photo by Roya Dedeaux
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Unschooling's "educational supplies"
photo by Roya Dedeaux
Friday, June 21, 2024
Connecting and learning
Everywhere we go, we meet women who have loved their Barbies, young babysitting-age girls, grandmas with collector editions, women at the toy store commenting how they still love to get their Barbies out. Barbie-lovers are everywhere! Who knows when this shared interest will help them connect with someone down the road?
Who would have imagined - design, construction, dramatic narrative, social skills, a little bit of history mixed in - it's really a wonderful learning experience!
—Kelly Shultz
photo by Karen James
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Thursday, June 20, 2024
Hale and whole
photo by... someone with Cátia Maciel's camera maybe
(photo sent by Cátia Maciel)
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
...never say "having screentime"
—Virginia Warren
photo by Janine Davies
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Pets
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a stile in England
for humans and dogs
(Officially, humans over and dogs through, though I'm sure young children love going through. This was not farmland.)
Monday, June 17, 2024
Purposes and choices in the moment
I didn't say "live your live with a purpose," though. Not a singular overriding goal that would cause any other outcome to be failure. That's what some people mean when they say "a purpose," but I didn't say "a purpose." It makes a world of difference.
I was talking about individual situations, projects, days, ways to decide. Not about a whole life.
People do that with decisions, too, sometimes. When we talk about making decisions within unschooling discussions, it's not something like "I made the decision to be an unschooler." It's small decisions in the moment, right before each action or response, about what to have for lunch, where and how and why.
photo by Janine Davies, of a stile in England
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Teens can feel crowded
Baby birds have no idea what's outside that nest.
Young children will occasionally find some corner of the house, some closet or a wall surface that was always covered by furniture before and they are not surprised that there are parts of that house they had never seen before. The house is everything.
Teenagers know they are meant to get up and go out. They're not happy about it, sometimes, especially when their house is a haven of love and sweetness and creativity, but their instincts kick in anyway and their perspective changes, very literally, and that nest seems like just a little wad of sticks on one little branch of one of ten thousand trees....
Crowded by their new awarenesses and raging hormones and their relative size (their rooms and beds are getting smaller by the day) and their collections of stuffed animals and action figures and Lego.
Sandra
(January 2000, with one teen and two pre-teens then)
photo of Holly Dodd on her way to a party
This photo was in the Just Add Light folder for many, many years, waiting for a quote or topic it might slightly match.
Good enough.
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Knowledge, real and useful
I personally believe that most knowledge, no matter how trivial or useless to anyone else, is just as important as what most people consider useful knowledge.I responded:
This is dangerously radical thought and I agree with it wholeheartedly.
If one person builds muscle under the direction of a coach using gym equipment, and another builds muscle chopping wood and doing yardwork, which is better? Which muscles are more real? Which muscles are more useful? Which are more moral? What does the person need muscles for? Was the activity engaged in for the purpose of building visible, oilable muscles?
When schools teach to the test and drill kids on "useful" information, what happens inside and outside the school, the teacher, the student, the parent?
(sorry I can't link more directly)
photos by Ester Siroky
Friday, June 14, 2024
Action, patience and observation
Reading does nothing without action. Action does nothing without patience and observation. When you know a little, more of the readings will make sense.
photo by Tessa Onderwater
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Play is the work of childhood
PLAY is the work of childhood. Play IS the work of childhood. Play is THE work of childhood. Play is the WORK of childhood |
by Cathy Koetsier
photo by Janine Davies
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Fairness, in arguments
Twenty-five years ago, my husband said it wasn't fair that we were culturally limited to words, and I could always win with words. If physical ability "counted" he would win, so he was set up to lose. After that I tried not to "beat him up" with words, because he was right—it wasn't fair. When friends of ours got married, and the husband was strong, fast AND very much more verbal, I told him that story, and he appreciated it. He reported back a couple of times early in their marriage that he was about to totally, easily win an argument, and remembered that it wasn't fair, and backed down.
photo by Cally Brown
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Stages and phases
As a new unschooler, I am working toward being less of a "helicopter parent" and more of a watch-from-a-distance parent...Laurie Wolfrum responded:
While moving towards being calmer and more thoughtful is good, you don't have to think of yourself as any certain kind of parent to do so. It is good if something helps you think of how you can be a better parent. However, I would let go of trying to fit into any kind of label and *be* the responsible and thoughtful parent you wish to be for your child.
Children go through many stages and phases, some of which warrant our close presence and others which warrant our respectful distance. Don't let a label coax you into doing something you don't feel good about. Trust your gut and watch your kid for cues.—Laurie Wolfrum
SandraDodd.com/parents
photo by Holly Clark
Gold Coast Always Learning Live, 2014
Monday, June 10, 2024
Don't say everything you think.
photo by Gail Higgins
Sunday, June 9, 2024
See it more and more
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Saturday, June 8, 2024
If mathematics is easy for a person...
I wrote this before Marty got a degree in economics. They were 18 or older before taking any classes, and only needed to pay for the books.
My kids all caught up with formal math in a semester or two of community college. Marty did up to calculus. Kirby only took one class but makes use of math all the time in his work and play, and is good with money and loans and banking and all that practical life stuff.
Holly took three classes, I think. Maybe two. Liked it; it wasn't difficult. There were people in class with her bemoaning the difficulty, and they had been in school for twelve years or more, taking math classes.
That was written in 2014. Their paid employment and their hobbies, since then, have involved some or all of logistics, statistics, financial accounting, coding/programming, inventory and cash handling. What they learned in class was the notation used to communicate mathematical ideas "on paper" in our culture.
Some of their facility might have been inherited genetically from their mathish dad. That's fair, too.
photo by Shawn Smythe Haunschild
Friday, June 7, 2024
Cross-Connections
icy-web photo by Cathy Koetsier
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Learning in quirky ways
![](https://sandradodd.com/albums/c111/SandraDodd/website%20various%20bits/addlight/addlight11/DSC08984.jpg)
I'm completely sure of unschooling because I believe in people's desire and ability to learn wonderful things in quirky ways if they're given the opportunity.
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Wednesday, June 5, 2024
How much and when
—Joyce Fetteroll
photo by Cátia Maciel
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Why be good?
It was a great question. They were good because it made them better people. Not to go to Heaven or to avoid hell. Not to make Jesus happy.
photo by Sandra Dodd
Of course there are Christian unschoolers, too
Monday, June 3, 2024
All directions
Be open to input from all directions.
Be willing to go in different directions, over the years—with your feet, and with your thoughts.
SandraDodd.com/gradualchange
photo by Sandra Dodd, in Winchester
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Be willing to go in different directions, over the years—with your feet, and with your thoughts.
photo by Sandra Dodd, in Winchester
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Sunday, June 2, 2024
Modelling consideration
Being loud and wild and "breaking the rules" seems to be a celebratory stage for some people who are new to unschooling, but it shouldn't be the goal or destination. It's not good for that family, really. It's not good for those who wonder what unschooling is about.
photo by Nicole Kenyon
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Doing very well
Nearly a quote, from SandraDodd.com/empowerment
Dodd family, 2012, Always Learning Live
photo by Trista Teeter
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