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When it comes to raising our children without school, without rules in place and without guided lessons, can we trust them enough to find there own learning path, to make good decisions and to become responsible young adults? When my children became school aged I sent them of to school just like I was taught- as soon as they started public school it just did not feel right, How can I be the parent I want to be, live the life I wanted for my children, filled with adventure and exploration if this was now how our life's where mapped out for us.- I began to question why, after I spent my own childhood attending public school, now as a adult to realise I have not needed any of it in todays world. I have taught myself everything I have needed to learn through research and curiosity. The question on my mind was Will that be enough for my children as well, can I trust them to learn all they need through their own curiosities on this unschooling journey? 3 UNSCHOOLing YEARS LATER.. If it is one thing I have learnt is that children do deserve our TRUST If you are a new unschooling parent , this takes time, its a crazy notion we where all born into a society that creates a barrier in our beliefs that children can not be trusted and that they are not capable of responsible decision making. Once you accept that this isn't the case.Unschooling will become the best decision you ever made for your family. Trust will not be a over night thing. Once you deschool yourself and stop trying to force learning.Your child will begin in believing they are cable of their own path. They will find things they are curious about and begin to " teach" themselves. They will discover independence and trust you will help guide them with their curiosities if they need. Unschooling and trust works 2 ways, its not just you as the parent who has to learn to trust- it is also your child. Once you start unschooling , more trust between you and your child begin to develop ONE Your child will become to TRUST trust - in themselves, that they are more clever then they ever thought possible, they will begin to realise they do not need to be told how to learn something, they do not need to be graded or have expectations because they begin to learn for the love of it and not to learn to pass a test or receive points. trust-they have100 % of their parents support and patience. Your child will begin to realise that you trust them enough and believe in them enough to follow their interests. You will begin to notice over time how much your child confines in you, asks more questions and the conversations yous develop are more real then ever before. Your child begins to trust you see them as a cable young adult and not as a small child trust- they will be allowed to follow things they find interesting (even if it is video games)- When you are completely onboard with the unschooling path and you do allow your child to do WHAT they want and not what you think they should be doing "learning"- Your child will begin to trust ,that no matter what they find interesting or whatever their curiosity may lead them you support them (because by doing this you are creating a motivated learner, passion leads to exploration, discovery and further knowledge- they may look like they are just playing video games, but Remember everything turns into learning- half a year they may be interested in video games and the next they are interested in cooking. trust- they will not be forced into learning (just like school)- Once you stop believing that learning can only happen by being forced , with curriculums, worksheets and what you think "learning" looks like - your child can begin to naturally learn, they will begin to trust you believe in them enough to not force their learning and trust in their natural learning ability trust- they are in fact cable and independent !! Two Unschooling teaches you as a parent to also TRUST trust- your child will learn when the time is right, maybe not " when others who attend school do, but when they are naturally ready"- just remember some kids may learn to write at 6 some at 8 or some at 12, there is no rush to learning. trust- your child will learn all that THEY require, -your child may not remember calculus they are taught at school because it has no real value in their daily lifes, but just know what they need in their lifes today,tomorrow or 10 years for now, they will LEARN themselves trust- that over time your child will become responsible and independent, filled with alot of different knowledge as they have been allowed the time to pursue their own interests trust- that the education system(school) is not needed and that your child , just like every child was born naturally curious and with the ability to learn from their environment, just as they did when they learnt to walk and talk as toddlers. trust - that the bond between child and parent who trust each other lasts a lifetime Unschooling just like alot of things, takes time but only works by one simple thing and that is TRUST As john holt states: To trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves .-and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.

One of the most common issues surrounding unschooling is people just do not understand how a child who is unschooled could learn maths! It seems such a crazy thing to think a child can naturally come to experience maths out here in the real world , without the need for a school or workbooks and Without forced lessons and piles of worksheets, but the truth is yes! simple maths comes so naturally to children,just like learning to walk or talk as a toddler did. Maths is everywhere out here and its unavoidable . Natural learning can not be rushed, its happening without you knowing and it will happen, if not straight away- then when your child feels they need it. Will there be gaps in their maths? YES -but that does not matter because it is irrelevant in their lives , most students who go to school, do not use Geometry, Algebra ,Trigonometry, Pre-Calc, Calculus, pi or any of those other so called "important" maths lessons forced by teachers in their adult lives anyway and if your child does for some reason need or even want to learn it, then just trust in them that they will learn all the maths they require -guided by their curiosity.You need to remind yourself exactly how much of all that maths we were taught in the over a decade of our school life's ,that we actually use today in this advancing society. My Unschooling children I like to think are quite good at maths for a 10, almost 9 and a 7 year old ..We have learnt maths so simple, so natural and free. They have never read a textbook, done any online maths apps/lessons or any maths worksheets ,yet over the last 3 years they all have learnt their small additions and large additions 1030+200+30 etc , 2x, 5x and 10x tables, 10% & 50% ,divided by 2's ,ml,cup,time,cm,m and money skills and are beginning to pick up on other maths concepts ! the way they have learnt this is from 2 ways As mentioned in my previous post Top 4 free unschooling methods we use to teach , we use conversations and daily life as the way to teach my children and maths is no exception,this is the only way we have done it since we started our unschooling journey. Down below explains how each work for our maths. 1) mental maths (conversations) (mental maths means mathematical calculation that is performed mentally, without the aid of a calculator, abacus , pen and paper or textbook ) So every now and then if I get one on one time with one of my children(say my youngest is sitting with me at the beach, while my eldest 2 are running around climbing sand dunes and it feels like a good time to naturally discuss "maths" - meaning he is not preoccupied with something else and he has some spare time - I will ask if he wants to learn "more" maths as we call it. -this mental maths session usually lasts no longer then 5 minutes, and happens on occasions (about 5 times a month) To do this I always start with explaining it simpler, for instance if we are learning 2x tables, when I start saying 2 times ,I will remind them that 2 x means " double" when we were learning divide by 2s I, would remind them it means "half" just like 50%, for 10% we say take away a zero or add a decimal. eg 10% of 50 (minus the zero you have 5) 10% of 55 (add a decimal and you have 5.5) we always finding a simpler way for them to remember - I always start of with saying even numbers for the first few months or until I know they understand - like what is 10% of 88 , 50% of 240 etc- once they have learnt the easier side of it we will advance to odds and harder ones. I only ever teach what I think is relevant or what they have asked about like percentages as they noticed the shop sale tags and asked about it , Will we learn 3,4 6,8 time tables? I must admit ,I do not know them as I forgot from school,(actually I just never paid attention as school wasnt for me) have I ever needed them in my adult life? NO. if I need them I have a phone calculator. So I will not teach them this, if they need it for some reason or want to learn them- then we will learn together. That is what natural learning is about, its about learning what is needed for the now, what is relevant for daily life and learning in the moment if the time comes. It really doesn't take long for them to click on and begin to understand these maths concepts. They begin understanding that you add 32+14 by adding the 4+2 side first then the 1+3 side so right to left and they remind themselves with this for minus's and their larger 2 x tables, etc , sometimes they just surprise me because they understand so well. these are my favourite 3 tips for mental maths 1) Soon as they start showing a lose of interest I will change the subject right away- and forget that math lesson 2) Be silly and make it fun with jokes, and enthusiasm ( by making them laugh and thinking of it as more fun games then a maths lessons) IT ALWAYS WORKS. - if I had 50 cupcakes and I ate them all up to my self and I was still hungry so I brought another 120 how many cupcakes would be in my now big belly 3) Funny praises with lots of enthusiasm to make them enjoy it - like omg I cant believe you got that answer right,you have the biggest smartest brain ever - or omg how did you know that are you reading my mind or my youngest sons favourite, I will sing -(you are a genius, genius, genius ). (yes if you have ever watched Mr deeds) slideshow & 2) Daily Living As well as these short bursts of mental maths lessons, they learn maths from daily living , they use maths all the time without thinking about it, maths is unavoidable and it is everywhere, your children will sink it in. This is some ways we use maths through out daily life and gradually the kids have naturally learn "maths concepts" Asking them to check the clock and over time discussed ( am/pm , 24hr in a day, quarter pass,half past, quarter to,clock goes up by 5's(5xtables) ) baking cakes/making food and reading measurements on packaging themselves with help if required (discussed how many ml in a cup, tsp,tbsp ,set oven timer,( 60sec = a min) 60mins=1hr) set microwave/blender, volume,fractions,observing temp,heat,read kitchen scale- discuss gram/kg tell them share the food/drink evenly between them (discuss halves/quarters/ratios, adding and dividing by) shopping and having a allowance, (discuss about money,100c = $1,adding,subtracting ,percentages,cost of living,budgeting) playing Roblox games, fortnite and other games they download on their phones (adding,measurments,percentage,distance,timestables,subtracting,coding) A few other natural maths we have came by using tools and appliances , set stop watches when they are doing workouts/timing each other on xbox,building toys-lego,blocks,diy and science ones, use the measuring tape when they are building and tinkering, going metal detecting,asking how to use the calculator on their phones ,reading weather reports,counting things out in nature ,reading signs around them, writing lists ,counting various things ,doing art and craft ,going golfing ,hiking ,fishing/sorting out tackle,helping in house renovations and playing games together to name a few. Some maths problems are coming up each day and they are figuring it out, they are learning new strategies and each day is teaching so much naturally. Its so surprising as they have just absorb so much maths from their environment and doing things they find interesting, and I'm not even aware some times. My youngest son I remember when my son he was 6 at the time , he was counting all his 10 cent coins by his 10s timetables he got to 100c and said okay 100c is $1 and started over again, when he got to the end he counting his piles, it was amazing as I had no idea he knew his 10 times tables nor that he knew 100c = $1 .He just figured it out and learnt it himself. These are the only 2 ways we learn maths in our household and they work so well. Arbitrary problems with no real connection to our child's lives aren’t going to cut it. The brain does not store what it considers unimportant pieces of information... unless it’s actually used. So when my unschooled kids are using natural math- it’s useful to them. And so their brains remember the concepts more, then as if the where in a traditional school.

When we started this Unschooling journey 3 years ago I was not sure on what I should have for my children to learn, should I go out and buy all the best books and have read outlouds with them ,should I create all those beautiful nature tables or small world play tables , I see on Pinterest , should I set up invitations to play or unit studies for them and what about tinker stations and makerspaces I need to set up areas like that, otherwise how else will my children "learn" ? Thats what i thought ! and oh was I silly. Yes they look beautiful and you feel envy when you see them all over social media, but the fact is you do not need any of that. Natural learning is all about your child's OWN curiosity, not what you try put in front of them. This list is my top 4 free unschooling methods that i use to teach my children, it works well for my family, my children have learnt so much already on this unschooling journey because of them. We embrace unschooling how it truly is - natural, spontaneous, in the moment learning! 1) Top of the list is Conversations Talking with children as if they are young adults and not small children, I think is one of the greatest natural learning resources there is. By answering their questions truthly and with patience is teaching them so much. By included them in your conversations and asking them questions. By laughing, by joking and by being silly with them. By choosing to listen and to see them as smart growing young adults is one of the greatest things a parent or unschooler can do. Since unschooling my children have become confident in confiding with me, if they have any questions or problems they will come straight over to seek my knowledge. We are always having deep conversations and they are shown the same respect in our conversations as if they were young adults. Unschooling and enjoying our new life by always being together has made us a tight family unit. If we are out and about my children will ask questions, if we are on a adventure amongst nature my children will ask questions, if we are at home my children will ask questions, all these questions turn into great conversations, where they feel as though they belong, they are listen to, they are appreciated and they are heard. My children have gain a lot of learning just by our conversations alone. 2) Next on the list is Daily life A lot of people are confused with what daily life actually means in a unschooling family. It simply means , whatever is going on that day, you do not have to have it planned out. Your children are learning something one way or another. (simply just think of say a weekend) Why ? because when its the weekend you are not thinking of acting like your child should be at school, you do not try to make them "learn" or think they should be learning something, you are simply going about whatever needs to be done for the day. If that means going to the shops , or maybe a day at the park or maybe a lazy day at home , then so be it. Your child learns from the environment they are in - at the shops there are signs and tags to be read, products to be calculated, subtracted and weighed, they are money handling ,budgeting and learning about food and harvesting. You might not see them "learning" - , but I assure you they are quietly learning and it keeps adding to their knowledge the more they go, the more they remember and the more they ask. At the park their researching, analysing, communicating, and making decisions, all of this is moulding them .They observe others and explore new concepts. They challenge themselves. At home the learning opportunities are waiting to be explored if you have read our unschooling classroom post you will notice that your home is a perfect unschooling/natural learning space for your child. Remember everyday something different is going on ,things pop up, schedules change, your child one day at home may be learning about cool science facts on YouTube and the next day they may be learning about fractions while baking. One way or another no matter what is happening in your daily life today- your child is absorbing new skills. 3) Our next top resources is WIFI I have discussed a lot about WIFI on my blog , and that is because everything and anything your child wants to learn about is at the touch of a finger, this new age with our advancing technology has provided online courses ,lessons, information, and anything your child wants to become - all easily available because of the internet .My children have learnt a lot from using the internet and all of this they have taught themselves, asked for help or came across while browsing, My daughter has taught herself how to spell, read, simple code, use video editing software, how to create, record and edit her own YouTube videos, how to make her own YouTube channel, discord server, Roblox game, how to draw anime, how to make fruit smoothie bowls , made friends from all over the world, she has learnt that there are different languages ,different countries, different time zones .She has learnt names of animals ,world facts, science facts, adding ,subtracting, percentages, and money skills and loads more she just turned 10 and all this she has taught herself from her own curiosity and using her online games. 4) last is Nature We have always been a outdoorsy nature loving family ever since the kids were born, nature has so much to teach , that might sound silly but a day trip to the beach, you never know what you'll find or what questions your child will ask, once we found a biodegradable golf ball, and this led to a big natural learning conversation on what biodegradable means, the benefits to the environment and what pollution means . A look in some rock pools lead to learning facts about starfish (from a quick google search) and underwater ecosystems. Watching sail boats lead to discussions about wind and direction and how a sail boat moves, Finding a plastic water tank floating in the shore lead to discussions about what a water tank was used for, which lead to further discussions about sustainability and self sufficiency , as well as the effects of natural disasters (storms) .Finding a poor diseased whale on a remote beach taught us some whale facts, natural discussions on migrations and different whale species. A walk in the bush leads to great maths skills, by navigating, measuring distance ,time ,counting the age of a tree by the rings ,spotting echinus and learning about their spikes, finding wallabies and wombats, discussing bird nests and different trees. A swim in a waterhole lead to discussions about fresh and salt water, how waterholes are made, animal habitats and so on. You never know what you will find and learn by being out in nature, I always bring my phone - (for a quick google search if I'm not sure about something ) nature has taught my children and myself so much already, and there is more waiting to be discovered. slideshow Unschooling By choosing to unschool your child you are following the path of nature. It is a child’s personal journey of discovering themselves and the world around them. Unschooling fosters rather than stunts natural curiosity and inspires a love of learning that will last a life time.Learning cannot be rushed. There is no expiry date. Children want to learn. Curiosity drives them.When a child is allowed to explore new knowledge at their own pace, things that they find useful and relevant, then you are creating a motivated child.You are creating a natural learner.

The BarefootChild Club Here at BarefootChild we are passionate about bringing you affordable , wholesome nature inspired learning resources. We have been providing schools, educators and parents since 22". With our increasing customers we are happy to be able to announce our new affordable monthly membership club. At a very low monthly price we are able to provide you with high quality learning resources. You will receive unlimited access to our exclusive members only range, in which we will continuing be adding to. (if you are a fan of our freebie range then this is for you) Join now Printables Every couple of weeks, we will be adding new printables to our members page from flashcards, posters, mini units , nature studies and more.You will have unlimited access to, for only $3.99AUD a month!! Nature inspired Our love for Reggio emillia and soft earthy natural tones are what inspires our range of printables. We believe in keeping children wild and bringing nature into learning. Our favs Programming Editor ebooks Art Director New printables Printable range december 2023 This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Small Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Small Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Small Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content and make sure to add any relevant details or information that you want to share with your visitors. Have access to loads of valuable and high -quality learning resources each month , as we continue to add new additions for only $3.99 a month For only $3.99AUD a month!! YEP that's right. We here at BarefootChild believe that everyone should be able to afford beautiful ,informative and high quality learning printables , no matter your budget.We are proud and honoured to be able to offer everyone one of the most affordable home-schooling and teaching membership programs out there. Slide Title This is a Paragraph. Click on "Edit Text" or double click on the text box to start editing the content.

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@embracethewildling Links About us contact us Creating and finding you free & affordable nature inspired home-schooling resources. AUSTRALIA HOME-SCHOOLING GUIDES Helping you step away from mainstream education with unschooling and natural homeschooling information In the spotlight this week go to our store Shop our wild and nature inspired learning printables, influenced by Reggio Emillia, wild-school and charlotte mason. Currently save 25% off on all printables for the next week only. Go to shop our freebies Head over to our freebie collection and download our huge range of ever changing free nature inspired learning resources. Each week or so we add a new featured freebie, alongside new monthly freebies. Head over now to check out our 2 dedicated freebie pages. Go to This weeks featured freebie Mini insect unit study pack free wild animal morning basket cards We are excited to announce our NEW SPRING MEGA BUNDLE launching in less then 2 days and to celebrate our team are offering some freebies, like these wild animal early learning flashcards and puzzle pack. Head over to the mega bundles now to get these. Go to what we are loving this month FREE 1 WEEK ONLY Our friends from for the love of homeschooling's new featured freebie ( 1 week only) wild animal pattern match flashcards! These will make a great addition to your wild-schooling. Dont forget to checkout their other freebie range here. If your looking for affordable nature inspired homeschool resources their nature study club is perfect, your little wildling can learn everything from nature signs and survival skills to pond life and animal homes and so much more ,check them out here. Go to freebie Harbour & sprout nature study curriculums and curio club Harbour and sprout have beautiful full nature study curriculums for every age child. Your wildling will learn everything from oceanography, forestry, homesteading and sustainable living and so much more. Dont forget to check out their curio nature society club. Use code BarefootChild to save 10% off. Go to You can check out their FREE SAMPLES HERE Kids Nature craft ebook Harbour and sprouts new SPRING EDITION of their nature crafts ebook is out now, currently you can get it for almost 50% off!! This ebook is perfect to help you add nature to your home-schooling arts and crafts lessons ,featuring over 60 unique nature spring crafts created by 11 mummas! You can even take it with you to your forest school or homeschool co-op. Use code BarefootChild to save a further 10%off. Go to find out what unschooling is all about, homeschooling and natural parenting over on our blog Our unschooling resources If your new to unschooling, are just curious as to what unschooling is, or need help on your unschooling or homeschooling jounrey then check out our blog. For helpful guides to homeschooling in Australia, how to create unschooling learning plans with our government approved unschooling homeschool registration reports and a glimpse as to how our 3 unschooling island living kids learn through natural child-led curiosity. Go to treehouse schoolhouse If your looking for homeschool guides, tips and inspiration Lyndsey from treehouse offers it all, she also provides beautiful nature study curriculums. 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