From the inside

From the outside, unschooling may look like no chores, no bedtimes, no education, no discipline, no structure, no limits, etc. But from the inside, it's about learning, relationships, living with real parameters, partnership, navigating turbulence, making connections, joy, curiosity, focus, enthusiasm, options, following trails, fun, growing understanding, opening doors...

—Debbie Regan

SandraDodd.com/priorities
photo by Ve Lacerda

Support and accept

I really can't imagine villifying anything in their lives that they might find very exciting. Well, I can imagine it, so I guess that's why I don't do it. —Jenny Cyphers

SandraDodd.com/negativity
photo by Susanna Waters

Yourself and the world

People don't become really good at unschooling without changing the way they see themselves and the world.

To hear it: SandraDodd.com/radio
To read it: Living Unschooling
If you have the book Natural Born Learners, turn to page 199 for a longer version.
photo: Erika Ellis

All those people

To my children, I'm someone who's getting old who could hold them back (in a way). To me, though, I have all the stages my children have ever been. I still remember the babies, toddlers, "big kids" who could put their own shoes on. Big kids who learned to read and visited places without me, and big kids who went to jobs, and moved away.

The house is empty, but my heart is full of all those people.


A Series of Selves
photo by Isabelle Lent

Improving the flow

One of the nicest thing I do for my husband is to withhold criticism. I could (and used to, when we were younger) say too much, comment too much. Letting things go by lets peace and love flow in.

P.S. It works with children, too.


SandraDodd.com/betterpartner
or the same article in German: Bessere Partner werden
(though the quote is from a discussion)
photo by Sandra Dodd (it's a link)

Advice

If you're going to unschool, do it wholeheartedly and happily. If you're going to unschool, don't do it reluctantly. Don't to it resentfully. (That advice works for just about everything.)

SandraDodd.com/attitude
photo by Murtaza Usman

Once upon a grocery list...

In a past year, Karen James to her son Ethan: I'm going to the store. Do you want anything special? Ethan, after a pause: Yeah. Lettuce. Karen: Lettuce? Ethan: Yeah, lettuce...and other good snack food like that. Karen: Okay.

SandraDodd.com/food
photo by Sandra Dodd, at an allotment garden in West Sussex