Sunday, September 29, 2013

Maybe not too late

Pam Sorooshian wrote in 2007:

"I never 'got it' about chores until it was really almost too late....

"What I regret is that I didn't figure out ways to do stuff like this when the kids were younger. I wish I'd made housework entirely optional, but then made it enticing for them to do it with me or with each other, so that they'd have still helped out, but without the tone of it being demanded. These days, when one of my daughters and I wash dishes together, it is fun, because they really know that they have a choice, that I won't be annoyed if they turn me down, so no resentment on their part. Very very worth the extra work I had and often still have to do."
—Pam Sorooshian

Making the Shift!
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Let life change you, in a good way

A heron standing in the woods
Colleen Prieto wrote:

Both my husband and I have, through unschooling, gotten into the wonderful habit of immersing ourselves right alongside our son, in his interests, for as long as he's interested. And we've learned and grown and enjoyed ourselves quite thoroughly in the process.

It is definitely funny, in a good way, how life changes you if you let it.
—Colleen Prieto

SandraDodd.com/change.html
quote and photo both by Colleen Prieto
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Friday, September 27, 2013

Think in different ways

"Words can shape our thoughts. It's helpful to think in different ways to be different."
—Joyce Fetteroll
signs, rope, saddle, rocking horse, outside an antique store
Self-regulation
photo by Sandra Dodd

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The time will come...

The time will come in your unschooling when you will forget to use checklists, but it won't matter. The child's internal grid will already have given them the need to know what things feel, smell and taste, and what they used to be or will be, and whether it's different in other places. Connections will continue to be made throughout their lives. The universe inside will grow larger and the universe outside will become clearer with every new experience. photo IMG_0695.jpg
SandraDodd.com/checklists
photo by Colleen Prieto

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Providing entertainment



In response to:

How did you get comfortable with not racing around and "providing" entertainment for your children?


I wrote, in 2002:

Gradually!

I still provide entertainment for my children (and they provide things for the rest of the family too, because (shhh...) they think that's just how people in families are! They don't associate it with unschooling directly.


SandraDodd.com/addlightandstir

photo by Marty Dodd, earlier this year when he was out entertaining his girlfriend on a road trip because she was unexpectedly unemployed and he had a broken arm

P.S. The quote up top is from 2002. I'm still entertaining my kids 11 years later. The other day I subscribed to the last season of Breaking Bad, on Amazon, for Holly, who is 21 and lives at home. New episodes appear after they're aired.

Yesterday, Marty (24, and living separately now) and I were talking about a set of humorous history books I recently bought for him and me (matching sets), and about when Hannibal's Carthaginian army attacked Rome from the mountainous northwest. It was all about entertainment. Marty's current enrollment in a world history class is a trivial sidenote.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

How will you know?

How will you know if they're learning?

Teachers need to measure and document because they need to show progress so they can get paid, and keep their jobs. They test and measure because they don't always know each child well.

Parents know a child is learning because they're seeing and discussing and doing things together every day. Not five days a week, or most of the year, but all of the days of their whole lives.
girl on the teacup ride
The quote is from elsewhere, but SandraDodd.com/seeingit will work.
In Portuguese, the original quote appears here, #5: SandraDodd.com/portuguese/faq

photo by Susan Burke

Monday, September 23, 2013

Action and Creation

"Be who you believe it's best to be. Act according to your own values. Create an atmosphere where making a kind choice is easier than making a hurtful choice. Create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe."
—Joyce Fetteroll
Holly, teen, standing on a chair, using her laptop on top of a TV cabinet
Joyce Fetteroll, at Always Learning in 2013
A good link to go with it might be Building an Unschooling Nest
photo by Sandra Dodd