Blog
Playtime | Day 112 of my 2023 Journal
Free play is at the center of Peter Gray's thinking, and I agree very much, especially with the “free” element. Play is this funny adult construction: We call it “play” when children interact with the world in their own free way, and we call it “creative space” or whatever when adults do the same. The looking down upon children's activities soaks through so many layers of adult thinking. Most adults find play a waste of time.
Happy Birthday to me | Day 111 of my 2023 Journal
On my birthday, honestly, a few days ago, as I was “falling behind,” I did not have to plan anything. The castle stay is already a party, and there is no way my birthday is more important than my children hanging out with their new friends.
On math and unschooling
Inspired by a walk in Rome with a doctor, mister protege in law
I discussed unschooling with my very well-educated brother-in-law while walking Trastevere, Rome, in the afternoon one spring day. He wondered if a child or young person could understand the consequences of not learning a specific topic. In his case, as a mathematician, he was worried about math.
At the end of the day, this is what most people worry about. One of the ethereal questions for unschoolers is: what about math?
It is t…
The Big Bad Curriculum | Day 110 of my 2023 Journal
Children are fed into the schooling machine, and inside that machine is an agenda, a vast and complex and not very transparent secret agenda called The Curriculum. Everyone working for the machine has to serve The Curriculum.
#12 - From London to a Yurt: A Journey of Unschooling and Self-Discovery with Lucy AitkenRead
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to leave the hustle and bustle of city life and embrace the wild? This episode features an incredible conversation with Lucy AitkenRead, a nomadic adventurer who shares her family's journey from London to off-grid living in New Zealand.
The deschooling onion | Day 109 of my 2023 Journal
As my parents divorced early in my life and hated each other throughout the rest of their time, my little person became a battlefield. They would always look for the other person in me and come after me if they saw an influence they did not like.
Well Behaved | Day 108 of my 2023 Journal
Free children just live their lives and can read a room, take care of others, keep themselves clean and healthy, and create good vibes and a meaningful life for themselves and those around them. It is not behaving. It is living.
The Vikings were here | Day 107 of my 2023 Journal
And as the Vikings left Scandinavia to settle and travel all over, I sometimes feel I never really left my culture. I just built upon old traditions when I became nomadic. Our friends in Catalunia always called us Los Vikingos. Maybe it is not all that wrong.
Co-living with freedom people | Day 106 of my 2023 Journal
We are all freedom people. This makes it all very easy. We are probably all grateful to spend time together fighting off similar demons while living in a large group for a while.
Climbing in Caen of my 2023 Journal
To be challenged into a comfort zone is a very healthy thing. When we do things we would normally not do, we discover new elements of our vulnerability and sometimes new strengths.
Arriving at the Castle-event | Day 105 of my 2023 Journal
The place itself is simple and beautiful, very rural. The landscape of marsh, trees, birds singing, and storks. Green beautiful springtime. The castle is cozy and welcoming. And the people were, for some part, people we had already met, some of them new to us.
I was, in many ways, a strange child | Day 104 of my 2023 Journal
When I met the community of homeschoolers, it was like walking through the closet in the first Narnia book (the darkness and Insecurity of the radical choice) to find myself in a sparking and beautiful social world of what I today call Real People.
The French Alpes - Sometimes van life is just perfect | Day 103 of my 2023 Journal
We ARE willing to go far outside our comfort zone, yet we also want to focus on what matters the most in the given situation.
We realize finding peace is very much about being ready. Ready to be ready.
We realize finding peace is very much about being ready. Ready to be ready.
#11 - The Legacy of John Holt: A Conversation with Pat Farenga about the unschooling movements beginning.
Patrick Farenga is a writer and education activist who worked closely with the late author and teacher John Holt and continues his work today as the president of HoltGWS LLC. After Holt died, Farenga published Growing Without Schooling magazine (GWS) from 1985 until 2001.
Home Sweet Roadtrip | Day 102 of my 2023 Journal
Viareggio was a lovely rest; oh, did we enjoy sleeping in our own beds. We chose this spot because there was some street art at the harbor and some sculptures on the mole.
The privilege of documents | Day 101 of my 2023 Journal
Five years on the roads, and I see the pattern. The marketplaces are worked by the same products and same people; more or less, the landmarks and main evening hangout places worked by the same group, selling the same products, just as the white blankets with sneakers and bags are worked by the same people. People without documents. Good people without options.
One hundred | Day 100 of my 2023 Journal
In the silent chapel, one message came clearly to me: Let peace fall upon you. In my life, it was my grandmother's words, and now God did a replay for me, reminding me of peace. I always pray for clarity, for help to find my way through life, and the message was to let peace enter.
Hope is not an illusion | Day 99 of my 2023 Journal
Hope is not an illusion. Hope lifts us out of what is; hope is how we transcend. Not just spiritually but on all levels of life. When we dare to hope, we lift out of the gravity of what is and move into becoming.
The same boat | Day 98 of my 2023 Journal
It is so easy to be annoyed with other people, and it is a common trap to believe your perspective is proper and that others got it wrong. I sometimes talk with other radical people, and even in these conversations, it is easy to condemn those inside the box. Feeling smarter and better. Let us not forget we all have a journey, and we are all worthy.
Just hanging out | Day 97 of my 2023 Journal
Just hanging out is a great luxury. In the morning, we all did our thing: The teenagers went for a walk and a croissant at the vegan, gluten-free bakery they had found, I did some morning shopping for the family, my husband did his yoga, and the youngest caught up with some sleep.
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Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad
Cancer-surviving psychologist, former single-parent; co-sleeping, yogi, gluten-free, primarily plant-eating; happily married, stay-at-home, organic barefooted hippie and mother of four, living in a bus, knitting teddy bears and learning languages, counseling and enjoying sunsets.
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I advise personally and from the heart, present and releasing. I know the way out of the darkness and the frustrations, the way to your true self, the way you must go to live an amazing life.
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Hi, I'm Jesper Conrad
A proud stay-at-home dad of four. Digital nomad working with online marketing for NGOs. Plant-eating, barefoot yogi. I coach dads to be the best fathers they can be.