Monday, December 15, 2014

Improve life!

"It feels so much better to be doing something active to try to improve life than it did sitting around worrying about it!!"
—Cass Kotrba

SandraDodd.com/doit
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Reading will happen.

Reading will happen, and if it takes longer for your child than you think it will, keep them happy and distracted in the meantime. As their experience and vocabulary grow, their reading will be that much more effortless the day they're fully equipped to understand the written word.
Three Readers
photo by Quita Gray

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Doing this deeply

Unschooling is not as easy as some people think it is. It can be fun, and simple, and life changing, if it is done deeply and thoroughly.
wall made of suitcases and trunks, stacked up, in a cafe in Chichester

SandraDodd.com/video/doright
Thanks, Marta Pires, for saving that quote.
photo by Sandra Dodd

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Friday, December 12, 2014

Peace on earth

In a longer discussion, Joyce Fetteroll wrote that people should be focused on helping a child "peacefully co-exist with the rest of the planet."

Meredith Novak added:
I think this is really key. If you're focused on who's "right" or which "side" to take, that's going to narrow down both your perception of the situation and the options you can envision.
Helping maintain peace within families is a direct contribution to peace on earth.

SandraDodd.com/peace
photo by Sandra Dodd

Thursday, December 11, 2014

More patience

I didn’t expect unschooling to make things so sweet between me and Keith.
Partly Keith's just a nice guy, but principles that applied to the kids applied to the adults, too, and we all experienced and shared more patience and understanding.

The more I got to know Marty, the more ways I saw him like Keith, and because I was sympathetic to those traits in Marty which had bothered me in Keith, I became more sympathetic to and understanding of Keith.

SandraDodd.com/spouses
photo at Marty's wedding
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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Happiness

 family on roller coasterUnschooled kids should learn what they want to learn, and have fun doing it. If happiness isn’t even a goal, life is of little value.
SandraDodd.com/happy
auto-bot photo of the Dusseldorp family

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Sparklers at midnight

Ren wrote:

When my children ask me to light sparklers up at midnight, my auto-pilot mode says "That's not something we do this late at night!" but that lovely little "why not" goes gently swirling through my mind, growing louder as I pause. Why not indeed?
—Ren Allen

SandraDodd.com/rentalk
photo by Andrea Quenneville
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