Just like that.

So how do you choose? You decide where you want to go before you decide to turn left or right, don't you?

Just like that.

SandraDodd.com/quotes
photo by Sandra Dodd

Together every day

Parents know a child is learning because they're seeing and discussing and doing things together every day. Not five days a week, or most of the year, but all of the days of their whole lives.

Os pais sabem que a criança está a aprender porque eles estão a ver e a discutir e a fazer coisas juntos todos os dias. Não é cinco dias por semana, ou a maior parte do ano, mas todos os dias das suas vidas inteiras.

SandraDodd.com/faq

SandraDodd.com/portuguese/faq
(Sandra Dodd, traduções em Português por Marta Venturini Machado)
photo by Sandra Dodd

Watch your step!

Meredith Novak wrote:

I don't think too much focus on either rights or liberty is good for unschooling. When parents are invested in their rights, it's easy to step on kids' liberty. Worse, it's easy to step on kids' hearts."

—Meredith Novak

(I dropped one clause, above, because
it referred to someone else's quote. —Sandra *)
SandraDodd.com/priorities
photo by Sandra Dodd

Cameras and light

Cameras weren't around, 200 years ago. A hundred years ago, people needed to be very still, to have a photo taken, and they were in black and white. Now, wonderful photos can exist without needing to be printed. That's good! But they are sometimes less permanent than the older, paper images people framed and handed down. Use your cameras, but let images come and go. Pixels, like light, can be beautiful and be gone again.

SandraDodd.com/photographs
photo by Holly Dodd, of herself

Familiar things

Favorite tools, stored in the same old way, make your home special, and will be part of a child's memories. Love your normal stuff.

SandraDodd.com/dishes
photo by Sandra Dodd of some familiar things at Polly's house

How long?

How long should you be calm?

Longer than you think you need to be.

---

SandraDodd.com/calm
Thanks to Amber Ivey for saving a quote from a workshop I ran in Arizona.
photo by Sandra Dodd

Props

Props and costumes can help children to perceive the world in a slightly different way, and those thoughts add to their knowledge.

SandraDodd.com/imagination
photo by Lydia Koltai

What we know

We can't tell by looking at a child that learning is taking place. When unschooling is working well, though, we begin to know that if they are interested, engaged and thinking, they are making their own connections, large or small.

SandraDodd.com/proof
photo by Chrissy Florence

Deposit the good stuff.

When people ask about being happier and more positive, the answer can't help but be the same. BE happier. BE positive.

But as with any accounting (think a bank account), withdrawals deplete your reserves. Every negative word, thought or deed takes peace and positivity out of your account. Cynicism, sarcasm—which some people enjoy and defend—are costly, if your goal is peace.

SandraDodd.com/negativity (which is really about positivity)
photo by Janine

A useful gate

"Rather than experiencing you as a gate that either opens or closes, let him experience you as someone he can depend on to help."

—Joyce Fetteroll

in a discussion November 10, 2016, on facebook
photo by Sandra Dodd

Food and art

Food can be art, and there is art about food.

Some thing are obvious, like cake decoration, or piemaking. But even when you make a sandwich, it can be cut artfully and arranged nicely on a plate. You could use matching dishes, even if you're only feeding one child.

Aesthetics! Look for beauty, and create a bit of it.

SandraDodd.com/foodfun
photo by Jacki, Hannah's mom, long ago

What do you call it?

This photo shows healthy, blooming native plants, layers of natural hillside, and hand-hewn cedar fence posts.


Or I could tell you that there's a state highway up above a mis-matched bunch of broken-down fence around an overgrown cemetery.

Both are true.
Which made you feel better?

Help others to see beauty and to feel abundance.

SandraDodd.com/words
photo by Sandra Dodd

Confidence deepens

Karen James wrote:

"Be present. Be engaged. Celebrate the joy of a child doing anything and everything they feel thrilled about. Notice what they're learning as they play and watch. It's all pretty amazing. Build on what you learn about your child. Confidence deepens when a child is supported in whatever they find captivating. Confidence grows for the parent when they're paying attention to what the child is learning from their chosen activities."

—Karen James

SandraDodd.com/karenjames
photo by Janine Davies

Seasons

Another year, another hemisphere, flowers now gone.


Seasons and flowers are variable, and local. Deserts and jungles, mountains and shorelines, all have special things to discover at different times of the day, and of the season, and of the year.

Be still and appreciate the many peaceful moments. Store up gentle memories.


SandraDodd.com/day/ebbandflow
photo by Jihong Tang

Patterns from reflection

Barbara Handley wrote:

"Quiet time is an integral aspect of self-discovery --- apparent periods of laziness can actually be the most fruitful intellectual and spiritual discovery times. Imagine a sand art frame...first you shake it and the result is a chaotic pattern of colored sand and water; then you let it rest. The sand falls to the bottom of the frame forming intricate and beautiful patterns which would never be revealed if you continued to shake the frame. The same applies to our process of positively integrating information so that we can make sense of the world; time for reflection and contemplation is a critical part of the process, allowing the patterns to be revealed."

—Barbara Handley

Quote's source
photo by Lydia Koltai

Old and new

New things are added to old things. Antiques are repaired. New children meet old people. Forgotten toys are re-discovered.

Change is part of growth, of life, of past and of future.

SandraDodd.com/change
photo by Sandra Dodd

Naturally...

I grew up not far from Camel Rock, which was on US 285 near Pojoaque, where my dad worked. All of that is in north-central New Mexico.


Does it really look like a camel? Probably it helps that everyone calls it "camel rock." There was another sandstone formation north of there that my very-young sister called "camel elephant"... because it looked like an elephant's trunk to her. Words can help us see things that aren't there, confusing us and others.

The important thing is that it's not a real camel. Consider what is "natural" and what is perception, language and culture (all of which are also natural). Find joy in words and imagery, but try not to let them confound you.

SandraDodd.com/gettingit
photo by Sandra Dodd

Stretch your thinking

"There are loads of places I can go to get people to agree with the standard mode of thought. Why would I want more of that? I'm not looking for approval of what I do. I'm looking for people who will stretch my thinking and help me grow."

—Joyce Fetteroll

SandraDodd.com/tvchoice
photo by Holly Dodd

Holly is 25

November 2 is Holly's birthday, and in 2016 she's turning 25.
Holly grew up with two older also-unschooled brothers.
Thank you, all who have befriended
and been kind to Holly.

SandraDodd.com/holly
photo by Holly Dodd herself

Thinking and feeling

How are you thinking?
How are you feeling?

How you are thinking and feeling is how you are living and learning.

SandraDodd.com/mentalhealth
photo by Marta Venturini Machado

Like magic

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

This is a repeat from 2013
because the photo is great
with text from 2010
because it's still true.
__

Harvest

Fewer folks farm than used to. It's understandable.

Even without a farm, though, what's planted might grow. What is tended thrives.

Not everything can be controlled, but many things can be accepted and appreciated. Mentally gather up the positive results in your life and be grateful for your harvest.


SandraDodd.com/gratitude
photo by Lydia Koltai

Light goofs

Find things to smile about in small casual moments.

Happy Halloween-costume days.

SandraDodd.com/wonder
candid tomato-slice photo by Sandra Dodd

Sweet!

Be sweet. Appreciate sweetness. Smile.

SandraDodd.com/eating/sweets
photo by Erika Ellis

Your kids know

Joyce wrote:

He can feel you hovering over him waiting for him to do something that will calm your fears.

Sandra adds:

Your children know when you're anxious or nervous. Don't think you're sneaking up on them. It's important to relax, not just to pretend to be relaxed.

JoyfullyRejoycing.com/how-to-unschool
photo by Susan Gaissert

❖

No time out

Time can be geological, historical, millenial, generational, eternal or poetic. Current time can involve years, months, seasons, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds and subparticles thereof. Time can fly or drag along. It can heal everything or be the enemy. There's no time out from time!



SandraDodd.com/time
photo by Sandra Dodd
__

Succeed

It's easy to think there's not much to unschooling, and then to fail at it.

Read a little, try a little,
wait a while, watch.

Do that so many times that you don't notice you're doing it all the time.

SandraDodd.com/howto
photo by Celeste Burke

Trash or treasure?

You can use antique shops or junk stores, charity shops, thrift stores, as museums to visit with your children. Many things are neither trash nor treasure, but can be interesting examples of art, technology, geography, politics, function and design.

---

In deciding which link to use with this image, I settled on the history page, and noticed a paragraph I wrote over a decade ago. Now, two deaths and a Nobel prize have entered the story:

History can be nearly current, like comparative pop/funk of the '80s— is Prince really all that much greater than Michael Jackson? Is it because he plays guitar? What about the history of the guitar? Does Minneapolis create better musicians than Gary, Indiana, or does it even matter? Is Bob Dylan evidence for Minneapolis? One thing leads to another. Thinking about Minneapolis can lead to thoughts of U.S. history, of early 19th century border fortifications, the Mississippi River, the French in Canada, and in Louisiana. You can let your mind float downstream (or up). "Hiawatha" would've been set in that area, and Longfellow wrote that and many other things of childhood, and parents, and night time.

SandraDodd.com/history
photo by Sandra Dodd

When you breathe

When something makes you sad, breathe in a lovely thought.

When you're worried, breathe in hope.

When you're afraid, breathe in calm.

Let breathing bring you closer to better, for your family and for yourself.


SandraDodd.com/breathing
photo by Jo Isaac

Curiosities

Learning proceeds from being able to touch and see things, maybe to hear, smell or taste things. To discuss new or unexpected things. To think about interesting things.

SandraDodd.com/museum
photo by Sandra Dodd

Look for light

Look for light, literally and figuratively.


Early, in the kitchen, a basket of light:


One side is white with dark holes. The other side is dark with pink morning sun. Had I used a flash, both sides of the basket would have looked the same and the soft spots would have been gone.

Downstairs, another light show:

SandraDodd.com/mysteryart
photos and little video by Sandra Dodd in 2010

Sweet and playful

"Don’t underestimate how wonderful your happy presence can be for your kids. Be sweet and playful and optimistic and involved. Give them lots of your time."

—Deb Lewis

SandraDodd.com/deblewis/abundance
photo by Eva Witsel