When life is easier...

Meredith wrote on Radical Unschooling Info:

Learning depends on the perspectives and experiences of the individual. That's the heart of unschooling—that learning isn't something you can control from the outside.

What you can do "from the outside" is to work to improve another person's experience. You can be kinder and sweeter and more helpful. You can make his or her life easier. When life is easier, learning is bigger, broader, more expansive. There's no magic to that! When you aren't focused on meeting basic needs, you can explore more complex needs. When you aren't hungry, you can focus on things more interesting than hunger. When you aren't arguing with someone about what you "should" eat, you can explore the far more interesting questions of what appeals to you and why, and in what combinations.

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/maslow
photo by Sandra Dodd (of party food
not so easily made, by Teresa and Laurie for a reception)

Good habits

"If you want to establish good habits, be gentle with your kids' feelings. Make their lives warmer and softer and easier so the habits they develop are those of warmth and joy, comfort and care."

—Meredith Novak
April 13, 2014

You might like "Building an Unschooling Nest": SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Don't fight nature

"Unschooling involves recognizing that fighting against human nature doesn't make better people."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/pressure
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Inside their own heads

Meredith Novak wrote:

Unschooling doesn't magically save kids from making bad decisions or protect them from harm. Nothing can do that. What unschooling parents can do is step back from the idea that our greater knowledge about the world is something we can give to our kids. We can be friends, allies, facilitators, consultants, partners, but they're the ones inside their own heads, making their own connections.

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/nest
(the quote isn't there, but other things are)
photo by Sandra Dodd

Observation and more

"Wondering is what takes people—including children—from observation to something else, to asking questions and looking for answers."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/meredithnovak
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Sweeter and easier

"Young children have limits and boundaries—there are sooooooo many things they can't do for themselves, yet! Their world is full of things that are too big and complex for them to deal with, including their own needs. It's a great gift for them to have a special grown-up friend making their lives sweeter and easier so they can put their energy into exploring the world, not fighting against it."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/partners/child
photo by Sandra Dodd

Happier, easier

"There's a common parenting myth that making our kids' lives easier, being sweet and kind and gentle with them, makes them greedy and unfit for adult life. It is not true. Kids learn from experience. When they experience a lot of kindness, they learn the value of kindness in very real, concrete ways. When we make their lives easier, we make it easier for them to learn more and more richly. And they're happier. And that makes parenting easier, because we're not dealing with kids who are stressed out and frustrated."

—Meredith Novak

New writing by Meredith, a little like SandraDodd.com/spoiled
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Enough, and a little bit more

"Kindness, grace, and generosity go a lot further toward creating warm relationships and a joyfully harmonious home than measuring out equality."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/peace/mama
photo by Colleen Prieto
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Connections and Adventures

"That's part of the magic of unschooling—information swirls around, connects and reconnects until you're not really sure where learning begins and ends and where any particular adventure will lead you."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/connections
photo by Sandra Dodd

Rediscover wonder

"Watch and listen to your kids. Let yourself get caught up in what they find wonderful and in the process rediscover wonder itself."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/wonder
photo by Colleen Prieto

Just for now

"The big thing is to remember that you don't need once-and-for-all solutions, just for-now solutions." —Meredith Novak

the original quote, on Always Learning
or those who aren't in that group might like SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Colleen Prieto

Real life in the real world

"Scientific studies have their place in the world, but we can't let them stand in the way of seeing the real-world behavior of our real life kids."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/eating/healthfood
photo by Julie D
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Pure gold

"So I invite you to try a little bitty bit of unschooling: say yes more. Not about everything all the time and not at random—question your "Nos" and "laters", your "have tos" and "shoulds" and rethink some of those. Find more options, more ideas, more ways to say yes. Just that. And life with your children gets sweeter and more peaceful. That's pure gold."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/meredithnovak
photo by Julie D
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It's a marvel.

Meredith wrote:

Kids learn because they are full of curiosity and wonder. That's big. It's a marvel. Wondering is what takes people—including children—from observation to something else, to asking questions and looking for answers. To trying and finding out. Wondering is one of the reasons people push through challenges—climb real mountains and metaphorical ones. You can't Give someone that kind of motivation; it only comes from deep within. Sadly, you can take it away, and teaching someone who doesn't really want to be taught is a proven way of doing so.

—Meredith Novak

The quote in larger context is at the link above,
and you can read more about wonder here: SandraDodd.com/wonder.
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a WWII pillbox outside what was then a UK aircraft factory (now museum)

Joyfully health-filled

"It's often more helpful to kids when parents step back from focusing on the kids' health and focus on their own. Focus on being joyfully health-filled rather than grimly health conscious."

—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/meredithnovak
the quote is from the middle of this Always Learning post
photo by Sandra Dodd