"One interest can lead to lots of other exciting things."
—Adam Daniel
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a helter skelter in London
Saturday, January 21, 2012
One interest can lead to...
"One interest can lead to lots of other exciting things."
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a helter skelter in London
Friday, January 20, 2012
Do that THIS year.
The words of Kelly Lovejoy:
If you knew you only had a year more with that child, what would you expose him to? Where would
you go? What would you eat? What would you watch? What would you do?
If you had only ONE year—and then it was all over, what would you do? Four seasons. Twelve months. 365 days.
Do that THIS year. And the next.
That's how unschooling works. By living life as if it were an adventure. As if you only had a limited amount of time with that child. Because that's the way it IS.
SandraDodd.com/doit
photo by Sandra Dodd
If you knew you only had a year more with that child, what would you expose him to? Where would
 |
If you had only ONE year—and then it was all over, what would you do? Four seasons. Twelve months. 365 days.
Do that THIS year. And the next.
That's how unschooling works. By living life as if it were an adventure. As if you only had a limited amount of time with that child. Because that's the way it IS.
photo by Sandra Dodd
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Not learning
If a person's life is compartmentalized into learning and not learning, then they have a part of them that is "not-learning."
The phrase came up in a chat, but this page is a good match: SandraDodd.com/substance
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a beautiful Sheffield wall with delicate flowers
unfairly drafted to portray a harsh wall for the purposes of this post
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Live your values
| "If we live our values, it's likely our children will value them too. If we impose our values, it's likely our children will reject them." —Joyce Fetteroll |  |
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a little old retaining wall, with stairs, in France;
still working though not maintained
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
It makes much more sense
Ben Lovejoy wrote:
When we learned how to ride a bike, we thought that first way that we learned was the only way that a bike could be ridden. There was just no other way. Having ridden over 10,000 miles of roads and over 50 bike trails in the past six years, I can tell you that my initial experience on a bike was nothing like I've had as an adult. As with my cycling, I've realized there is more than one way to live our lives. Living life based upon principles is a better way for me than living by rules. It's more honest, respectful, truthful, and makes much more sense. Principles have allowed me to figure out that music is a journey and not a destination that ends when I reached a certain age. Principles have allowed me to realize that riding a bike is a means and not an end. Principles have allowed me to think further about better ways to parent than using someone else's rules. Principles, in short, do not limit me the way that rules once did.
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Monday, January 16, 2012
Curiosity, wonder, fascination, and enthusiasm
Pam Sorooshian wrote:
Take them to the grocery store.
...While you're there, look at the weirdest thing in the produce department. Bright orange cactus? BUY one. Go home and get online and try to figure out what to do with it. Or just slice it open to see what is inside.
Or buy a coconut—shake it to see if it has liquid inside. Let the kid pound on it with a hammer until it cracks open. While they're doing that, do a quick google on coconuts so you have some background knowledge. Don't "teach" them—but if something seems cool, just say it as an interesting, cool thing to know, "Wow, coconuts are SEEDS! And, oh my gosh, they sometimes float in the ocean for years before washing up on some island and sprouting into a coconut tree."
How about a pineapple—bought one fresh, lately? Talked about Hawaii? Just say, "Aloha," while handing the kids a slice. Or, maybe you'll get really into the whole idea of Hawaii and you'll see connections everywhere—Hawaiian shirts at the thrift store, flowers to me leis, someone playing a ukelele, a video of a volcano exploding (maybe that will inspire you to want to make your own volcano with baking soda and vinegar).
I'm not saying to prepare a lesson on cactus or coconuts or pineapples. I'm saying that if you're not already an interesting person with interesting information to share with your children, then you'll have to make an effort to be more interesting. The way to do that is to develop your own sense of curiosity, wonder, fascination, and enthusiasm.
Building an Unschooling Nest
photo by Sandra Dodd
Take them to the grocery store.
...While you're there, look at the weirdest thing in the produce department. Bright orange cactus? BUY one. Go home and get online and try to figure out what to do with it. Or just slice it open to see what is inside.
Or buy a coconut—shake it to see if it has liquid inside. Let the kid pound on it with a hammer until it cracks open. While they're doing that, do a quick google on coconuts so you have some background knowledge. Don't "teach" them—but if something seems cool, just say it as an interesting, cool thing to know, "Wow, coconuts are SEEDS! And, oh my gosh, they sometimes float in the ocean for years before washing up on some island and sprouting into a coconut tree."
How about a pineapple—bought one fresh, lately? Talked about Hawaii? Just say, "Aloha," while handing the kids a slice. Or, maybe you'll get really into the whole idea of Hawaii and you'll see connections everywhere—Hawaiian shirts at the thrift store, flowers to me leis, someone playing a ukelele, a video of a volcano exploding (maybe that will inspire you to want to make your own volcano with baking soda and vinegar).
I'm not saying to prepare a lesson on cactus or coconuts or pineapples. I'm saying that if you're not already an interesting person with interesting information to share with your children, then you'll have to make an effort to be more interesting. The way to do that is to develop your own sense of curiosity, wonder, fascination, and enthusiasm.
—Pam Sorooshian
photo by Sandra Dodd
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Geography without maps
As far as I know, the best way to know that deschooling has happened is that kids start asking you (or telling you) cool things, trivial things, that they might have learned in school if they had gone, or maybe that would be in books clearly marked "science" or "history," and they're no longer avoiding school subjects (if they went to school).
Or if the kids never went to school, it's when the parents can see math without numbers, and language without writing, and "writing" without handwriting, and history without kings and wars and dates, and geography without maps.
photo by Sandra Dodd, of a restaurant in a building that was once a fire station, in Albuquerque
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