In the forest of the Adelaide Hills is where you will most likely encounter Celeste and her three wildings (aged 9, 7 and 4). Their family embrace the philosophy of wildschooling, where they live and learn outdoors through free play with likeminded community and from their interactions with the natural world.
SUMMARY
- Celeste's full circle journey of growing up in Adelaide before travelling extensively both interstate and overseas as a young woman, only to return to South Australia to start her family in a place where her heart had always belonged
- Being an intelligent kid who struggled in school due to an undiagnosed learning disability that wasn’t picked up until year 10
- Wishing she could go back in time and pluck herself out of school, bring herself over to her house, now, and learn all the things she wanted to know, that the teachers always told her no
- After initially viewing home education through a Steiner lense, over time her kids showed her that an unschooling approach was more suited to their learning styles and personalities
- "My kids are just not the type of kids that sit around randomly finger knitting at the table or building a lemonade stand out the front - they want to climb trees, throw rocks and play with sticks"
- Celeste defines Wildschooling (term coined by Nicolette Sowder) as having a home education environment that’s deeply rooted in the natural world and shares what this practically looks like for her family
- The benefits of having a nature rich childhood which Celeste has witnessed with her own kids
- The trap of overscheduling - trying to manage their time well but wanting to do all of the things
- The burden of responsibility - the buck stops with us for everything. You can’t palm anything off onto school, it’s all on us as homeschooling parents.
- “I don’t feel like I need a holiday from my life. I’ve tried to build a life that they can be a part of too.”
- Her tips for getting kids outdoors more - having all the gear, being prepared and sticking with it
INSPIRATION
Nicolette Sowder - Wildschooling website
Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn
The Brave Learner - Julie Bogart
Changing our Minds - Naomi Fisher
A Different Way to Learn - Naomi Fisher
Call of the Wild and Free - Ainsley Arment
Consider asking your local library to order in a copy of these books if they don't already have them in their catalogue
Sage Family Podcast
Exploring Unschooling Podcast
Wild and Free Podcast
CONNECT
@freerangejourney Instagram
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This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.
Original Music by Daniel Garrood @garroodcomposer
Listen on Spotify here