Look For The Helpers: Mothering The Mother

July 8, 2020

Look For The Helpers-Mothering The Mother with Amanda Curmi

Amanda is a mother of 3 beams of energy and resides on the east coast of Australia. They are an unschooling family moving through life as gently and consciously as they can together. She loves supporting and diving deep into a gentle approach towards education and sees herself as a facilitator rather than a teacher, aiming to hold space for the children to lead the way and develop through self – directed learning. The process of choosing to home educate has also sparked a journey of deep self exploration, healing and tapping into her own creative power.

Amanda also teaches yoga and meditation. She is also currently studying to become a Yoga therapist and Ayurvedic Post- Partum doula. She is passionate about creating community for women and mothers and believes the way we parent can create deep emotional and social change. Amanda loves spending loads of time in nature with her family, creating, studying, cooking and gardening, practicing yoga and considers herself to forever be a student in this lifetime.

The Power of Self Care in Home Education

In the space of home education there is a side effect that is not often spoken of. Parents that put so much time and effort into their children to prove they are enough. Without school, we feel 100% responsible for what we provide our child not only as a parent but as their educator too. We want to make sure we are providing ‘enough’ opportunity, are a good ‘enough’ parent, and are setting the right example for the community. That is a lot to place on our shoulders. The needs and self care of the parent, in particular the mother, becomes the last need that is attended to. Burn out is a concern.

I asked Amanda Curmi to be the helper for this episode in the series because I wanted to talk about the power of self care from a holistic perspective and how that ties into the family’s learning journey. As an unschooling mother, yoga teacher and yoga therapist, and soon to be Ayurvedic Doula, I knew Amanda would have fantastic insight.

Mothering The Mother in Life and Unschooling

Amanda and I talk about the importance of Mothering the Mother. She explains clearly why caring for the mother is also caring for the child. It is a connection to ourselves that has been lost or stolen along the way. Listen in to hear us delve into;

The tools that are an important part of this practice
How yoga and meditation became an important tool to helping her deal with her anxiety and depression
Guiding beliefs around learning and parenting
A day in the life of their unschooling family
Their unschooling foundations- talking and communication, being in community, nature and time outside
Encouraging the creative process
The practice of yoga
What it means to Call A RESET in their family
The power of focusing her energy on what she wants the collective future to look like

Amanda leaves us with fantastic advice and practical tools on trying to balance life and learning from home. It’s about planting the seeds that you want to grow later in your life.