photo by Lisa Kae
Friday, November 29, 2019
Artistry with color and food
photo by Lisa Kae
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Uplift
When you look up, literally or figuratively, life is better than when you're stuck looking down. The air, the light, the expansive sky, are not down under your feet. Look way up, and smile. | ![]() |
photo by Megan Oriah
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Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Kids' stuff, and sunrise
At the age of eleven, Holly has had very little exposure to the idea of what is kids' stuff and what is not, and so her television and movie tastes are personal and calm. She will watch Teletubbies on the same day she might watch Stand By Me or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She likes music, she understands The Green Mile, and she's analytical about the messages various PBS children's shows intend to present, about school or self esteem or history or math. It's fun for me to watch her watch TV.

Seventeen years after that was written...
We have a toddler watching Teletubbies at our house sometimes now. Holly saw a sunrise that reminded her of the intro to that program, and sent it to me for Just Add Light and Stir.
How Unschooled Kids Watch TV
photo by Holly Dodd, November 2019

Seventeen years after that was written...
We have a toddler watching Teletubbies at our house sometimes now. Holly saw a sunrise that reminded her of the intro to that program, and sent it to me for Just Add Light and Stir.
How Unschooled Kids Watch TV
photo by Holly Dodd, November 2019
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Who thinks what?
The parents need to be truly interested in their children as people, not just as symbols or irritants or mistakes or property. They need to care more what their children think than what other adults think, and that is very rare in the world.
I'm glad she saved it.
photo by Elise Lauterbach
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Monday, November 25, 2019
Tangents and connections
How many ways can you categorize a scene or a situation? Here is a photo of a bridge.

I see geography, weather, water, engineering, technology, materials, transportation, history, finance, artistry, reflection, photography, generosity, audience, storage, reference, stored in fleeting pixels.
Play with your ability to see things more than one way. Enjoy hopping from one connection to another.
Connections
photo by Karen James

I see geography, weather, water, engineering, technology, materials, transportation, history, finance, artistry, reflection, photography, generosity, audience, storage, reference, stored in fleeting pixels.
Play with your ability to see things more than one way. Enjoy hopping from one connection to another.
photo by Karen James
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Think it up
![]() | Think of something that could make a child's life better. Act on that thought. |
photo by Sarah S.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Supporting the soloist
What is your relationship with your child? The boss? The friend? VARIES depending on project—sometimes I'm the coach or the lead. Sometimes I'm not.
Sometimes I'm a stagehand. Sometimes I'm the soloist. Sometimes my child is the soloist.
What happens with partners is that when one is the soloist, the others still sing backup, or sit in the audience supportively, and meet them at the stage door, figuratively or literally.
Some thoughts about partnerships
photo by Roya Dedeaux
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Sometimes I'm a stagehand. Sometimes I'm the soloist. Sometimes my child is the soloist.
What happens with partners is that when one is the soloist, the others still sing backup, or sit in the audience supportively, and meet them at the stage door, figuratively or literally.
photo by Roya Dedeaux
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Thursday, November 21, 2019
The cool thing is...
![]() | The cool thing about partners is, if they win you win. |
photo by Tessa Onderwater
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Whole people, with lives unfolding

I see my children as whole people whose lives are unfolding now. They may have memories as vivid as mine. What I do and say now will be part of their lives after I’m dead. And do I want to be the wicked witch? Do I want to be a stupid character that they grow up and live in reaction to and avoidance of? And so if I see them as whole, then I see that as they grow bigger, I grow smaller in their universe.
photo by Elise Lauterbach
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Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Same sun
![]() | The sun I see today will be the same sun you all see. In Maharashtra, in East Sussex, in New Mexico, the horizon is different but the sun is the same. |
photo by Pushpa Ramachandran
Monday, November 18, 2019
The way to be
The way to be an unschooler is to change the way you see and think, so that you can change the way you act and react. | ![]() |
problems with unschooling lists
auto-generated word cloud with words from some posts here
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Building the foundation

Caren Knox wrote:
In addition to this time being short, and precious, you are building the foundation of natural learning in your home. Learning flows when needs are met, connections are strong, and kids can absolutely trust their parents, and know their parents are there for them. Some of the core values of natural learning are trust, support, joy, and freedom. You are putting up scaffolding for years and years of learning by the choices you make now.
—Caren Knox
photo by Gail Higgins
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Pressure-proof
![]() | Give your kids so much love and self-confidence that peer pressure will mean nothing to them. They will be pressure-proof. |
Detox
photo by Holly Blossom
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Intense learning
I was just telling a young (22) friend the other day that my kids were always the most exhausted not after a day of physical activity, but after a day of intense learning. If they saw things they had never seen, got to do something they’d never done, met new people and played and talked, they slept like rocks. But those days might not have looked like something to write a transcript about.
Sometimes the most intense learning of all looks like play. And that is central to what makes unschooling work.

Chat with Sandra Dodd on Mommy Chats, 4/25/07
photo by Kinsey Norris
Sometimes the most intense learning of all looks like play. And that is central to what makes unschooling work.

Chat with Sandra Dodd on Mommy Chats, 4/25/07
photo by Kinsey Norris
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Learning and peace
Peace and calm help learning. Stress and pressure never help learning. If you set your priority on learning and peace, it makes other questions easier. |
photo by Sandra Dodd
Monday, November 11, 2019
Information to consider

I don't care if people disagree with me. I wouldn't want anyone to agree with me blindly, nor disagree blindly.
Nothing personal to me—I just want to present information for people to consider.
That was written in the mid 1990s, in an online workshop
about detoxing oneself from schoolishness.
It is preserved here: SandraDodd.com/detox
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Sunday, November 10, 2019
Learning everything
![]() | If you think of knitting as “good for learning math” it isn’t good for knitting. 🙂 EVERYthing is good for learning everything. |
photo by Ida Maria Stenild Coltau
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Compare and appreciate
photo by Sarah Dickinson
Friday, November 8, 2019
Try, discuss, explore
photo by Sandra Dodd
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Real, actual unschooling

I don’t mind “radical.” I just hear it as “real” or “actual.”
Radical Unschooling is...
photo by Cass Kotrba
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Your move
a discussion ensued.
photo by Vicki Watkins
Something looks like this:
reflection,
sun,
toys,
water,
waterfall
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Value, form and substance
My response to this (years ago):
Deschooling only works when it works. Doing nothing schoolish isn't the same as actively recovering from school. Kids will get over school gradually, but there needs to be an active unschooling life taking its place as they recover. Parents get over schooling MUCH more gradually, as they were in school more and they have parental fears and responsibilities and pressures from others. So it takes more work and more time for parents to see the value of and to recognize the form and substance of natural learning.

Unschooling - some questions (2003)
photo by Ester Siroky
We are going into our third year of "homeschooling." Our first year consisted of complete deschooling. The next year I fell victim to mother panic modeIf I said "I went through a year of demagnetization, and the next year all kinds of metal stuck to me," you might think I hadn't really demagnetized!
Deschooling only works when it works. Doing nothing schoolish isn't the same as actively recovering from school. Kids will get over school gradually, but there needs to be an active unschooling life taking its place as they recover. Parents get over schooling MUCH more gradually, as they were in school more and they have parental fears and responsibilities and pressures from others. So it takes more work and more time for parents to see the value of and to recognize the form and substance of natural learning.

photo by Ester Siroky
Monday, November 4, 2019
A small decision

How often do you make a choice? How often do you think "I have no choice"? How do decisions happen? |
Considering Decisions
photo by Sandra Dodd
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Growing newness
Unschooling is a good excuse for parents to do new and interesting things.
Unschooling can make it easier for a parent to feel, and to show, enthusiasm.
When a parent enthusiastically does new and interesting things, there is value even if the child's attention and interests are elsewhere.

Newness and excitement
photo by Karen James
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Unschooling can make it easier for a parent to feel, and to show, enthusiasm.
When a parent enthusiastically does new and interesting things, there is value even if the child's attention and interests are elsewhere.

Newness and excitement
photo by Karen James
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Saturday, November 2, 2019
Sleep it off
Sometimes you need to sleep it off. Being tired can be a sign that there was a whole lot of fun, activity, work, or learning. |
photo by Sandra Dodd
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