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S2E9 | Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning?
Manage episode 487463641 series 3628779
What if we abandoned the question "How do we know they're learning?" and trusted that they are? In this conversation, Cecilie Conrad, Sandra Dodd, and Sue Elvis look closely at the fears that drive many unschooling parents to seek proof of learning—and why those fears may come from old conditioning rather than real concerns.
They explore how learning in an unschooling context doesn’t always look like progress, mastery, or academic benchmarks. Instead, it often appears as play, conversation, curiosity, or even stillness.
The episode also addresses the "big mix-up in the mind of the parent" who must navigate between their children's authentic learning experiences and the official education system's expectations, the pressure parents feel to produce results, the danger of clinging to school-based frameworks, and the importance of stepping back and observing life as the curriculum.
Sandra, Sue and Cecilies invite parents to shift their perspective away from questioning if their children are learning enough, toward cultivating environments rich in trust, conversation, and genuine curiosity.
🗓️ Recorded March 20, 2025. 📍 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Links & Resources
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In season two of The Ladies Fixing the World, host Cecilie Conrad is joined by renowned unschooling advocates Sandra Dodd and Sue Elvis to explore unschooling as a lifestyle.
Chapters
1. S2E9 | Unschooling: How Do We Know They’re Learning? (00:00:00)
2. How Do We Know They're Learning? (00:00:28)
3. The Pressure of Measuring Learning (00:05:56)
4. Behind the Question: School vs. Natural Learning (00:16:10)
5. The Value of Diverse Skills and Talents (00:27:02)
6. Learning Without Curriculum or Testing (00:43:25)
7. The Power of Questions and Conversation (00:59:36)
8. Learning in Their Own Time (01:10:30)
22 episodes
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