(in mud, with toys, with pets, chasing, jumping, costumes, games, instruments...)
photo by Kinsey Norris
photo by Kinsey Norris
photo by Jihong Tang
(I'll be back the three days.)
"Headgear" in very many forms, and unschoolers. | ![]() |
I need a break and will be back May 1, but will leave things for you to look at during that time. Today, from former blog posts, bridges—usually in the image, but a time or three in the text. |
For fun, or for practice, be flexible enough to use items for things other than their "intended purpose." In the 1970s, I was told that it's a sign of intelligence, if a person can creatively use an object well for something it was not designed for. |
If you need an image to assist with creating a quiet moment, to center yourself, to let your thoughts swirl more slowly, and settle quietly, here is the recent full moon in southern New Mexico, in an image by Theresa Larson. |
"It isn't self-sacrifice to work for your team. It's teamwork." |
![]() | Some have written that unschooling made their family life better. In every case I've seen, making a family's life better is exactly what makes unschooling work well. So which comes first? Neither grew wholly in the absence of the other. |
Sometimes deschooling works best when there are surprising (maybe even shocking) surprises, or stark refutations of what the mom has “guaranteed will happen,” or is positive can ONLY happen—that having candy out all the time will make kids throw up, have cavities, get fat. The stories of kids in the presence of the same old bowl of candy asking for vegetables and fruit are important stories to share. |
Choices can’t happen without choices, and choices don’t happen well with a mom hovering around and predicting negative outcomes. Lots of people have reported that their experiences with food, and unschooling, changed everything. Seeing kids learning about food, and making choices about food, made other choices seem to make total sense. |
You can't wait until you understand unschooling to begin. Much of your understanding will come from the changes you see in your child and in your own thinking, and in your relationship with and perception of learning itself. You can't read a touch and then go and unschool for a year and then come back and see what you did wrong; you could be a year in the wrong direction. |
...picking up in the middle of an exchange... It doesn’t seem good for learning, to stop them from doing what seems interesting to them in the moment. If you set your priority on learning and peace, it makes other questions easier. |
![]() | Size, age, volume, cost... Value and priorities, for unschoolers, might begin to surprise you and continue to do so. Don't judge importance too quickly. Learning is everywhere. |
Some who is swinging, looking out the window, fidgeting with a little toy, doodling or drawing, is probably doing some serious thinking. Let them. In the same way that you might be quiet for someone taking a nap, it could be courteous not to interrupt the thoughts you can't see or hear. Being nearby and available in case there's something the other person wants to share might be a good idea, but give thoughts space to flow. |