photo by Karen James
Monday, September 23, 2024
Carefully-thought-out ideas
photo by Karen James
Thursday, May 9, 2024
The roots of a belief...
From my notes for a 2012 conference presentation on "Why Radical Unschooling?":
So the history of "radical unschooling" came from someone saying "Well we're not that radical," and me saying "well I am."
Radical
radical in surfer lingo has to do with extreme.
Politically, extreme from a grassROOTs movement.
radius
radish
From the roots to the tips
from the roots of hair to the tips
or the roots of a tree to the end of each leaf
or from the roots of a belief to the end of each action.
photo by Sandra Dodd, in Óbidos
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Glorious, serious fun
Can you tell me how it can serve a child if they say spend hours a day watching Scooby-Doo ?Deb Lewis responded:
I asked my son what he thought a person could get from watching cartoons. He said he's learned a lot from watching Loony Toons and especially Daffy Duck. "What?" I asked. "I learned that you really can solve all your problems with dynamite!" 🙂
Don't panic. He was being funny.
But really, maybe hours of Scooby Doo is glorious fun. Fun is serious. Fun is important, especially for kids. Don't underrate fun. People who are not happy as children seldom find easy or lasting happiness as adults.—Deb Lewis
SandraDodd.com/t/cartoons
photo by Sandra Dodd
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Looking and asking and thinking
No one chooses to unschool without questioning. That's the nature of the beast. Parents who aren't going to question things—every thing—are not going to unschool. It just won't happen. The radical unschoolers I know are passionate about questioning and learning more. They don't let things rest. They keep looking and asking and thinking about things. They're voracious learners themselves, so they are excellent models for their children.
Those who choose to "go with the flow" and who accept whatever they are told and who refrain from thinking too much will be modeling for their children too.
photo by Nicole Kenyon
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Sunrise
photo by Monica Molinar
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Paths made of life
Looking back, we can often see the path pretty clearly. But we can't look ahead and know what the path is going to be.
photo by a realtor, on an unschooler's property
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Soothing soothes.
Be sweet; be well.
photo by Amy Milstein
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Stepping away from rules
To a question about how to move from rules to principles and choices:
Gradually, without fanfare, be more positive and more supportive of her desires and requests.
Here is an antidote to your no-speed-limits fear. It's called "The Beautiful Park" by Robyn Coburn. It's about people getting off bicycles to walk. I think it could replace your fearful background with something gentle and peaceful.
Read about why, and what others have seen.
Try it a little.
Don't expect her not to think you're crazy at first; wait a while.
Watch her reaction. Feel your own thoughts. Lay your fears out to dry in the air and sunshine.
photo by Cally Brown
Saturday, June 3, 2023
Power and worth
Marta Venturini quoted me, on Facebook, in June 2011, and I can't find the quote elsewhere, to link to. It might've been on a recording or in a chat that was never published, maybe.
What's most interesting to me is that yesterday's post here was me (in 2009) discouraging someone from a focus on "power" (It's not about power), and the day before that was about things being "worthwhile." (Is it worthwhile?)
Here and there, over the years, I have reminded parents to avoid situations in which a child feels powerless. Life has realities, and we don't always have choices. Parents should avoid casual neglect of providing options for unschooled kids at home. You probably have the power to do that.
photo by Cátia Maciel
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Be careful
Improved is better than failed. Solid and long-lasting is better than painful and disrupted.
Be gentle, be careful, with your thoughts, responses, facial expressions, and touch. Be sweet and soft to your family.
photo by Jo Isaac
Monday, March 20, 2023
One special place
What are walls and fences made of where you are? Some other places, it is very different. How does the air feel and smell when it's cold? What's the first plant that might volunteer to grow in a bare spot? What little animals might you see, and what birds do you hear? What do people throw away that a tourist might pick up and keep? What food is readily available, that everyone knows how to make, and has the ingredients for on hand nearly always?
When you look as far to the east as you can see, what is the view? Turn around and look the other way, too.
Where you are is exotic to most of the rest of the world. Most other people will never see it. Knowing that your plainness is someone else's curiosity can make your life richer.
Sometimes, when you look, listen, taste, feel, smell, close your eyes and rest, remember that you are in one special place.
or Your House as a Museum
photo by Oshan in Sri Lanka
(click for a slightly wider view)
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Peaceful acceptance
If I had magic to make it all easier, I would share it with all of you.
just as Covid lockdowns began in 2020
photo by Rosie Moon
Monday, February 27, 2023
Relative sizes
If you feel that you're turning your back on your entire culture, take a deep breath and note that when you turn your back on school, all that's behind you is a school. What's not school is infinite. What is school is small.
photo by Roya Dedeaux
quote is from page 16, Big Book of Unschooling
Saturday, February 25, 2023
Joyfully detoxing
Okay, not all days will leave us feeling as if we are Julie Andrews spinning around on that mountain top singing "The Sound of Music," but so many of my days leave me with just that feeling.
I WILL NOT GIVE UP THIS KIND OF LIFE. 😊
You know, I spent a good 30 of my 35 years in some type of structured setting, striving to please others and live up to their standards, which I convinced myself were my own. I feel that I will be detoxing from this for the rest of my life, and it's a joyful process. Living outside the box makes me a person at peace, a person people constantly observe as "always so happy." I used to be very good at "blooming where I was planted," which was of course not true happiness, and the strain inevitably showed. I am finally happy on my own terms, and the difference is obvious to me.
photo by Vlad Gurdiga
Also by Paula L, beautiful, but I cannot match a photo to it:
A Day of Wonder
It's sweet and poetic; please read it.
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Accept temporary changes
Try to model for your children an acceptance of change, and an appreciation of the days when things are calm and simple. Model being more careful when such factors as humidity, temperature or temperament come into play.
photo by Vlad Gurdiga
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Compassion, for a minute
Looking for a quote for this post, I found something 11 years old. Part of it was this:
Each day for a year, could you add one minute to the time you spend with a child? Any child. One extra minute. If you can infuse that moment with love or compassion, bonus!
I suppose that would be a minute you could be doing something else, but I doubt it would be something better.
photo by Sarah S.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Bridges and reflections
In this photo, the arches are reflecting and making a round shape. That's always fun. There is also roundness in the tree to the right, and in its reflection in the water. The bank of the river has a rounded edge, and is covered with rounded pebbles.
Others, seeing that, might be thinking of what birds live around there, or other wildlife. If it's someone familiar with the area, they will know where the road goes, maybe who owns the land, and who used to own it before that.
Kids, seeing it, might wonder first "Could we get IN that water?" Wild swimmers (people who like to swim in naturally occurring waters) probably had that thought before any other.
Any scene is many things. The knowledge and perspective of each viewer is different. People spot different things and make their own connections.
photo by Ester Siroky
Friday, October 14, 2022
A better nature
I vividly remember there being a point several years into unschooling when I realized that so many of the things that had taken conscious effort in the beginning, had become second nature for me at some point along the way.
Be conscious of what you're saying and doing. Be more aware of your thoughts. If you act or react in a knee-jerk way that doesn't help relationships with your family, apologize to them and make a different, better choice in that moment.
photo by Sandra Dodd
__
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
A road leading somewhere
Our town is small and we've been to the museums here more than once but we still find new things to do here. A new store opened so we checked it out and talked to the owner. The radio station moved from the residence of the owners to a building downtown and we took a tour. The mom-in-law of my employer got a bunch of fancy chickens and we drove out to see them. She showed Dylan a coffee table book about chickens. She showed us her little sun room where she grows orchids.
There's always something to do, someone to talk to, some road leading somewhere.
photo by Cathy Koetsier
Saturday, July 16, 2022
"N" is for Nicer
Being Nicer
Thank you, Vlad Gurdiga.