- What if my partner isn’t on board?
-  What can I do if I'm feeling tired or lonely?

In this episode, I mention Peter Gray. You can find his blog on Psycology Today here and the link to his research about grown unschoolers here.

You can also find The Unschool Space episode in which Peter Gray was a guest here.

And, the episodes of The Unschool Space in which I talk with fathers are:
#10 Unschooling teens, the importance of mental health, and a father's perspective, with Anthony Eldridge-Rogers
 #17 The right environment and lots of trust - two essential ingredients for unschooling with autism/PDA, with Simon Crummay
#52 Intentional deschooling and lining up with our values, with Daniel Moeller in Pennsylvania

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Adrienne Miller who lives in Vancouver with her husband and three children who are 10, 7 and 4. Adrienne was a teacher, and realised when her oldest child turned school age that it wasn’t a choice they wanted for him. After growing up in a strict, religious home, Adrienne also  shares her journey of unravelling her deep conditioning, and the freedom it has given her and her family. And we chat about natural learning, trusting our children and lots more. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Connect with Adrienne on Instagram

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

In this episode, I’m chatting with Julie Walter from Ontario, Canada. Julie has three children who are 9, 11 and 13 and have never been to school. As a former teacher, Julie  talks about how impacted she was by the differences between the resistant nature of  learning in a classroom and the kind of natural learning she was seeing unfolding happily at home.

We talk about what it means to accompany our children in this journey, and why our relationships with our children are at the heart of this. And, we talk about how we can  stay trusting during the inevitable ebbs and flows and quiet moments, and how deep our own deschooling journeys often need to go.

You can connect with Julie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familyyields/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Missy Willis from Charlotte, North Carolina. Missy is a former teacher who lives with her husband and two children, who are now 21 and 16. They chose to unschool when their eldest child reached school age as it felt like a better fit for their family. Missy’s experience in the classroom as a teacher had also made her question a model in which adult coercion was understood to be essential in learning. 

We talk about the fear many parents have in the beginning and how important it is to hear other people's stories. We also talk about how we can support our children with compassion and curiosity and let go of the need to control outcomes. And, Missy shares how she sees how this way of living has allowed her children to become practised at touching in with their own values and knowing what’s important to them.

Connect with Missy
Instagram - @letemgobarefoot
Website -  https://letemgobarefoot.com/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

In this episode, I'm  chatting with Lucy Aitkenread. Lucy is originally from the UK, but 10 years ago, set off travelling with her partner Tim, and their two young daughters. They settled in New Zealand, which is where they live now. Their daughters are now 10 and 13 and haven’t been to school. So, today we talk about the culture of school and what a huge impact it has on our lives, even as adults. And how, it often takes our children to take us back to the roots of many limiting beliefs we have about ourselves, which is why the deschooling process can run so deep. Lucy tells us about their lives in New Zealand, how she has found and created a rich community around them, and how our very different children really open us up to so many possibilities.

Connect with Lucy:
 Instagram
Facebook 

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today, my guest is Ruth Macallan. Originally from Edinburgh, Ruth now lives for most of the year in Zambia with her husband and her two children, who are 2 and 5. We talk about what Ruth’s child-led days look like, what it means to allow a child the freedom to go at their own pace, and how living in rural Zambia has helped Ruth to learn how to  slow down and to appreciate the beauty in the moment. And, we also chat about the importance of creating community, travelling with children, and of course, taking good care of ourselves.

Connect with Ruth on Instagram

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Claire Gillespie from Hertfordshire in the UK. Claire lives with her husband and two sons, who are 15 and 13, and they’ve been unschooling for four years, after their oldest son asked to leave school. Amongst other things, we talk about the fascinating learning journeys children embark on when they’re in charge, how different we all are from each other and the inevitable ebb and flow of the days. And Claire shares how this way of living has impacted her and the choices she makes in her own life.

Connect with Claire on Instagram
Visit her website 

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today I’m chatting with Daniel Moeller from Pennsylvania. Daniel is a former teacher and has a 10-year old son, called Kai who has been unschooling for four years. Daniel came across unschooling whilst struggling himself to reconcile many parts of the school system, and in particular the power over dynamic that he was expected to conform to as a teacher. Today we talk about how our own beliefs and responses are often rooted in our own experience of this dynamic as children, and how, to unpack it all and to reconnect with our deeper values, we need to have a lens of openness and curiosity, as well as being intentional about our actions and choices. You can hear more from Daniel and Kai on their podcast, Unschooling with Kai.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniel.t.moeller/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Donna, from East Sussex in the UK. Donna has two daughters, who are 13 and 11. Her eldest daughter had always struggled with school, and it wasn’t until Covid that Donna realised just how deep the school stress was embedded in the whole family. Eventually feeling that there was no alternative but to try something different, she took her daughter out of school. Today Donna talks about how easy it is to get blinkered and stuck in that space of stress and deficit. And, about how liberating it has been for both of them to shift into a new place of possibility, trust and curiosity. 

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today, I’m chatting with Dr Emma Svanberg. Emma is a clinical psychologist, author of Parenting For Humans and mother of two children. As well as exploring unschooling with her family, Emma helps other parents on their own parenting journeys. We talk about how the deeply held narratives we all have about ourselves often don’t serve us as parents, and can keep us reactive and disconnected. And, how our children offer us an incredible opportunity to unravel these stories and to find the courage it can take to fully embrace and support them. We also talk about neurodivergence in an unschooling home, ways to regulate our nervous systems, and learning to embrace the unknown.

Website: www.dremmasvanberg.com
Book: Parenting for humans
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mumologist/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Hayley from Derbyshire in the UK. Hayley has four children, who are now 25, 22, 18 and 10, and her journey to unschooling started 14 years ago when her eldest child was 11. We talk about how unschooling is so much more than education. It’s about the importance of relationships, and of living in a way that feels coherent to us, and about incorporating joy into our lives. And Hayley tells us about the very different journeys that each of her children are making through life.

Find Hayley on Instagram at @takingakinderpath
Follow Hayley's blog: https://takingakinderpath.com/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

In this episode, I’m chatting with Holly from South Wales. Holly has three children, aged 9, 7, 5 and began unschooling three years ago, when  her eldest started to struggle at school. Holly worked as a teacher, and shares her experience of transitioning from a schooled way of thinking about learning to unschooling. 

We chat about how this way of life allows for different rhythms, choice and autonomy. And, how if when we move away from ticking boxes for our children, we also free ourselves from ticking boxes, allowing us to live our lives in a more aligned and liberated way. 

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Fran Liberatore. Fran is Italian but lives with her family between Bangkok, Maine and Sicily. Her children are now aged 10 and 12 and If you’d like to hear more from Fran you can also hear her in episode 12 of the podcast a couple of years ago. Today we talk about how Fran and her family have found community in the different cultures they move between. We also talk about neurodivergence and how the perspective can be in an unschooling home, consent-based parenting, being our children’s advocates, and the hard work of deschooling that goes into all of this.

Connect with Fran on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigmothering/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today, I’m chatting with Chelsea, who lives in LA with her husband and two sons, who are 10 and 6. Chelsea had never planned to unschool, and in fact her older son was very happy at a project-based school in his earlier years. She tells us about why they made this choice and what it has meant for her family. We talk in particular about how the parent’s deschooling journey often means becoming aware of all the power dynamics at play, not only in relation with our children, but in many other facets of our lives and in the society around us. And, Chelsea shares what the deschooling process has looked like for her so far.

You can find Chelsea at https://www.instagram.com/the.matcha.mama

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest today is Rhonda Ziman. Rhonda lives in East Sussex with her husband, 14-year-old stepdaughter and 11-year-old daughter. I’ve known Rhonda and her daughter Martha since last year, when her daughter finally left school after struggling to attend for a long time. Today, Rhonda talks about that time and how difficult it was. And she talks about how, without the pressure of school, she has seen Martha relax and engage once more with the things she enjoys doing. We also talk about how hard it can be for the parent to embrace a different kind of learning. And in fact, just as Rhonda has also relaxed into their new life at home, she is now having to get used to the idea of school again as Martha wants to give it another go. So, perhaps the main topic here is learning to hold our children in their unpredictable journeys. 

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today I'm chatting with Angela Harders who lives in Maryland with her two children, who are now 9 and 4. Angela was a public high school teacher for 12 years. And although she took her daughter out of school four years ago when her daughter was five, she continued to work as a public school teacher for three more years, until it felt too at odds with how she was seeing learning naturally take place at home. 

Angela has published a book about this, called Tales of a Toxic Teacher. Today, among many other things we talk about how coercion takes the joy out of learning, allowing our children the space to just be, without needing them to be always productive, and how Angela has created a life she believes in as an unschooling single mother. 

Instagram and TikTok: @peacefulworldschooler
Podcast: Peaceful Worldschooler
https://paxministries.com/pax-academy

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

In this episode, I'm chatting with Lorna Norton. Lorna has a 5-year-old son and, together with her husband, founded a learning community called Kith Homestead in North Yorkshire. Lorna came to alternative education through her studies of psychology and education and then her many years of working with children. We talk about her own deschooling process that was required in order to be able to create a space in which children can have real autonomy, and how she sees children thrive within a natural and loving environment in which they can truly direct their time and activities. We also talk about the challenges of starting a community, the sheer hard work it takes, and the importance of being kind to yourself and to finding likeminded souls to support you.

https://www.kithhomestead.com
Follow Kith Homestead on Instagram

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

My guest this episode is Naomi Fisher, who I am delighted to have back for a second conversation (see #5 for our previous chat). Naomi is a clinical psychologist, mother of two children who are at a self-directed learning centre, and author of the book Changing our Minds, which is about the importance of choice, autonomy and self-direction in education.

Naomi has a new book coming out in June entitled A Different Way to Learn, which looks at how neurodivergent children learn in self-directed environments. Today, among many other things, we talk about how children naturally learn and develop, and why our education system undermines these natural processes. And how a competitive environment focused on content and exams quashes our children’s innate curiosity and motivation. Naomi also shares her thoughts on how parents can best accompany a child who has come out of mainstream school after a difficult time.

Find out more about Naomi's work at: https://www.naomifisher.co.uk/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today I'm joined by Sari Gonzàlez and Becka Koritz wholive in Puerto Escondido in Mexico. Becka moved to Mexico from Sweden and Sari from the US, both leaving lives that felt stressed and disconnected. They now run Explora ALC, an agile learning centre. 

Both Sari and Becka have neurodivergent sons but began their deschooling journeys long before having children, in their search for more fulfilling and joyful lives. We talk about how deschooling is a shedding of all the layers of programming we’ve internalised through our lives, and a reconnection with ourselves beyond fear and trauma. And, they talk about the kind of environment they’ve created in which children’s voices can be genuinely heard and valued.

You can find Sari and Becka's work, including their blog, courses, and Radical Learning Talks podcast at www.radical-learning.org
Or connect with them on Instagram:  @radical_learning

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace

Today I’m chatting with Caroline Frances from Ontario. Caroline lives with her husband and two sons who are 7 and 10, and they are just in the second month of their unschooling journey. They had tried different school environments, but found that, in particular for their eldest son, who is diagnosed Autistic with a PDA profile, they needed to find another way to live. Today, among lots of other things, we talk about what a huge job it is to hold space for our children, and how intertwined that is with our own learning and our own alignment. And Caroline shares the things that she is already noticing arising from the space, all the curiosity and the independent learning that’s taking place.

You can connect with Caroline on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/iamcarofrances/

You can find my blog, workshop and courses at:
www.esther-jones.com

Or, connect with me on
Instagram: @_esther.jones
Facebook:@theunschoolspace