Why unschool?

Amy: Here is Sandra Dodd with a simple definition of unschooling.

Sandra Dodd: Creating an environment where natural learning can flourish.

Amy: What’s natural learning?

Sandra Dodd: Learning from experience, learning from asking questions, following interests, being.

SandraDodd.com/whyunschool
photo by Rippy Dusseldorp

Better? Better!

Ultimately, "better" and "good" will be seen in retrospect, or in realizations that things are WAY better than they used to be. That "better" is between children and parents, and happens when it happens, not because of anything anyone here says or thinks.

SandraDodd.com/goodorbad
photo by Sandra Dodd

Many, many ideas

Joyce wrote:

There is probably not an idea about how to be with kids that you have that we haven't seen and turned over. (Sounds a bit snooty!) What I mean is, that 1000's of people have wandered by us with the ideas they have. We've held them up for examination to see "Is this respectful? How does this help a child? How does this hurt a child? Is there a better way that will nurture him *and* help him?"

—Joyce Fetteroll

SandraDodd.com/confidence
photo by Karen James

Go forth and soak it in

To understand what Unschooling is, it helps to understand what it is not. It can also help to see some of the best examples.
. . . .
Explore! Decide you want to learn, go forth and soak it in, sort it through, spread it around to dry.

—Sandra Dodd

SandraDodd.com/comparisons
photo by Cathy Koetsier, of a river rat
click to enlarge

A better emotional neighborhood

Good people make better parents. Better parents make better unschoolers. If some of your transitional energy is spent being a better person, your child's working model of the universe, which only he or she can build, will have a better foundation. It will be built in a better neighborhood, with cleaner air and purer water.

SandraDodd.com/issues
photo by Sandra Dodd

As good as a nap

An attitude of abundance and gratitude can be as good as a nap. Abundance Gratitude Change

photo by Sandra Dodd

One week of learning

One more week, and then stop. Learn Nothing Day is coming, July 24.

If you're new to unschooling, you might think this is easy. But if your life has progressed to the point that learning is woven into all your activities and you've learned to see it, this will take some planning and some effort.


School kids get half the year off, if you add up all the weekends and holidays. Before someone accuses unschoolers of not learning, they might want to know we have ONE day off, and here it comes. Good luck.

Learn Nothing Day, the blog
art by Holly Dodd and Sandra Dodd—it's a link