photo by Dylan Lewis
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"If strewing seems manipulative, think of Mother Nature. Nature has strewn a whole world out there, full of trees and people and birds and animals and rocks and shells and plants and bugs… We each get particular pieces of what she has to offer, based on where we live and how we live (urban/rural, traveler/homebody, etc.)—and those pieces are sitting right there for everyone to pick through, explore, enjoy, and learn from.
"That is all strewing needs to be. Here's the world, kids—and here's a few things from that world that I think you in particular might like, or a few things that relate to you in some way. Have at it."
Do it, and do it, and quietly do it. | ![]() |
They don’t live to grow up. They’re living in the present. They don’t relate to questions about what they will do later or be when they’re grown. They’re doing and being now. | ![]() |
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![]() | "When we started unschooling, my mom kept saying that she was worried I would "lose myself" in it—that I wouldn't have time for myself. She was very very wrong. I found myself and very very deep meaning to life and a much more clear sense of what's important." —Pam Sorooshian |
Don't live in fear when you can live in joy. | ![]() |
We've used this "someday you will" or "you just don't yet" about all kinds of things, from reading to caring about the opposite sex to foods. Holly doesn't like green chile yet. She figures she will ("When my taste buds die" she jokes), because her brothers didn't used to and now they do. Kirby lately started liking mushrooms. Marty still doesn't like spinach yet, but we haven't branded him "a spinach hater," and I don't think anyone should consider a child "a non-reader," just one who "doesn't read yet." | ![]() |
"I concluded a year or so ago that, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I'd like to come back as a little flame on a birthday candle sometime. It would be a very short cycle, but man, it would be a happy one." —Gina Trujillo |
![]() | "The biggest thing that helped me with young kids was just to slow down." —Jill Parmer |
When you do things, look for the joy and service in them, and your life will be softer and more meaningful. |
![]() | "Just a reminder: your kids are whole people. They're having experiences even when you're not there. They learn with you and without you." —Holly Dodd |
"When learning become the more important idea, teaching just falls away." —Robin Bentley | ![]() |
No matter where a person is, a step up is a step up. Happier is happier. |