What you can see

What someone can see outside in Hawaii won't be the same as in Morocco, or Japan, but luckily this blog gets photos from all over the world—inside houses and out.

I appreciate people's beautiful (or funny, or kid-capturing) photos, and their willingness to share them, for the inspiration of readers who hope to improve their family's peace and learning.

Exotic-themed posts
photo by Stacie Mahoe

Moment, hour, day, lifetime

How you live in the moment affects how you live in the hour, and the day, and the lifetime.

SandraDodd.com/moment
photo by Holly Dodd

Healing and therapeutic

Becoming a calmer and better parent can help a person be a calmer, better person. Unschooling itself can be extremely healing and therapeutic at times.

SandraDodd.com/calm
photo by Laurie Wolfrum

A quiet moment

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. I'm grateful for the use of beautiful captures of things others have seen, saved, and let me share here.

Stillness (with a snow photo)
photo by Theresa Larson

Moonbeams

Some kids are afraid of the dark, but it's probably more likely that they're afraid to be alone in the dark.

Try not to leave them alone—emotionally, or physically.


SandraDodd.com/peace/
photo by Gail Higgins

Joyful, fearless moment

Right now, it's much more important to live in the moment with your kids, absorb information about who they are and what they like, and present options with joy and free of fear, than to focus on what this will look like when they're grown, or next year, or even next week. Fear and worry transmit to them.

It helped me to remind myself when they were choosing lots and lots of sweets or cakes and I was still afraid it would harm them physically (it never did), that a belly ache is far easier to mend than broken trust.

—Jessica Hughes

SandraDodd.com/eating/balance
photo by Tara Joe Farrell
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Look at the moon

I don't look at the moon enough. Sometimes when I do, it amazes me.

Sometimes the moon seems to be the same old moon. Sometimes it doesn't show at all. Sometimes it shows in the daytime.


Perhaps, look at your child more. Sometimes when you do, it might amaze you.

SandraDodd.com/look.html
photo by Gail Higgins

Be the calming comfort

Sometimes life is spooky and frightening. Sometimes children are afraid.

Be the comforting, safe partner. Don't be another source of spooky discomfort.

Practice being braver and calmer so that when life is scary you have enough courage and confidence to share.

SandraDodd.com/nest/
photo by Karen James
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Moonrise

Sometimes it's good to see cause and effect, connections, relationships.

Other times, it might be best to gaze without speaking.

SandraDodd.com/light
photo by Amy Childs
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And behind that...

Think of something. What's on the other side of that? Remember something. What came before that? Imagine something. What could follow? See something. Remember there is more than you can see.

The words are new, but this is a cousin:
Perspective: Looking back, looking around

photo by Caren Knox, who described it as
"La bella luna, flirting from behind our tree"
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Here and there

Here and there can be in the same place, when we combine them in the same thought, or image. Connect past and future, near and far, personal and universal.

Frolic in your mind.

SandraDodd.com/awareness
eclipse photo by Karen James

Big moon

People read this at different times and places on five or six continents. We can all see the same moon, though!

Things are different in every family, but we can still move toward the same principles, and peace, and light.

Light on light
photo by Jo Isaac, Victoria, Austraila

Clear and free

There is quiet beauty somewhere near you. If it's hard to find, close your eyes and imagine some. Look at art, listen to music. Breathe a little more deeply, a little more slowly, and you'll be better for yourself and for those around you.

SandraDodd.com/breathing
photo by Irene Adams
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Dreams

Peaceful sleep and sweet dreams can come from gentle parenting.

SandraDodd.com/peace
photo by Holly Dodd, of Albuquerque, from a high point in a neighboring town

Patient and kind

Being patient and kind makes you a person who is patient and kind.

The quote's not from here, but this might help: Parental Authority
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a picture in a charity shop in Surrey

Fascinating

"One dark spooky night not so long ago, under a full moon and while the wind howled....my 5-year-old developed a fascination for monsters."

—Amy Kagey

Monster Mania
and one monster leads to another...
photo by Colleen Prieto

Joy in the sky

Remember that every moment is precious.

You do indeed have choices.

You can take joy in the sky as easily as you can be irritated about the ground.

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Paraphrased (re-punctuated) from page 193 (or 223) of The Big Book of Unschooling
photo by Sandra Dodd
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A better environment for learning

(About online discussions of unschooling:)

Pointing out the words people use is never a waste of time.

Showing people that they have expressed their thoughts in writing in words of their own choosing and posted them is often THE BEST, the most effective way, of moving them from the plateau of *thinking* they get it, because they can recite back the answers, and really, truly, honestly getting it in a way that creates a better environment for learning and being.

Mindful of Words
photo by Sandra Dodd

Old moon, new moon

That's last week's moon, as the sun was coming up, in our back yard. The same moon might've been in your back yard, but framed differently. Now, though, it's the dark of the moon, so this moon is old. Only they call the dark days "the new moon"!

It's really the same old moon.

Many things that are "the same old" whatever to you are new to your child. Or between spouses or friends, sometimes something one knows well might be interesting to the other. Maybe it wasn't, years ago, but it might be now.

Families with babies and toddlers sometimes find little time to gaze at the moon, but as children get older please remember that old things are always new to someone.

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The photo above is by Sandra Dodd. The one below was taken by Rick Sanders, an unschooling dad and a professional photographer, during the eclipse on December 21, 2010.



© Richard Sanders, Sanders Photographics, Inc.; used by permission

Getting to Peace

There is a solidness in being in the moment, and in being at peace.



This moon and the note below are from last winter. Kirby was twenty-three, and the gate was built after he moved away from home.

When I saw Kirby in September even though it was a very busy several days, there were a few moments when I stood touching him or held his hand, or leaned on him, and felt how strong and grown he is. I smelled his hair and loved him, even though he's not a little boy anymore. I was at peace with my son. We got to that peaceful place by not screwing it up. We got there with love.

Peace, and Whether I Exist
photo by Sandra Dodd