Monday, December 8, 2014

Full and open


Help a child be full of the world—full, and open, with experiences and connections flowing in and through him. At peace, curious, joyful.

If an unschooling family honors a child's interests, answers his questions, supports his curiosity, provides for him a place to sleep, and a variety of food and opportunities, it shouldn't matter what those interests and questions are — he will be learning and growing.

SandraDodd.com/peace/becoming
photo by Colleen Prieto
__

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Grow and thrive

We helped each other grow and thrive.
—Karen James

orchids in small pots in a windowsill

SandraDodd.com/growth
photo by Sandra Dodd

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Out the window

Friday, December 5 photo of a window that's not there anymore now. Marty lives in our old house and we got new windows installed yesterday.
All my early unschooling articles were written within arm's reach of that window. I especially remember looking out while thinking of phrasing for "Rejecting a Pre-Packaged Life" whose URL is SandraDodd.com/joy.

The new window is good.
The old window is history.
History is good, too.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Beyond compare

colorful connected houses along a canal in Holland
Unschooling is the ultimate individualized learning situation, and comparisons are unnecessary.

SandraDodd.com/pam/reasons
photo by Rippy Dusseldorp
___

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Frolic! Delve.

Frolic! Delve.
Catch it in your peripheral vision.



SandraDodd.com/history
photo by Bruno Machado

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Measurements


"Sometimes the measure of unschooling's success isn't how much a kid meets normal expectations, but how much sweeter and easier life is."
—Meredith Novak
(original, on facebook)

SandraDodd.com/success
photo by Sarah Dickinson
__

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

For learning to really flourish

small indoor carousel called 'Excalibur'

"Being Ethan's mom changed me. I surprised myself in good ways. In learning to give to him, I grew to really like myself. The walls started coming down. I started to soften—to have compassion for myself.... I challenged myself to continue to do better, because I now knew I could. I had a found confidence in that new truth. Honesty and humility too. All good things for learning to really flourish."
—Karen James

SandraDodd.com/issues
photo by Sandra Dodd