photo by Nicole Kenyon
Sunday, June 26, 2022
Clean and clear
photo by Nicole Kenyon
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Safe, busy and happy
Be with your kids and make sure their lives are safe and busy and happy.
photo by Cátia Maciel
Friday, June 24, 2022
Doors
We are here now. We have been other places in the past. We will be in surprising places in the future. |
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Thursday, June 23, 2022
Freedom and approval
photo by Cátia Maciel
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Be with your child

Jenny Cyphers wrote, of a parent getting up and going to do something with or for a child:
It feels infinitely better for my spirit when I do that too. It's easy to get caught up in one's own self thought. If I let a day go by, or hours, in that mode, at the end of the day, I find myself thinking that I should've, would've, could've, and once again, I'm in that mode. To just go and be with my kids as soon as I recognize that mindset, I avoid all the guilty afterthoughts of what I should have done better. So, I not only avoid the guilt complex, I get to relive all the fun and wonderful moments that I intentionally sought after.
It seems that unschooling, for me, is a compilation of all those moments of being with my kids instead of doing something else. It's fun to go out of your way to do cool things with your kids and seek out opportunities, but the real stuff seems to happen in those moments that could just go by within each and every day.
—Jenny Cyphers
photo by Sandra Dodd, at Alex Polikowsky's farm
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Parenting reflects back
For me, it seems like a gift to me and my mom both, if I can do better than she did. She would have liked to have done better, too, so I can do it for her.
I get some healing benefit either way.
photo by Ester Siroky
Monday, June 20, 2022
The sun will be there
Sometimes a sunrise or a sunset is beautiful, but why? The symbolism varies. The colors might be different, and the effect won't be the same on different individuals, but it is the same old sun.
Let it soothe you and give you hope, when you happen to see those changes of colors and light as the sun appears, or as your part of the world starts to pass into darkness, just until morning. Take a breath and be grateful. Be grateful for the breath, for the gratitude, for being.
photo by Theresa Larson
Sunday, June 19, 2022
On-the-job learning
Life. People can live lives, even little kids live lives, without preparation, learning on the job, as they go. They can learn while doing real things with real happiness and real success.
SandraDodd.com/connections/cocktail
photo by Sandra Dodd
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photo by Sandra Dodd
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Saturday, June 18, 2022
Being nicer
The further I got from cynicism and pessimism, the more they jumped out at me when I heard them.
It's easy to be mean.
It's harder to be nice.
photo by Keith Dodd
Friday, June 17, 2022
Our touchstone was learning.
Peace and fun and learning, in various permutations, got us a long way.
photo by Colleen Prieto
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Slowly and sweetly
photo by Karen James
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Be a soft place
photo by Sandra Dodd
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Patient and loving
Radical unschooling works the same way for every child. Pay attention to what he's interested in. Don't force things. Find interesting items and situations, be patient and loving, and learning will happen. The more it happens, the more it will continue to happen.
photo by Karen James
Something looks like this:
mystery,
structures,
water
Monday, June 13, 2022
Points for your team
Points can be gained for your partnership, by what you do today, and the way you do it, and the thoughts you have while your child is so near. Contribute to the bank of good memories. Be present, and good.
photo by Roya Dedeaux
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Momentum
Food, clothes, the car, beds, baths, hair, shoes, over and over and over?
Try to think of each time as just *this* time. Be kind, generous, and sweet, knowing that you are making up for some other moment when you were maybe cranky or distracted.
photo by Sandra Dodd, a carousel in Minnesota
Saturday, June 11, 2022
Choices, priorities and locations
Can you jump on the bed?
Depends whose bed, which bed, where, when. Is someone sleeping? Is it an antique? Who owns this bed?
(original, in a discussion on facebook)
photo by some realtor, once,
in a house that's now Holly Dodd's
Something looks like this:
architecture,
door,
furniture
Friday, June 10, 2022
Discover and do and be
If by "limits" people mean "safe boundaries," sure! If by "limits" people mean "someone to watch and care," absolutely! But what people usually mean by "limits" is parents who say "no / don't / stop / forget it / when you're older."
When unschoolers discuss limits they're often discussing arbitrary limits, trumped up to make the parents feel good, or used as magical talismans to guarantee that their children will be creative, healthy and safe. What creates much more magic is to help children discover and do and be.
photo by Brittany Lee Moffatt
Thursday, June 9, 2022
Small changes
Each person knows when she's happier and when she wishes things were a little better. If small changes of attitude can make more happy moments than before, that benefits everyone involved.
photo by Roya Dedeaux
Something looks like this:
frame,
playground,
siblings
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Learn to see everything!
"How will they learn everything they need to know?"
Do the best of the high school graduates know everything they need to know? No, and at some point, ideally, they start learning on their own. Some fail to get to that point, though. Unschooled kids have a head start. They know how to find what they need to know, and they have not been trained to ignore things that won't be on the test.
When parents see how and what their children are actually learning instead of just scanning for the half dozen school-things, unschooling will make sense to the parents. If you wait for school to congeal from a busy life, you'll keep being disappointed. If you learn to see everything instead of just school things, unschooling will start working for you. When you see it you will believe it.
SandraDodd.com/seeingit
photo by Ashlee Junker
When parents see how and what their children are actually learning instead of just scanning for the half dozen school-things, unschooling will make sense to the parents. If you wait for school to congeal from a busy life, you'll keep being disappointed. If you learn to see everything instead of just school things, unschooling will start working for you. When you see it you will believe it.
photo by Ashlee Junker
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
*Be* with your children
Rippy wrote:
I learn every day how to have a better partnership with my children and spouse, how to connect, inspire, trust and help. And now that I have learned how to read without my emotions interpreting the emails for me, the message is consistently the same - be loving, gentle and sweet with your children, *be* with your children, live joyfully.
photo by Rippy Dusseldorp
Monday, June 6, 2022
Lifelong learning from TV and video
Calling something crap has never given anyone joy, but Bob the Builder has.
photo by Meredith Dew
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Love, overflowing
Attachment parenting, then unschooling, showed me that I'm a better person than I ever believed. I'm capable of compassion I didn't know existed. I have a sense of humour that isn't belittling or unkind, but can bring relief to uncomfortable situations. I have so much love for Doug and Ethan, that it has begun to overflow and fill my own cup. My world is hopeful, even in difficult times. I still struggle a fair amount with inner critics, but I'm learning. And, I've learned, I love learning.
—Karen James
photo by Karen James
Saturday, June 4, 2022
Warmth
photo by Amber Ivey
Friday, June 3, 2022
Life as Show-and-Tell
People with collections have collections of stories. Objects have origins, and connections. If you ask people about their things, they will tell you stories about themselves.
Most people think of "exploring" as going to new places, but exploring ideas, music, foods, games and each other's experiences and stories, within a family or group of friends, creates an environment of learning.
The first paragraph is new today.
The second paragraph is here.
photo by Sandra Dodd
The second paragraph is here.
photo by Sandra Dodd
Something looks like this:
collection,
container,
figures
Thursday, June 2, 2022
Subtle wonders
From playing, daydreaming, looking at images, or thinking about how new things feel or smell, children live lives of learning. Sometimes we might catch a glimpse, but they're not doing it for us.
photo by Jihong Tang
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Small, simple steps
SandraDodd.com/change/ (Thoughts on Changing)Those three pages are an impressive collection of the powerful difference a deep understanding of unschooling, and its practice in a home, can make to parents as individuals.
SandraDodd.com/change.html (How Unschooling Changes People)
SandraDodd.com/gettingit (Unschooling: Getting It)
photo by Cátia Maciel
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