by Erin
We’d like to welcome you to the Virtual Kitchen Table. We are Hayley from Taking a Kinder Path, Erin from Ever Learning and Ashley from Ashley as Mama and Storytime Shelves. We’re gathering to have conversations about family life and home education, most specifically unschooling, which is sometimes known as self-directed education or, as we sometimes refer to it, whole life learning, consent-based education or natural learning. We’ll be sharing experiences and ideas, learning as we go through relaxed conversation. We hope you’ll pull a chair up to the table and join us.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
9/15/2022
Email Addresses
1 available
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April 28, 2025
<p>We were joined by <a href="https://booksbybex.com/">Bex Tobin Fine</a>, author of the picture book <a href="https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/you-are-home">You Are Home</a> and thoroughly enjoyed a conversation with her about the many aspects of home. We tapped into how we define home, where we feel at home, considerations within our home educating lives, how we collaborate with our children in relation to home and, woven into all of that, is how we nurture in ourselves and our children that in a very real sense, we are our own home. </p><p><br></p><p><strong>Resources:</strong></p><p> </p><p>Books by Bex</p><p><br></p><p>Virtual Kitchen Table Episode #27: What is Strewing – Being Intentional</p><p><br></p><p>Exploring Unschooling Podcast #189 – Pam Laricchia and Amy Martinez</p><p><br></p><p>Virtual Kitchen Table Episode #37: Nurturing our Well-Being Through Creative Practices </p>
April 14, 2025
<p>Episode 38: What a delight to have Sue Elvis from <a href="https://www.storiesofanunschoolingfamily.com/">Stories of an Unschooling Family</a> and April from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/modern.homeschoolers/">Modern Homeschoolers</a> join again to talk about mathematics and the various and interesting ways that skills and knowledge are developed. This is a good addition to Episode 36: Unschooling Math – What Does Learning Math/s Naturally Look Like? There was more to discuss so here we are!</p><p><br></p><p>If you enjoy these discussions feel free to be in touch for further information about the Virtual Kitchen Table Community. We’d love to welcome you to pull up a chair. </p><p><br></p><p><strong>Resources:</strong></p><p> </p><p><br></p><p>Stories of an Unschooling Family</p><p><br></p><p>Modern Homeschoolers</p><p><br></p><p>Virtual Kitchen Table Episode 27: What is Strewing?</p><p><br></p><p>My Little Poppies – Gameschooling</p><p><br></p><p>Prodigy</p><p><br></p><p>Math Seeds</p><p><br></p><p>Numberphile</p><p><br></p><p>Timing it Right Board Game</p><p><br></p><p>Cool math games </p><p><br></p><p>Free to Learn by Dr. Peter Gray</p><p><br></p><p>Virtual Kitchen Table Community</p>
March 19, 2025
<p>It was so, so interesting to meet with Cyrielle from Unschooling and Thriving to talk about the way creative practices support our well-being. We explored various ideas and understandings of creativity and discussed what it can look like in our own lives as well as in our children’s. We’d love you to join us for a listen! </p><p><br></p><p><strong>We discuss:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Curating and creating themes (with books, sensory kits, etc) </p><p><br></p><p>Cycle awareness </p><p><br></p><p>Recognizing the distinction between making things for our children versus creating for ourselves</p><p><br></p><p>The “bubble of creativity” and the benefit it brings to our entire being (some similarity to “flow” in learning)</p><p><br></p><p>Choosing repetitive and restful activities at times and more challenging projects when feeling more energetic and inspired </p><p><br></p><p>The range of creativity from visual art to things like reading and planning</p><p><br></p><p>That self-care can be deeper than physical grooming and treating ourselves </p><p><br></p><p>Soul care as a deeper “filling of our cup”</p><p><br></p><p>Differentiating between creativity and creative hobbies – beneficial in different ways </p><p><br></p><p>The role of movement and repetition in handiwork </p><p><br></p><p>Self-Determination Theory as it relates to crafting – autonomy, competence and relatedness</p><p><br></p><p>Engaging socially while also engaging with a craft </p><p><br></p><p>A range of hands-on creative activities from gardening to baking to soap-making to Lego building </p><p><br></p><p>Developing intention </p><p><br></p><p>Intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation </p><p><br></p><p>That creative practices are not necessarily as valued as physical exercise in relation to health and well-being </p><p><br></p><p>How the way people style or dress themselves can be a way of creative self-expression </p><p><br></p><p>Creative practice as stress relief and rest from anxiety </p><p><br></p><p>Physical movement during creative thinking</p><p><br></p><p>Breaking down the idea that creativity is separate from organization</p><p><br></p><p>Creativity as part of life – separate from creative hobbies </p><p><br></p><p>Engaging in creative practice without pressure of perfectionism </p><p><br></p><p>Process versus outcome and how the focus is different for different kids and adults </p><p><br></p><p>Kids being inspired to create something but feeling held back by fear or comparison </p><p><br></p><p>Reframing creative expression when we feel judgements of our kids cropping up </p><p><br></p><p>How to prioritize time for creative self-expression as a parent </p><p><br></p><p>Using the word “practice” rather than “habit” </p><p><br></p><p>Shifting our way of thinking of things so that time has been intentionally set aside for creative endeavours</p><p><br></p><p>Thinking about choices versus “shoulds” in the sense that we might choose to leave things that other people might assume need to be done in order to have time for rest and creative self-care </p><p><br></p><p>Creative rest </p><p><br></p><p>That sometimes rest needs to happen before creativity (can be hard to accept if we’re feeling time is scarce)</p><p><br></p><p>Communicating to family members, spouses, etc that we are being intentional about our creative time</p><p><br></p><p>That often our kids enjoy seeing our creativity and downtime and that if we see it’s a time that we feel we are truly needed, we can make the choice to postpone our own activity, but still make note of our own need as well</p><p><br></p><p>That taking time to create is a gift not only to ourself but also to our family</p><p><br></p><p>The difference between creating something freestyle versus following directions</p><p><br></p><p>Having conversations within marriages about expectations of the role we’re in or have chosen (a full-time mother doesn’t necessarily equal a housewife and a breadwinner doesn’t necessarily mean that working outside the home has included having time to be creative)</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Resources:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Unschooling and Thriving (Workshops, Series and Online Community)</p><p><br></p><p>Craft Psychology: How Crafting Promotes Health, Dr. Anne Kirketerp</p><p><br></p><p>Martha Beck website</p><p><br></p><p>Episode 6: The State of Flow in Learning, Virtual Kitchen Table</p><p><br></p><p>Episode 8: Do We Deserve Joy? Unpacking Perspective of Joy in Home Education, Virtual Kitchen Table</p><p><br></p><p>Episode 12: Perspectives on Self-Care – for our children, for ourselves, Virtual Kitchen Table</p><p><br></p><p>John Muir Laws – Nature Stewardship Through Science, Education, and Art</p><p><br></p><p>Virtual Kitchen Table Community</p>
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