Are you there yet?

Joyce Fetteroll wrote:

If there is one thought that will help you understand unschooling and respectful parenting it is this:

The primary goal is joyful living.
      All other goals are secondary.

All decent parents, of course, want their children to be happy. But they assume that sometimes happiness needs to be sacrificed to get something better.

But for unschooling, peaceful parents meeting any goal must also meet the goal of living life more joyfully.

"Are we there yet?"
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Practice with this

Finding ways not to be grumpy about dishes is a good model and practice field for other choices in life.


SandraDodd.com/dishes
photo by Sandra Dodd
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You'll know.

"How do you know they're learning?"

The people who ask that question are looking at the world through school-colored glasses. Those same parents knew when their children could use a spoon. They knew when the child could drink out of a cup. They knew when walking and talking and bike riding had been learned.

SandraDodd.com/playing
photo by Karen James
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Connections and cross-connections

If one thing makes you think of another thing, you form a connection between them in your mind. The more connections you have, the better access you have to cross-connections. The more things something can remind you of, the more you know about it, or are learning about it.

SandraDodd.com/connections
photo by Sandra Dodd

A rich environment

Unschooling is arranging for natural learning to take place. It involves having a rich environment and respecting children's ideas and interests.




That definition is from an April 2010 interview, Why I Unschooled My Three Kids
The photo is Holly, by Holly.

If you eliminate "have to"...

If you eliminate "have to" from your thoughts, it's like driving a nice standard transmission rather than riding in the back of a crowded bus. If you see everything as a conscious choice, suddenly you are where you have chosen to be (or you have a clear path to moving toward where you would rather be).

SandraDodd.com/philosophy
photo by Sandra Dodd

Step up

Who you are, no one else can be.

Who you are now is not who you were before. Who you are today is not who you will be tomorrow.

Breathe and smile and step toward your future.

SandraDodd.com/gratitude
Holly in Quebec; photographer unknown