To read it: Living Unschooling
If you have the book Natural Born Learners, turn to page 199 for a longer version.
photo by Erika Ellis
The story quoted below is from nine years ago and involves a sixteen-year-old.Today, in 2025, I update it:
Marty is twenty-five now and is getting married in a couple of days.
The story quoted below is from 20 years ago, and involves a sixteen-year-old.
Marty is 36 now, and is moving with his wife and two children to Anchorage, Alaska in six days.
Yesterday was David's birthday and we had guests. I left dishes in the sink when I went to bed. I got up early with the dogs but then went back to bed. When I got up later Dylan had done the dishes. He said "I know you really like to do the dishes mom, so I hope you don't mind, but I just felt like doing them."
Dylan is twelve.
I *know* living life joyfully makes a difference in the way our kids see us and the way they see the little things that make life better.
photo: Young Adam Daniel, by his mom, Julie
Being a good parent, not according to a list in a magazine, or vague memories of what grandparents might have thought or said, but being a good parent in the eyes of one's children, in one's examined soul, is a big thing most parents never even see a glimpse of.
We can go beyond normal.