Being a mother

"If you are choosing to be a mother, move beyond playing at it, and *be* it."

—Pam Laricchia

Are You Playing the Role of “Mother”? by Pam Laricchia
(see also, if you're having fun, SandraDodd.com/being)
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

Commitment to unschooling

In response to a question about commitment...

My best recommendation is to create and maintain such a rich and joyful unschooling life that the child won't want to go to school. That's the direction "commitment to unschooling" should take.

SandraDodd.com/interviews/naturalparenting2010
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Deep and wide and whole

Once someone wrote that her child was doing passive things, and had no interest in learning the basics. Amy Carpenter wrote something wonderful about active learning. This is just a bit of it. There's a link to the rest, below.

We recently took Fisher to a Blue Man Group concert—his first real "grown-up" show. Again, I could see all the connections being made—he watched how the instruments were being played, listened to how the sounds and the rhythms came together, jumped and bopped his head and let it all come together inside of him. His knowledge and awareness of music is growing deep and wide—it's not about "the basics," but about a gestalt, a holistic, systemic approach.

When you ask what component you are missing, this is what I keep coming up with. Are you looking in the wrong places? Are you looking for the basics when in fact, your son's knowledge and understanding is deep and wide and whole? What you see as "basic" are just a few Lego pieces that he'll fill in as he goes—but in looking for those, are you missing the incredibly large, whole creation that he's built up?

from Amy Carpenter's writing, here: SandraDodd.com/activeunschooling
photo by Sandra Dodd
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See them

Find your child's strengths and joys.

words by Sandra Dodd on Radical Unschooling Info, a facebook group
photo by Dylan Lewis, on a solo trip to Italy
More cheery things by Deb Lewis, his mom.

Leave a message

"I want for my kids to grow up and hear that mommy voice in their head saying positive supportive things—not tearing them down, but encouraging them."

— Pam Sorooshian

3/4 of the way down SandraDodd.com/choices, on the left
I removed part of a phrase, added a dash, and put a period before it was over.
It's not a perfectly-quoted quote, but it's a perfect idea
and all the words are Pam's.

photo by Sandra Dodd

Something old, something new

If you don't have other plans, here's an idea:

Do something new and different today. Something surprising, maybe.

Also, today, do something familiar and comfortable and soothing.

If that feels good, consider doing it every day.

SandraDodd.com/nest
The photo is a link to the report of a day in 2009.
photo by Sandra Dodd
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