by Erin | Sep 28, 2017 | child-lead, deschooling the adults, meeting needs, respecting boundaries
This week my kids are participating in a children’s market and they are so excited. This children’s market idea was initiated by Meaghan Jackson through the Burlington-Hamilton Unschoolers and has grown to include the entire local homeschooling community. Children...
by Erin | Sep 15, 2017 | advocacy, anxiety, empathetic response, feelings, power dynamics, safe spaces, self-awareness, self-connection, traditional school
Last night was a beautiful summer evening, so my family and I stayed out enjoying it well after dark. I had the baby and she wanted to look at the blinking lights in the shop windows. Those bright blinking lights are so appealing to babies. There were some loud people...
by Erin | Aug 22, 2017 | acceptance, advocacy, child-lead, feelings, meeting needs, safe spaces, self-connection, trust, youth empowerment
For the past two weeks, I have been spending more time at Learning in the Woods and I have had a unique opportunity to observe more than engage with the children. I found myself thinking, what is it that kids like about Learning in the Woods. Here is what I...
by Erin | Aug 14, 2017 | child-lead, connection, empathetic response, feelings, meeting needs, safe spaces, trust
The first day of camp can be intense for parents, kids, and facilitators. On the first day of camp, more than any other day, facilitators have to be prepared to just go with the flow and slow the pace so they can effectively create a safe space for kids. Ultimately,...
by Erin | Aug 4, 2017 | acceptance, feelings, respecting boundaries, safe spaces, self-awareness, self-connection, trust
Yesterday I felt so insecure. One of the great gifts of trying to do something outside of the “norm” is that there are so many opportunities for me to be humbled. Yesterday I had a big humble. I got to see how I fail and how I struggle. It’s a huge...
by Erin | Apr 5, 2017 | labels, meeting needs, traditional school
A friend asked me recently if I had always planned to homeschool. I explained that no, I hadn’t, but after attending my first local non-secular homeschool picnic (THN for those of you in Hamilton and Burlington Ontario), I knew that we needed to give it a try. As a...
by Erin | Feb 15, 2017 | advocacy, deschooling the adults, trust
Ha!…said no unschooler ever. But if that title grabbed your interest, I suspect you might be new to unschooling and perhaps you will find my list to be helpful. Or perhaps you have been unschooling for a while, scoffed at this title, and clicked on it for that...
by Erin | Feb 4, 2017 | child-lead
From the Author: I’m not sure when I discovered Self-Directed Education, but I do know that it has formed the foundation of my views on education and child development. I find it to be a continuum of many of the respectful parenting/child-care approaches I have been...
by Erin | Feb 4, 2017 | advocacy, labels
I’ve never had a blog before starting We Learn Naturally, so I’m learning as I go how they work. While looking for a past blog post, I noticed that my blog post Labels had over 500 hits! Woah. When did that happen? How did that happen? So I decided to...
by Erin | Feb 1, 2017 | child-lead, nature connection
Ever since our guest lecturer, Peter Gray, a lot of people have been interested in Learning in the Woods, The Barn School, Little Seeds, and the Burlington-Hamilton Unschoolers. With all these names, it gets a little confusing so I thought I would try to explain how...
