 | Collections can take space to store. Games, post cards, dolls, musical instruments, puppets, scarves... Online, ideas and images can be collected and shared more easily. Following an interest can last a few minutes, a week, or many years. |
 |
| If by "change the world" a person means "make the world better," then step #1 must be to decide right then not to make the world worse. |  |
The parents should be facilitators of natural learning, providing new and interesting things for their kids to experience, being supportive of their children's interests, providing them materials and experiences with music, food, art, materials...
It's a lot of DOING, and being, and learning, for years and years.
 |
| I am so certain that learning comes from experiences and touching, hearing, seeing, smelling and tasting that in light of natural learning, books seem flat and dry. |  |
| [In 2009...] When Holly and I got back from having seen Lady in the Water, I told Kirby and Marty "It's a fairy tale about fairy tales. It's a movie about movies." I guess that idea was still in my head when I wrote "This is art about art. These are cartoons about cartoons" (about a Strongbad cartoon called "Japanese Cartoon"). |  |
 | If beginners don't go through a phase in which they REALLY focus on seeing learning outside of academic formalities, they will not be able to see around academics. |
"There's more to unschooling than just not doing school. To make it flourish we need to look at ourselves, our relationship, the way we look at the world in a new way to clear out the thinking that's holding us back." —Joyce Fetteroll |  |
 | Being a good unschooling parent involves being a good person, a good parent. Unschooling can't work unless the parent is there, whole and attentive and not screwing it up. |
| "If I could go back in time, I'd tell myself to calm down and worry less, not pander to anyone else's ideals and I'd trust my kid alot more." —Lea Tapp |  |
 | More people talk about peace than think about it. Many people are full of peaceful platitudes, and fury that others aren't "peaceful" to their specifications or fantasies. |
| Rejoice when your child surpasses you in skill, knowledge or wisdom. |  |
 | Be open to seeing what you see, out the window. Be open to finding what you find, out the door. |
 | What's "same old" to you will be different or new to visitors and children. Something you see all the time might be worth a closer look. |
| "Just right" and "just now" are things you should pay attention to. |  |
 | Whether in person or at a distance, online, it can be helpful to know other unschooling families. Seeing how others handle everyday or unusual situations, how they amuse themselves and comfort one another, can make it easier to understand and relax. |
| Time is fast, time is slow. A moment can seem like an hour, or a day can pass in a blink. Joy can make time flow smoothly. Make the best of most of your moments. |  |
| Commentary on it being bad advice for a stranger to say "follow your heart": Making a "feeling" decision can not only bring down the family and bring down the child's opportunities, but it doesn't help the parent to lay out their own wounds to dry. Logic is good. So if a parent knows that she wants to be kinder, gentler, more positive, more nurturing, there are things that she can do—little changes she can make and decisions she can make that lead her toward that. And "follow your heart" is not a good one. |  |
| Where some parents might brush off the very idea of pursuing a certain interest, unschooling parents will really try to find ways to support it, even if we can't jump in full-on right away. —Pam Sorooshian |  |
 |
 |
 | Being the sort of parent you wish you had had, and providing an environment you would like to have had as a child, is probably the easiest and most direct way to move toward being a good unschooler. |
| Trust and faith are the most powerful tools parents of teens have. Too many parents squander those trying to control toddlers and young children. |  |
 | Even the nicest of words can be ruined if they're spoken in a condescending, treacly way. It's not bad for infants, and it's great for French poodles. It's that talking-to-a-French-poodle voice, and the thoughts that go with it, that should be avoided when parents are talking to their children. |
