Ellie Winicour joins me on the podcast this week! Ellie, her wife Jodi, and 8-year-old Celia have always unschooled, following Celia’s interests and flow. Ellie shares some of her experience embracing pretend play and the deep connection that comes from stepping away from the mainstream adult-child power dynamic. She also shares how she has intentionally created an inclusive environment for Celia and some ideas to help other families do the same. We talk about finding community that supports us and our families and how that can change from season to season.
Ellie’s connection with Celia and the joy of their unschooling lives is inspirational!
Questions for Ellie
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family? What is everybody interested in right now?
I have found the concept of flow to be such a good description of how unschooling feels to me day to day. And when I hear your stories about your days with Celia, that word seems to fit so well. How would you describe the flow of your days?
You’ve shared a bit on the Network about your journey around play and I thought it was really inspiring. Pretend play can be challenging for many parents, and I was hoping you could share a little bit of your process and what you’ve discovered.
You’ve been very intentional about cultivating an inclusive and supportive environment for Celia. What has that looked like through the years?
Finding community can be so valuable on our unschooling journeys, both for our children and ourselves. The Living Joyfully Network has been a great place for us to connect and I’m so grateful that you and another member have come together and started a new group there called Open and Queerious, for LGBTQ+ families. Can you share a bit about how you find community for you and for Celia?
What has surprised you most about how unschooling has unfolded for your family so far?
Things mentioned in the episode
Ellie on Instagram
Childhood Redefined Unschooling Summit
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
“Surface Pressure” song from Encanto
Alok Vaid-Menon on Instagram
Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
Alok’s episode on The Man Enough Podcast, The Urgent Need for Compassion
Esther Perel’s game, Where Should We Begin?
Laverne Cox and bell hooks conversation
Family Acceptance Project booklet
Gender Spectrum website
Jeffrey Marsh on Instagram
Jeffrey Marsh on TikTok
Six-Minute Sex Ed podcast about supporting LGBTQ youth
Transcript
Video
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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 Embracing Beginner’s Mind and we’re exploring it through the lenses of release and explore.
If you’re curious to learn more, click here!
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