Send us a text In this episode, Nicki’s children are talking about homeschooling and unschooling and their next big adventure. We get to hear the perspectives of our young Wildlings living the philosophy. 👉 Ra and Sol Share How they would describe what unschooling and homeschooling is What they love about unschooling Their favourite parts of their weeks being unschooled Why they keep coming back to Forest School when they don’t have to The activities that they participate in so they don’t feel ...
Apr 25, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Send us a text In this episode, we are chatting with our dear friend, homeschooling mum and organiser of the Sunshine Coast branch of a homeschool co-op called Free 2 Learn. We are chatting to her about why she started the branch, what we do at the co-op, benefits of being in a co-op and tips and tricks for those wanting to start their own! We can’t wait for you to hear Amalia Smith. 👉 Amalia shares Her homeschooling journey and how she got out of the system How she would describe her homeschoo...
Apr 18, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking about how and why we try and do adventure days with our children as part of our Unschooling and Wildschooling journeys. 👉 Nicki and Vicci Share What an adventure day looks like Why it is important to commit to an adventure day What their children learn on adventure days The benefits of adventure days Why it helps to dedicate days for adventure Their fave Sunshine Coast adventure day locations What they bring along to the adventure Packing and gear r...
Mar 28, 2022•56 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Send us a text We love a child advocate here at Wildlings and on today's episode, I’m chatting with early years childhood advocate Leah from Leah and the first years. 👉 Leah Shares About Leah and The First Years About the brain and brain development in the early years Why the relationship between teachers and the children and their family is so crucial to building a sense of belonging How exploration is the key is learning and empowerment That independent play is often the goal and what our exp...
Mar 21, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking with Pennie Brownlee, from Dance with Me in the Heart about heavy world content in the context of children’s perspective, a child’s true nature and how the classroom is stifling, the beauty of bare feet and the three most important bonds in a child’s life. 👉 Pennie Shares How to help shield children from the news Why developmentally appropriate content is so important for children The meaning behind Dance with Me in the Heart That children are earth...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting to the passionate Angus Gorrie, from The Outsiders: Play Advocates all about the evolutionary perspective of loose parts and the problematic nature of titling it "risky” and/or “nature play.” 👉 Angus Shares How the floods have affected the camp The story of Outsiders The qualities he has seen develop in the children at Camp Hill How he would describe what Camp Hill looks like to an outsider The problem with social media values in depicting children...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Send us a text If you are listening to this podcast, my assumption is that you have a love of nature. In this episode, I chat to Sandi Schwartz, author of Finding Ecohappiness, all about the healing power of mother nature and the ways in which we can develop a nature habit for our families. 👉 Sandi Shares: About her journey and how she got started in this niche About the Ecohappiness Project How she communicates environmental science to empower people Why nature is so healing What a nature habi...
Feb 28, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Send us a text It is unsurprising that the COVID 19 Pandemic has been the catalyst for change in education. Today I’ll introduce you to another educational changemaker, Peter Phillips, who has taken a vision shared by his co-founders and started a learning revolution in Bali, Indonesia – Open Flow Learning Centre. 👉 Peter Shares His journey that led to starting a progressive educational facility overseas How teaching in Bali differs to Australia About Open Flow How the community and Open Flow c...
Feb 21, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Send us a text In this episode we are talking to Gill Howarth from Born Wise, who ultimately aims to inspire families to revolutionise education from their own backyards and embrace conscious education! 👉 Gill Shares About Born Wise and The Conscious Education Movement How to see education as learning beyond the boundaries of 'school' How to communicate this movement to those who might have a more constructed view What children are learning about the world in their education How we can take som...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Send us a text Imagine a place that recognises children’s need for personal autonomy and emotional safety so that children are re-empowered in the learning process and learn to trust their wild instincts. Well, such a place exists and today I chat with the founder of Wild Song, Britt Laidlaw about the business and Importance of mentoring in our culture & bringing back the village model. 👉 Britt shares How she discovered her niche passion About her business and what she offers Why the villag...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text It’s our 2021 End of Year Wrap Up! This episode is all about the year that was and what a year it was! 👉 Nicki shares Shocking stats and a summary of why we are doing what we are doing! Some successes of this year Our 2022 goals Her plea for help finding a new space to run our our business The good that get us out of bed in the morning How our vision is spreading through the networks How we’ve managed to grow and pandemic proof our business How we connect with the community What ...
Dec 21, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking with the founder of The Kindness Couch, Candice Fraser about nurturing ourselves with holistic self-care and self-compassion so that our children can grow to do the same. Wondering what holistic self-care is and what that can look like in your full life? This is the episode for you. 👉 Candice Shares About the Kindness Couch What inspired her to set off on her own dream of being a coach Her profound view on true self- compassion Her tips for a peacef...
Dec 15, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Send us a text Battle sounds fill the forest, swords clatter and arrows whizz through the air, groans and victorious shouts ring out. Huzzah! It’s not a medieval war you’re witnessing – but children playing with weapons. In today’s episode we talk about this controversial type of rough and tumble play. 👉 Nicki and Vicci Share The six types of Risky Play What 'Rough and Tumble' play is The value of rough play How rough play relates to socialising How we can help communicate safe boundaries The e...
Dec 06, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Send us a text We know that as a society we are living an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and children have never moved as little as they do today. That’s why people like Katy Bowman, author of Move your DNA and now her latest book Grow Wild, are so important in helping us to recognise why we need to move more. Katy joins us today from the US to chat to us about movement and to give us some simple actionable changes that aim to combat our super sedentary culture. 👉 Katy shares Her inspiration ...
Nov 22, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking about the fears people have about starting a nature play business and why we must overcome them. * This episode was created in the context of taking the leap to entrepreneurship, but the advice and lessons may resonate with anyone dealing with fear and insecurity in their life. 👉 Nicki shares Why educators make wonderful entrepreneurs Some secrets about FEAR The criticism and praise complex The two types of feedback How fear can hold us back The dif...
Nov 15, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Send us a text In this episode, we chat about why society makes it so hard to navigate the legislation and why we need to push through it so that we can get more children outdoors and we chat about our own journey in embracing the red tape as an essential part in advocating for children. 👉 Nicki and Vicci discuss The benefits of nature play Risks and resilience Why outdoor learning is essential for developing life skills The cost of keeping children “safe” Some horrible stats that might make yo...
Nov 08, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking about the 4 biggest mistakes we made when we were starting our Forest School business. And some of them were biiiiiig! 👉 Wildlings Founder’s Share The profound initial mistake Nicki made in her transition to a more positive and fulfilling career and life What took them so long! How we can grow from our mistakes The importance of soft skills and interpersonal relationships How releasing the ego builds resilience How big risks (in business, not safety...
Oct 25, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Send us a text A couple of months ago a Facebook post caught my eye, the title of a book called Raising Girls Who Like Themselves. This title, whilst so simple, really tugged at a core want that I have for my children. I grabbed a copy, read it within a day, and thought, I need to get the authors Kasey and Chris on the show so that we can help raise more girls who like themselves. 👉 Kasey and Chris Share Why girls don’t like themselves The 7 pillars that every girl needs if she is to grow up li...
Oct 18, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting about wild schooling and unschooling, or wild unschooling looks like for our families as part of an exciting upcoming project. 👉 Nicki and Vicci Share About Wildschooling and Forest School How they do it! What and how their children are learning How they assess learning and “standardise education” if at all A typical day-in-the-life How they school while working How they afford these lifestyles How they plan for trips How they take care of househol...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with the Kaponay family who have travelled to over 50 countries on 6 continents over 9 years and in doing so learned how to be at home with themselves, at home with their family and at home in the world. 👉 The Kaponay Family Shares The importance of learning together as a family How the freedom and empowerment of children in their family dynamic is critical to them becoming key contributors and full-stakeholders in the life and longevity of the fam...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with Melinda Bito, founder of Eco-Explorers in Melbourne about tips on creating a business around your family and dream life, the best and hardest parts of owning your own nature play business and how communities and nature can help mental health. 👉 Melinda Shares All about Eco-Explorers and what they offer The profound experience that inspired her to start her business? Her strengths and what makes her unique compared to others in the industry The...
Sep 27, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Send us a text Narelle and Jen are two passionate educators who bought the fun and expertise of their own separate businesses, that have been running many years before Bush Kindy and Forest Schools became a thing in Australia, to create Birdwings Forest School located in the magical wilds of the Gold Coast Hinterland. In this episode they share their story and their keen observations of the benefits of adventurous play in the outdoors. 👉 Birdwings' Founders Share About their business and what d...
Sep 20, 2021•49 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Send us a text At Raising Wildlings, we have shared our homeschooling journeys along with countless others, but what does the research say about homeschooling in Australia. Well, homeschooling has more than doubled over the last several years. So what is it that is driving these trends, let’s find out in my discussion today with Dr. Rebecca English from QUT. 👉 Rebecca shares Her background and how she got involved in this movement What some of the main reasons people make the switch to alternat...
Sep 13, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with conservationist, budding ecologist and snake catcher, Gemma Smith, about all things snakes. How to keep yourself and your children safe around snakes, what to do on the very chance you get bitten by a snake, the importance of snakes to our environment and for those who are scared of snakes, some tips on how to work on your fear and not pass it onto your children. 👉 Gemma shares Her story of how she got into snake catching Some of the signs we ...
Sep 06, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Send us a text Imagine a place where it is believed that kids are more capable than we know – so capable that they make rollercoasters and treehouses, from concept through to the full build, using real tools and the secret ingredient, time. What I am describing is the Tinkering School. Today I have the man behind the concept joining me all the way from the US, welcome Gever Tully. 👉 Gever shares What Tinkering School is Why it is so important to give children the opportunity to be trusted The t...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Send us a text In this episode, we’re talking with Kelly Roberts about her Wild Business, Wild Kindy, based in Sydney, New South Wales. This is the first episode in a series where we’re going to focus on Wild Businesses around Australia and the globe. 👉 Kelly shares About her business and what she offers What her inspiration was to start her business Inspiring stories from her programs Her strengths and what makes her unique compared to others in the industry The hardest part of starting a natu...
Aug 23, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 33
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with Mimsy Sadofsky from the democratic Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts about what a self-directed learning school looks like, what children do after attending such a school, how they learn to read in a democratic school and, of course, how the school is run by its children. 👉 Mimsy shares All about Sudbury Valley School The beautiful, mind-blowing philosophy of their school What their teens do after finishing high school The benefits of sel...
Aug 16, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Send us a text Screens are a part of all our lives, for many a little too much. So how do we create a healthy digital culture in our homes with our children? Today I talked to Cat Green, founder of Everyday Empowered, about why we need to be having a whole family approach to technology use in our homes. 👉 Cat Shares About Everyday Empowered Her inspiration to create the Screen Smart Families workshop Surprising insights from the research on children’s technology use The importance of shifting t...
Aug 09, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with Kerry McDonald, author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom, about different models of education around the world, the developmental bell curve of when children read, how Unschooling benefits teenagers and how the school system can harm children. 👉 Guest Details Kerry McDonald is an education policy writer, self-directed learning expert and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educate...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Send us a text In this episode, we’re chatting with Natalia Krysiak, founder of Cities for Play, about making play a priority in the design of our urban spaces and how to make the changes we want to see for our children. 👉 Natalie Shares About Cities For Play, including what she does there and her vision for the future Some shocking statistics linked to the built environment What children have to say about designing cities and the beautiful consistencies between children of different cultures H...
Jul 26, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 29
