In this episode, I’m digging deep into one of the biggest challenges facing homeschooling families today: finding balance with tech and screen time. I explore: What the latest research really says about the impact of screens on our kids (it's not as simple as 'good or bad'). How to create screen-free boundaries that actually stick. How my family fo…

parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

Join myself, Jesse and a our guest Walt on the topic of corporal punishment AKA whopping that ass. Take a journey with us as we discuss how we were punished as children and what we have carried over to our parenting styles. We just might surprise you in this episode! Chime in and pass this one along as we make you think, laugh and maybe cry from yo…

In this episode, I spend some time examining three common perceptions that are unique to unschooling: That unschooling is 'unparenting' That unschooling will create lazy children And that unschooling means you have no rules or structure whatsoever It’s a super interesting discussion that leads us through areas like life rhythms, autonomy and motiva…

Jesse and I welcome his dad, Big J and our friend Walt. We talk about relationships and the joys and headaches they bring. Go to our twitter: Par podcast parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

If you love christmas, do no listen to this episode. Fuck the holidays. Yeah I said it. parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

5faBvRkLsZAOexMp8Iwe parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

Ukraine, We got thoughts. parpodcast.com theparpodcast@gmail.com Twitter - The Par PodcastBy Dex

In this episode, I'm sharing six ways you can overcome any feelings you have about not being 'enough' as a home educating parent. Not smart enough, organised enough, social enough, qualified enough... I wrote a post recently that started scratching at the surface of this. Today, we're digging deep.By Stark Raving Dad

In this episode I'm talking more about something this podcast was literally born from: the idea of children falling behind where they should be. First, I talk about how the world generally views progress in childhood, and why it’s so problematic and broken. And then second, I present a different view of that. A different idea of measurement and ben…

In this episode I'm going to do something that might feel a bit uncomfortable. But if we want to move education forward in any real meaningful way, the kind of thinking I’m about to take you through is incredibly important. I’m going to take some of the main questions that home educators are traditionally asked - some of the main worries people exp…

With so many families making the decision to leave the formal education system and take their own path through life, it also means there are a whole lot of grandparents out there going... Hold on, what’s happening here?! We have a comprehensive, effective school system designed specifically to educate us in all the areas we’ll need to fully prepare…

The definition of education is being taught, and the learning that results from it. A process that happens, for a child, in a classroom. But if you read that a couple of times, does it sound interesting and inspiring? Does it really sound like it’s centered on our children, designed to help them become independent, life-long learners, who know how …

Will your children be sheltered? How will you educate them properly if you're not a qualified teacher? How will they get a good job when they grow up? Everyone who chooses a life without school will be asked these kinds of questions at some point. In this episode, we chat through the nine most common ones a home educating family will hear, with the…

We're back with another question and answer episode, where I take a few of your questions and talk my way through them. I really love working on this episode each month, because your questions always reflect the struggles, the worries, and the hopes and dreams, of so many of us. A big thank you to Amy, Jacqui and Kate for taking the time to send in…

Today, I want to talk about why I believe it’s so important that we - as home educating parents - play the role of coach, and mentor, and guide to our children. I want to take you through the simple, but powerful, framework Kate and I have used to help our children discover, explore, and run with their passions. And I want to talk about some relate…

Happy New Year, everyone! The Life Without School Podcast is BACK. For the very first episode of 2022, I’m taking you through seven things that will help set your family up for the best possible home educating year. These are all things that, through years of experience and reflection, I’ve found contribute the most to balance, personal growth, and…

The global home educating community has grown like crazy in 2021. More families are choosing a life without school than ever before, and it’s never been more important - as we go into the new year - to lift each other up, and encourage, and support, and inspire one another. Which is why, in this very short but heartfelt episode, I want to say thank…

In this episode I want to help you build your de-schooling muscle. The process of taking everything you know about education, wiping your mental slate as clean as possible, and coming at the whole idea of how children learn as fresh as you can. To do that, I want to take you through five commonly held beliefs about education and childhood. Through …

Welcome back to another question and answer episode - where I take some time to dig into things you all want to hear more about it. They might be things you’re personally struggling with, or worried about, or planning for...and I really love having these conversations, because it’s always such a great reminder that we’re not alone on this road. In …

Home educating parents often put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to perform the role of being a teacher, and in this episode I want to talk through why I believe the stress, tension, and feelings of failure that so often come from that are unnecessary. First, we’ll talk through four reasons why I believe it’s a mistake to try and be a teach…

Asking our children to all learn the same things, at the same times, in the same groups, in the same spaces, with only the same ages… …is effectively asking them to become the same as everyone else. It’s asking them to think less about their true selves, and more about what the most accepted version of it might be. It’s asking them to see their uni…

In this episode we're looking at a philosophy that underpins how Kate and I approach life with our kids, their education, and our relationships with them. It's very different to the way formal education is approached, and is based on the power of trust. We’ll talk about the process of letting go of that complete control over a child’s education tha…

In this - the first of many episodes where I'll spend some time answering listener questions - I talk through: 1) How do you respond to people saying ‘life is hard - if you don’t force your child to do things they don’t want to do, how will they be prepared for life’? 2) How on earth do you ever find time for yourself, and your own interests? 3) Ho…

A lot of you have asked for a day-in-the-life style episode, so...here it is! I think there's a stack of important context that should always be shared as part of this kind of conversation, though, so this episode is made up of three parts (if you listen in, *please* make sure you go right through - taking any of this in isolation just...won't be a…

This week I want to talk about what to do when this home education path starts feeling hard, because what we’re doing here isn’t easy. As parents, we’re taking on a huge responsibility by choosing to live a life without school, and there’s not always the support we need, or would like. Either practically, or emotionally. There’s no...set playbook f…

One of the things we often underestimate when we decide to live a life without school - regardless of how excited about it we are - is how our family and friends will respond to it. How we’ll talk to them about it, and answer the questions that they’ll probably have. Because despite the growth and awareness in home education recently, we are still …

In this week’s episode I want to talk about how a good home education lifestyle doesn’t just happen...it needs to be designed. Because it’s one thing to decide that a life without school is the right thing for your family, and the path you’re going to take...but it’s a whole other thing to work out, practically, what your days and weeks will actual…

For this episode I want to dig into two of the biggest misconceptions about home education that I, personally, have experienced over the years that I’ve been an unschooling dad. Despite it being a rapidly growing form of education, especially over the past year or two, homeschooling (or unschooling, hack schooling, home education, world schooling -…

The very, very squiggly story of how we became a home educating family, including: • How we ended up at financial rock-bottom as 30 year olds (with two young children). • How despite that we’ve made it possible to always have at least one of us not working and at home with the children. • How we found the experience of attending three different sch…

In this very first episode of the Life Without School podcast, I'm talking about why it even needs to exist. Why I’m so passionate about shining a light on life paths for children that don’t involve the normal school thing. Why there are millions of children around the world who wake up each day feeling broken, not enough, and believing that the th…

Kwik-E-Pod 043: When Flanders Failed Part 2 is finally live for your enjoyment. Our epic conversation with Waldo Yuen covers the practicality of a Leftorium, the jerkwadness of Homer, the dynamics of brotherhood, the pros and cons of spirituality, the influences of dexterity, and the QA-ness of video game development.…

It's time for Kwik-E-Pod 042: When Flanders Failed Part 1 with returning guest, Waldo Yuen. Waldo and I get excited for the fall tv season by talking about Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Agents of SHIELD, Constantine, and Agent Carter.

Kwik-E-Pod 041: Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington is here with a double-dose of special guests, Kristy Ellington and Sabrina Eldredge of Nerd Friday Show. The ladies sit down with Chris to discuss Gotham, Simpsons make-up, the age of Readers Digest, Harry Potter schools, Washington DC, '90s fashion, Goonies, Jingoism all the way, the moral of the story, …

Kwik-E-Pod 040: Stark Raving Dad is here to kick off SEASON 3 of The Simpsons and the podcast. Joining the show via Skype is musician and actor Goh Nakamura. This week's conversation covers the brand new Kwik-E-Pod theme, Harry Shearer wins an Emmy, Michael Jackson, siblings, Patsy Cline, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Moonwalker, the creative pr…

Season 2 is wrapped up so here's the best way to remember it...with a clip show. Kwik-E-Pod 039: Best Of The Worst is a supercut of B-Roll audio that didn't make the final cut. Conversation snippets that were cut from the final episode. Featuring the voices of some old friends. From Kwik-E-Pod 015: Bart Gets an F from August 2013 is a conversation …

It's the season 2 finale of Kwik-E-Pod and we're watching Blood Feud with Waldemar "Waldo" Yuen. We immediately get Medieval...Sims Medieval that is, before discussing the behemoth of Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman and the New 52, the moral of the story, Legos, motorcycle talk, there will be blood, the body image i…

It's Kwik-E-Pod 037: Three Men And A Comic Book. Returning guest, Masashi Niwano is here to talk about his obsession with Milhouse. Not only do we share our favorite Milhouse Van Houten moments but we get down and dirty with representations of race, the anthropomorphism of Beast's furniture, memories of comic book stores, the X-Men problem, is Mart…

Kwik-E-Pod 036: War of The Simpsons is here with returning guest, Seng Chen. The conversation starts immediately with Homestar Runner, Elysium, names and faces, fishing, house parties (minus Kid & Play), the domestication of Seng and Chris, eating all the food, and the moral of the story.

Kwik-E-Pod 035: Lisa's Substitute is here to make your Monday slightly more bearable. Our guest this week is musician and filmmaker, Seng Chen, and we got down and dirty talking about: World Cup Afterthoughts The Art of Seng Elementary School Separate but equal sleeping arrangements Passing Notes Extra Curricular Activities Old School Computers Ban…

Kwik-E-Pod 034: Brush With Greatness is here. Our returning guest this week is Christine Kwon. Join us in discussing clowns, water parks, carny food, Pinochurros, amusement parks, the artist within, on being a tracer, the routine of writing, the family show, health food vs. junk food, and Asians on TV.…

Kwik-E-Pod 033: Old Money is here with our guest, Masashi Niwano. Join the discussion as we talk about World Cup 2014, quoting the Simpsons, Austin-Texas, the geriatric connection, The Honeymooners and Korean soaps, we swap grampa stories, volunteer work, Tim Burton's Batman, video games, wrestling, horror films, American Dad, the moral of the stor…

Kwik-E-Pod is back with Bart's Dog Gets An F. Chris sits down with filmmaker, Christine Kwon to discuss Nice Girls Crew, Fringe and Firefly, South Korea and the World Cup, Kwonzilla vs. Mangy Asian Man, Doogie, pets, Judge Christine, mad about shoe, family meetings, cooking with Chris, more Nice Girls Crew and memories of Eli Wallach.…

Kwik-E-Pod is back with some news that will make you all very frightened and horny. Then Chris talks about the Lego Simpsons house, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Place Beyond The Pines, Now You See Me, Almost Human, and the Oscars.

It's another solo episode in which Chris talks to himself. Chris injects some Futurama into the show by talking about the series finale, crossover comics, and live panels. Then Chris gets on his soapbox and talks about Batman and Bill Finger. Chris wraps it up by talking about another podcast, The Sound and Fury from Angry Asian Man.…

It's Kwik-E-Pod 030: O Brother Where Art Thou? and we invited Christian Cagigal to join us in talking about brotherly love. This trio of weirdos makes conversation about Chris' wardrobe faux pas, Tom Waits = Batman, busdriver love, dancing ghosts, old lady Nikki, McBain, old man Chris rants against movie theaters, the Japanese connection, the ist o…

Let's start 2014 with Kwik-E-Pod 029: Principal Charming. The kids are back with a conversation about Christmas, Starbucks gift cards, too many posters, Nikki jams with a slide whistle, talkin' Tolkein, the Patty and Selma paradox, the introduction of Hans Moleman, beloved Aunt, The Terminator, vandalism, 3 minutes of fart jokes, old racist toys, t…

This is Kwik-E-Pod 028: Homer Vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment and we brought Paul T. Layland out of forced retirement to talk to us about bible times, Phil Hartman, the Coaxial Connection, Woody Allen porn parodies, the moral of the moral, cat talk, the debut and legacy of Troy McClure, orange lemons, the adult channels, format wars, the debut of …

Welcome to Kwik-E-Pod 027: The Way We Was with returning guest, Paul T. Layland. The thrilling threesome shares tales of Batkid, the debut of McBain, high school romance for Nikki’s parents, San Francisco’s Crime Alley, members of the debate team and debate team groupies, how Chris met his wife, feminism wow, meet the burnout guidance counselor, de…