Showing posts sorted by date for query /nest. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query /nest. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Paths and choices


"Your role isn't to set up a path for them to follow but to set up the environment for them to explore."
—Joyce Fetteroll

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd

Friday, January 5, 2024

Environmental factors


In the quote below, "it" could be replaced with
  • home
  • life
  • your nest
  • your children's day
  • yourself

Make it happy and funny and comfortable and exciting so that they want to be with you. Be sparkly.

SandraDodd.com/unschool/sparkly
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Plain, thoughtful underpinnings

Strength doesn't need to be high-tech or glitzy. Plain, thoughtful underpinnings and principles can be enough to quietly strengthen a family for many long years.
SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Dylan Lewis

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Kindness, generosity and joy

Meredith wrote:

Kindness and generosity and joy are important to me. So if I look at my daughter and she seems dissatisfied or bored, I want to do something to help—I want to spread some kindness and joy. So I'll look for ways to do that. Will it help to visit more friends? Go someplace with animals (my daughter loves animals)? Is she happy with her current animation program or is she ready for something more complex? Has she finished her latest graphic novel? Does she need new shoes? Do I need to spend more time hanging out with her? Play a game, maybe (video or board game)? Go on an adventure together? Write together? I suggest things based on what I know about her—what sorts of things make her smile, light her up with enthusiasm, or pique her curiosity.

When I focus on those sorts of goals, learning takes care of itself. That's something that can be hard to see right away, especially if you have some schoolish expectations as to how learning happens. Read more about natural learning so you can build up some confidence.
—Meredith Novak

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Julie D

Monday, September 11, 2023

Maintain and replenish



If you think you haven't done enough for your children lately, do more. The richer and safer your children's environment,the more interesting and open to input and entertainment and encouragement, the more learning will happen, whether you're at home or in the car or on another continent.

Maintain and replenish your children's learning environment.

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Softer nests

Jenny Cyphers wrote:

If you have a child who doesn't like tags in clothing, you take out tags. Some kids find that the world is full of tags that need to be removed and that's what making a nest is about, removing the tags.
—Jenny Cyphers

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Rippy Dusseldorp

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Quiet trust


"Learning flows when needs are met, connections are strong, and kids can absolutely trust their parents, and know their parents are there for them."
—Caren Knox


SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Cátia Maciel

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Courage? Confidence.

Courage is sometimes about making life bigger, more sparkly, about living in the world, about creating a good nest.

I think of it as confidence. They're similar. Confidence grows from the inside, though, while courage can be reckless.
. . . .

When you're thinking about what unschooling can bring into your life, don't forget confidence, or courage. And do things to build that, so your children's lives and worlds expand.

Slightly edited from Building an Unschooling Nest
photo by Janine Davies

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Growing up and leaving gently

I have heard many stories of the rearrangements of families with unschoolers who are in their late teens or early twenties, and a young adult will leave, or bring another in, or the house is split up some. The stories are peaceful, and not about fear and arguments.

This, below, is from an interview I did in 2010.
I think when the child leaves naturally and positively, for a good reason, and the parents were willing to have him stay longer, there are fewer regrets and frustrations than under other circumstances. When kids are small, the mom is constantly on call. When Holly was born I had two and five year old boys. I know what it's like to have three young children. I also know what it's like to have three teens driving. But when they're calmly and confidently grown, the mom can leave for a month and they'll still be okay.
—Sandra Dodd


Interview, by Kim Houssenloge, of Feather and Nest
photo by Jihong Tang

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Time and attention

painting of a sort of sunburst, with the word 'yes'
Schuyler Waynforth said, in a presentation in Australia:

When I stumbled across unschooling I grabbed hold.
. . .
The more I read and the more I experienced and the more I tried, the more that I could see a framework. It was my engagement that made a difference. It was my time and my attention and my focus that kept things moving better and more smoothly than it could ever have done without me.
—Schuyler Waynforth

SandraDodd.com/nest
art and photo by Holly Blossom

Thursday, October 20, 2022

An unschooling nest

There is some physicality to the "nest," but much of it is constructed and held together by love, attitudes and relationships. Shared memories and plans, family jokes, songs and stories shared and discussed, all those strengthen the nest.

Building a Nest
photo by Roya Dedeaux

Friday, July 15, 2022

"N" is for Nest

This photo is the background for the "N" in "Learn" on the newer Learn Nothing Day logo.
There's a basis, a foundation, on which confident, workable unschooling is built, and most of it involves confidence, and confidence can't come without examination of one's purpose, priorities and principles. It takes a while to figure those things out, and while they can be figured out at the same time unschooling is unfolding, and will probably continue to evolve (maybe even after the kids are grown), it's not "nothing" to do that.

The photo first appeared here in 2020: Be positively positive!
Thank you, Shonna Morgan.

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Be a soft place

We wanted to protect them from trauma and frustration. That's not always possible, but it was a goal. We tried not to be the source of trauma and frustration.

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Focus on the positive


Joyce Fetteroll wrote:

People who look at what they have and how they can work with it find the ways quicker (and are happier) than those who look at what they don't have. That sounds harsh but it's true for everyone, regardless of how fortunate someone feels someone else must be. It's not easy! It's a *choice* to focus on the positive—a choice one often needs to remember to make repeatedly—because the alternative gets in the way of moving toward something better.

—Joyce Fetteroll

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Find ideas you like

Find ideas you like, but remember that all parenting happens at your house, not online, not in groups, but within the parent. Your relationship with your child doesn't need to be approved by strangers. It needs to be the best you can do with your child, yourself, at your house. If you need ideas, the world is overflowing with good ones, and bad ones.


SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Imagining

Take this lightly. Play around.

Play with words, with ideas, with thoughts.
Play with music.
Play in the rain.
Play in the dark.
Play with your food.

But play safely. Play is only play when no one involved is objecting. It's only playing if everyone is playing.

Pretending, with a barn swallow's nest
SandraDodd.com/playing
photo by Sandra Dodd

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Smooth it off

If you want a peaceful life, smooth off the rough parts. Take away the dangerous and irritating things. Spend a moment appreciating peace when you see it or feel it. It's not something you can do once and for all. It's a way of living.

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Roya Dedeaux

(quote is from page 203-236 of The Big Book of Unschooling)

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Choices add up


Small moments of peace and calm can add up to contentment. Gratitude and acceptance contribute to satisfaction. Having a warm home isn't an absolute, and it's not magic. It's the accumulation of positive choices that create a nest for humans (and their significant animal others).

SandraDodd.com/nest
photo by Roya Dedeaux

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Expanding with confidence

When you're thinking about what unschooling can bring into your life, don't forget confidence, or courage. And do things to build that, so your children's lives and worlds expand.
Building an Unschooling Nest
photo by Sarah S.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Becoming confident

Tara Joe Farrell, on topics to inspire confidence in unschooling:

I think everything for me comes back to:

  • Deschool
  • Peaceful Nest
  • Principles
  • Sparkle
I think I'd be challenged to find an unschooling question that can't be traced back to one of those four.
—Tara Joe Farrell
August 2020
SandraDodd.com/confidence
photo by Sarah S.
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