 photo by Sarah Dickinson |
I have added two new collection pages by unschooling moms whose writing has helped many other families:
Clare Kirkpatrick, in the U.K.
Jo Isaac, in Australia
In response to my request for assistance in November, I received photos for use in Just Add Light and Stir, from:
| Jennie Gomes Meghan Pawlowski Lynda Raina Nicole Kenyon Becky Sekeres Celeste Burke Andrea Justice Eva Witsel Katy Jennings Sam and Jasmine Baykus | Megan Valnes Marin Holmes Elise Lauterbach Nancy Machaj Susan Gaissert Julie Markovitz Jane Clossick Andrea Taylor Abby Davis Sukayna and Ruqayya | Julie T Murtaza Usman Shannon Loucks Susan Waters Talia Bartoe Rachel Singer Janelle Wrock Heather Booth Charles Legacé |
 photo by Nicole Kenyon and it's a link. |
I've added a quote about being a child's partner to this page:
http://sandradodd.com/partners/child
It's my writing. I found it on Just Add Light. Sometimes I write something new there. Perhaps I was quoting myself from a discussion, but I usually note that.
The quote is:
There are WONDROUS things people can do with current technology, and it's likely to get better and better, isn't it?Don't separate your children from the future, from progress, and from understanding and using things just because the parents don't understand them or use them as well as they might. Don't hobble your child out of fear or superstition or trying to impress people you don't even know who want to scare and shame you. Be your child's partner. Lift him up and let him see.
Be your child's partner. Lift him up and let him see.
Do you have a daughter and not a son? Lift her up and let her see.
Do you have more than one? Lift them up and let them see.
The names of the pages sound scary, but the ideas are all about more peace.
If any of this disturbs you, go back to the movie link and find something bright and funny!
This 2010 page about movies for unschoolers has a new list added, upper right:
SandraDodd.com/t/movies
Joyce, on how fears are formed and maintained (and how to avoid that), added, bottom:
http://sandradodd.com/fear
New, by Jen Keefe on being a more joyful mother, upper right:
http://sandradodd.com/negativity
An argument against watching the news on TV, for mothers of young children
http://sandradodd.com/news
Photo (a link) by Janine Davies
New, about communicating with a spouse, under the photo of Noor:
http://sandradodd.com/screentime.html
First it was photos, and now it's writing! Janine Davies has blossomed, and I started collecting:
http://sandradodd.com/janine
I was going to link a podcast Amy Childs did of the dregs and leftovers of interviews—things I said that didn't fit anywhere else. The photo at right is by Janine Davies, who is linked above. Click the photo for a quote that ends "it needs to be their new, improved, mindful heart," which then has a link to where it came from. You can hear candid outtakes, as it were, of me about various unschooling ideas.
New, by Janine Davies, looking back at big changes in her family's life:
http://sandradodd.com/janineSuccess
Small additions to a 2001 page—two links and an update. The world has changed!
http://sandradodd.com/t/debate
Additions to a page about the celebration of newness and innocence, and how to treat our children. MUSIC!
http://sandradodd.com/christmas04
Don't be afraid to read that, nor to watch the videos. There is something bigger and older than religion, and most parents have touched it.
Nov 23, 2001 was the founding date of the Always Learning discussion at Yahoogroups. There were a couple of other groups involved and active in those days; one is archives only now, and one reformed with the same name but different people. Always Learning has survived for fourteen years. That's old, for an online forum! Recent posts are numbered in the 76,221 and such... and we don't have chit-chat there, so that's over 70,000 substantial posts, in fourteen years.
I missed the fifth anniversary of Just Add Light and Stir. The first post was September 2, 2010. Five years of a post nearly every day (I've missed twenty or so, I think, in scattered fashion) adds up to... over 1800, in five years.
The less placid online discussion at Facebook, Radical Unschooling Info, was five years old in February. It was created February 13, 2010.
A page on how much time and energy unschooling takes. It's not new, but when I went to add a couple of links, I saw it hadn't been announced here before! So it will be new to some of you.
http://sandradodd.com/unschoolingtime
These two are not new, but they weren't linked to each other and should have been. Each got a little clean-up as the links were added. The two together might be therapeutic for anyone confused or frustated.
Thinking about needs
http://sandradodd.com/needs
Being a happy mom
http://sandradodd.com/peace/mama
Perhaps people look for or create dangers, in times of peace and plenty.
http://sandradodd.com/danger
New page on seeing things (physically and otherwise) from different angles:
http://sandradodd.com/angles
Strewing, and how to provide without being self-conscious about it, by Deb Rossing years ago
http://sandradodd.com/stringless
I don't know why that was not announced before, but here it is.
How Morality Grows, and how unschooling can help
http://sandradodd.com/issues/morality
The one above has been sitting in the queue waiting for touchup. Two others came along that go very well with it. [October 2015 note: These aren't new, but none were announced before; the post sat in the drafts folder for a long time.]
"It Depends"—thoughts on choice making
http://sandradodd.com/depends
Misconceptions about radical unschooling
http://sandradodd.com/misconceptions
"Exploration" was started and just lately finished. It's one long but interesting topic from early 2014, with lots of voices:
http://sandradodd.com/exploration
Addition at the top, to the page on how one might view making parental mistakes:
http://sandradodd.com/mistakes
Not new, never announced before. Collen Prieto, on trauma, toys, hoarding...
http://sandradodd.com/deprivation
Photo of little Kirby Dodd sleeping is a link.
New page, started and forgotten in 2006; found, formatted and expanded September 20, 2015:
http://sandradodd.com/proof
Second half is new, by Karen James, about her son and math at the dentist's office:
http://sandradodd.com/math/found
Karen is writing quite a bit lately, and it's good. I've saved something she wrote about being with her son, and about playing. The photo here goes with that writing.
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/beingwith
New page, Karen James: "Open your heart to wonder"
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/hindsight
New, in French, with subtitled video: Bien mettre en œuvre le unschooling; traduction : Malika Kergoat
http://sandradodd.com/french/doright
That page was already on my site in English and in Portuguese.
The photo, of Kirby and Marty Dodd, is a link.
New writing, second half of the page, about learning, and not comparing and measuring one's child.
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/deschooling
Addition of writing by Cass Kotrba, about 3/4 the way down:
http://sandradodd.com/divorce
A collection for future use when people ask if an alternative school is the same as unschooling:
http://sandradodd.com/school/alternative
Photo (a link) by Janine Davies
New page on the love of video games (and it probably won't be what you expect)
http://sandradodd.com/videogames/love
Preparing for unseen futures (new page)
http://sandradodd.com/unseenfuture
Quote and image added to the page on phrases to avoid (from a 2013 Just Add Light post)
http://sandradodd.com/phrases
Addition to the "Read a little, try a little..." page, something by Karen James
http://sandradodd.com/readalittle#karen
Water—lots of kinds of thoughts about water play and water peace and water abundance (new page)
https://sandradodd.com/water
To the recent page on how Roxana Sorooshian used "screens" in graduate school, I have added her mom's summary of the fellowship, grant and scholarships Roxana has been given for her PhD work.
https://sandradodd.com/screentime/roxana
Helpful ideas by Marta Venturini (was Marta Pires) and Pam Sorooshian, partway down the lefthand side:
https://sandradodd.com/mentalhealth
On "HOW Unschooled Kids Watch TV"—new, at the bottom, about "disturbing content"
http://sandradodd.com/t/holly
Condemnation—how to avoid it and how to open up the doors to allow for growth and change (new page)
http://sandradodd.com/condemnation
Why do people unschool? (existing page, cleaned up, small additions)
http://sandradodd.com/whyunschool
Three new quotes on "if only":
https://sandradodd.com/ifonly
and one link to something new on deschooling, by Karen James:
https://sandradodd.com/karenjames/deschooling
Rearrangement, clean-up, new photo and quote (used once on Just Add Light before this):
https://sandradodd.com/peace/becoming
This was added to the bottom of a page on my site, but because I chose to put it at the bottom, I figured it should be at the top somewhere. Here it is. I followed links back to find the artist and that's credited/linked.
If people offer all of those courtesies to EVERY child (partner, friend), they won't need to worry about whether they're extrovert, introvert or a combo!
Additions and clean-up; newly added exchange between Janine Davies and Rippy Dusseldorp:
http://sandradodd.com/spirituality
New writing by Alex Polikowsky, lefthand when two-column section starts:
http://sandradodd.com/mindfulofwords
Addition to a Joyce-collection on logical thought for unschoolers, lower left:
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/logic
New page, mostly Karen James' writing:
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/reallearning
Addition of something by Joyce Fetteroll at:
http://sandradodd.com/fear
Collected something from 2014, by Jo Isaac, Jenny Cyphers, and Sandra Dodd:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/control
Added an original-writing Just-Add-Light-and-Stir post to the playdough recipe page:
http://sandradodd.com/playdough
photo (a link) by Janine Davies
Courtesy (with links to related things—a page I hadn't finished until recently):
http://sandradodd.com/courtesy
Crediting inspirations, additions to an obscure page:
http://sandradodd.com/inspiration
New writing about fears (top, Clare Kirkpatrick):
https://sandradodd.com/fears
New page addressing extreme nonsense presented as truth:
https://sandradodd.com/bullshit
Older page discovered and finished, on obstacles
https://sandradodd.com/obstacles
Addition and clean-up to page on better choices:
https://sandradodd.com/betterchoice
Long-lost page with Deb Lewis writing on the value of and recovery from mistakes:
https://sandradodd.com/mistakes
New description of first thoughts on "Service," second on the right, Parvine Shahid:
http://sandradodd.com/service (addition to existing page)
Memories related to TV viewing, featuring writing by Karen James, instigated and reported by Ronnie Maier
http://sandradodd.com/t/memories (new page)
Philosophy, kids, banking, death, omnipotence and The Simpsons
http://sandradodd.com/strew/simpsons (page updated, cleaned up)
the photo is a link
I got tired of making Thinking Sticks and I can't ship them overseas anymore without crazy-high shipping costs. Until I get around to making online randomizers, I'm sharing the word lists and directions. You don't need to use sticks and sharpies; there are other options. Some suggestions are in his first link:
Instructions in English and in French
Here is an introduction with links at the bottom to lists in French, Dutch and German and four English lists: American, British, Canadian and Australian.
http://sandradodd.com/thinkingsticks
These topics sound negative, as a group. Coincidence.
Not new, but never announced, it seems. (And some recent additions.)
http://sandradodd.com/judgment
Failure (to get unschooling, to support or maintain it)
http://sandradodd.com/failure
Nice new bit about self-regulation, from Sarah Carley Thompson, second from the bottom
http://sandradodd.com/self-regulation
Click the photo for lighter ideas.
Word-art and a quote (me, from a post otherwise not worth saving) added here:
http://sandradodd.com/mindfulofwords
How support for change is better than support for people remaining the same (new, second item)
http://sandradodd.com/support/problem
Some thoughts about "free rein" (not "free reign")
http://sandradodd.com/freerein
photo by Chrissy Florence, and it's a link
The learning curve of unschoolers has a plateau in the middle, it seems. Don't worry.
http://sandradodd.com/learningcurve.html
New, near the bottom, about the game Snakes and Ladders (and its purpose and history, with a new image):
http://sandradodd.com/game/snakesandladders
Video added, to go with the song lyrics that have been there for ten years and some, about rules/principles:
http://sandradodd.com/benrules
Sugar, children's need for it, and desire for it (additions to an existing page, bottom)
http://sandradodd.com/sugar
"no, thanks..." to birthday cake... (top of the page)
http://sandradodd.com/eating/sweets
Barbie (new writing by Robin Bentley, under "Memories" in the lefthand column)
http://sandradodd.com/barbie.html
Note added in box to right (positive comment found elsewhere):
http://sandradodd.com/words/
photo by Julie D; a link
Surprising change re: chocolate frogs, top of the page:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/sweets
Negative approaches to peace (battle, fight, struggle, strive... don't!!)
http://sandradodd.com/battle
Minor additions at the bottoms of two pages, both from 2004.
http://sandradodd.com/haveto
http://sandradodd.com/readalittle
New at the bottom of the page; related to what's right at the top.
SandraDodd.com/deschooling/
Deb Lewis, up top, about her son and related ideas:
SandraDodd.com/youngadults/
The villification of Christmas cookies, by parents who are not good coaches (near the bottom, two things added)
SandraDodd.com/eating/sugar
Why would a child eat pills, or laundry soap packets?
http://sandradodd.com/eating/poison
New quote added, by Karen Angstadt, third item, righthand side:
http://sandradodd.com/foodproblems
Added two notes at http://sandradodd.com/feedback/
Thank you for all the time you give. Giving people a great philosophy to live by is one thing but actually helping people to put it into practice is so much more.