photo by Ester Siroky
I've used this quote before, but used better titles:
2017: Travel interesting paths
2018: "Why do we do this?" (with the same photo, even)
Principles of unschooling, once well understood and practiced, can be extended beyond the children. |
When people speak without thinking, they're speaking thoughtlessly.
Very literally so.
When people write without thinking, they're writing thoughtlessly. No sense arguing about that. It's just better to work on being thoughtful. |
Some of the things that help people be confidently in the moment, feeling satisfied and content are:
At first it might be relief and not joy, but as relief is a step away from fear, more relief will be progress toward joy.
- Breathing
- Gratitude
- Happy thoughts
- Fondness
- Acceptance
Stop doing the thing that stops you from doing what you need to do. —Sandra Dodd Prioritize your children. —Holly Dodd |
Sometimes deschooling works best when there are surprising (maybe even shocking) surprises, or stark refutations of what the mom has “guaranteed will happen,” or is positive can ONLY happen—that having candy out all the time will make kids throw up, have cavities, get fat. The stories of kids in the presence of the same old bowl of candy asking for vegetables and fruit are important stories to share. |
Choices can’t happen without choices, and choices don’t happen well with a mom hovering around and predicting negative outcomes. Lots of people have reported that their experiences with food, and unschooling, changed everything. Seeing kids learning about food, and making choices about food, made other choices seem to make total sense. |
Sometimes an adult who had learned not to learn, or had grown up to be self-conscious about enthusiasm and curiosity, rediscovers the joy of discovery. |
Sometimes I think I've started to understand something but instead it's like an onion and there's another layer I didn't know I needed to understand.I responded:
That's how everything good is. Every hobby, skill, pastime, has a surface and has a depth. Some things can be just surface, but parenting and unschooling last for years. And if a family can't resolve to be and do and provide better for the child than school would, then school is better.
If a family resolves to provide a better life experience then school did, then their decisions and actions should be based on that.