Seeing and knowing what it is

I think all unschoolers should read as many definitions as they can instead of depending on one definition.

On the other hand, I think that just because there is not a single view, that doesn't mean all views are equal. Just because there is no definitive description of unschooing that doesn't mean everything in the whole world is equally unschooling.

And I don't think there are (as some say) as many different ways to unschool as there are unschooling families. I think there ARE common and shared practices and beliefs among the successful unschooling families.

Definitions of Unschooling

What is Unschooling?

Several Definitions of Unschooling

photo by Christine Milne

Doing well, and doing good

Deb Lewis wrote this. Who is she talking about?

They work together, plan and organize. It might inspire thoughts about the usefulness of cooperation.

They handle tough situations with humor. That might inspire someone to think about the value of a happy and positive attitude.

They help people who need help.
The people who need help ask for it.
These are good things.

—Deb Lewis

SandraDodd.com/t/cartoons
photo by Holly Dodd—"Three Round Things"
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Some of all

School calls a small sliver of the world "all", and we call all of life's learning "some".


SandraDodd.com/quotes
photo by Janine Davies
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Thames and shadow

It was a sunny day, in England, to get a shadow like that.

Shadows prove sunshine.

SandraDodd.com/light
2011 photo by Sandra Dodd, from the Royal Windsor Wheel
which is hardly ever there

A little more

A little more time. A little more patience. A little more joy. A little more calm.

SandraDodd.com/calm
photo by Janine Davies

More time, less worry

The more time parents spend with their children, doing interesting things together, the less they will worry about other things.


Marta saved the quote from a post on Always Learning.
Here's something similar:
SandraDodd.com/being/with
photo by Karen James, a few years ago,
in a giant wheel in Japan

The good parts

Look at the immediate benefits of your decisions.

Look for the good parts of today.

Look for the value in this moment.

"Success"
photo by Sandra Dodd

Reading and writing and monsters

Deb Lewis wrote:

He learned to read in part from watching Godzilla movies. Many of them were subtitled. I watched with him at first and read the subtitles to him but somewhere along the way he stopped needing me. . . . .

He was inspired to write partly because he wanted to rewrite bad screenplays. He rewrote the screenplays of several bad horror films when he was younger…

—Deb Lewis, at
Snobbishness vs. Godzilla

SandraDodd.com/t/godzilla
photo by Karen James
(I didn't have a photo of Godzilla,
but this is in Japan and looks spooky
Scooby-Doo style.)
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Still candy left

Since my kids were little they could have all the Halloween candy they wanted, and since they were little that has been no problem at all, because by the time they gave away what they didn't like and traded for favorites, and saved it and shared it with kids who came over for the next few weeks, there was still candy left.
. . . .
We were confident that it was control, not access, that made kids eat, do and want "too much" before we ever considered unschooling. Others come to the idea the other way around—unschooling first and releasing other control-urges later.


SandraDodd.com/eating/halloween
photo by Pam Sorooshian
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