Teresa Hess, unschooling mom of three, joins me again on the podcast this week to explore how her unschooling journey has helped her not only nurture her children but re-parent herself. We talk about Teresa’s spiritual view of unschooling and the upward spiral of connection and love that happens when we see children as whole beings. Teresa also shares her issues with the commonly-used term “boundaries” and how she has created a respectful alternative in her family.

She has found the process of parenthood and unschooling to be deeply impactful and healing and it was so interesting to hear her insights!

Questions for Teresa

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family? What is everybody interested in right now?

When we were organizing this call, you mentioned the idea of self-parenting and how it’s been a part of your journey. I’d love to hear more about that!

For many parents, embracing unschooling comes to unearth a spiritual aspect, which you’ve described as “honoring the light and essence of the individual child.” Can you share how that perspective has unfolded for you?

For me, seeing my children’s inherent wholeness blossom with unschooling awoke in me the seed of understanding that I too am whole and worthy just as I am. Which in turn allowed me to nurture and hold space for my kids even more deeply, round and round, cultivating a positive spiral that is so much more valuable than, “What did you learn today?” I’d love to hear your experience!

You wrote a wonderful blog post, titled “True Boundaries,” that so clearly demonstrates the value of understanding and nurturing ourselves alongside our children on this unschooling journey. So much of this work helps us move beyond parenting in unconscious reaction to our own childhood wounds, doesn’t it?

What is your favourite thing about your unschooling days right now?

Things mentioned in the episode

Submit your question for an upcoming Q&A episode here!

EU186: Sparkle and Zest Unschooling with Teresa Hess

Teresa’s article, True Boundaries

Teresa is on Instagram and Facebook

Teresa’s website, Sparkle and Zest

Transcript

Read the transcript

Video

Watch the YouTube video

The Living Joyfully Network community

The Network is a wonderful online community for parents to connect and engage in candid conversations about living and learning through the lens of unschooling. Our shared goals are to embrace lifelong learning, develop strong and connected relationships with our children, and cultivate a thriving unschooling lifestyle in our families.

This month, our theme is Four Pillars of Unschooling, loosely based on my book, Free to Learn. We’ll be focusing on one pillar each week: redefining learning, following their interests, making choices, and “Why not yes?”

If you’re curious to learn more, click here!

Consider becoming a podcast patron

I deeply appreciate all my patrons. Your generous support helps pay for the hosting and transcription, as well as my time spent creating new episodes each week. It’s instrumental in keeping the growing podcast archive freely available to anyone who’s curious and wants to explore the fascinating world of unschooling. If you’d like to join my community of patrons and scoop up some great rewards along the way, check out the Exploring Unschooling page on Patreon.