Certificate of Empowerment, 10th Anniversary!

I have one from the first batch of The Certificate of Empowerment
here. I thought they would be used just that one time, the first
time I spoke at a conference. It was a local conference here in
Albuquerque. I think I had 50 copies, and I signed and dated each
one with "real ink" (a Speedball pen and a blue ink). It says
3/23/96. (Apologies to Europeans—March 23, 1996.)

Since then I've had them photocopied and printed by offset with
colored ink on colored paper, and have passed out thousands of copies
by now and I don't date them, because I pass the extras out at the
next conference.

It's been TEN YEARS since I first spoke and passed those out. Seems
like... ten years.

Kirby was nine, and someone on a homeschooling discussion board
(there was no such thing in those days as a separate unschooling
forum) told other readers that they could disregard me
entirely because my oldest was only nine years old. I didn't know
what I was talking about, she assured everyone. I wonder if her
kids are as happy now, ten years later, as mine are?

Computers, Progress and Bribery

http://sandradodd.com/sex
Bit added, lower right, written by Deb Lewis and saved by me but only mounted this weekend! It's cute, and links back to the index page of Deb-stuff.

http://sandradodd.com/unschool/gettingit
Susan McGlohn whose e-mail looks like "wifetovegman" wrote something encouraging someone NOT to take her time getting to unschooling but to just get there directly. I added it to the collection called "getting it."

http://sandradodd.com/bribery
Someone asked whether offering kids an incentive wasn't bribery. This will be added, to, I'm sure. It's another of those things that makes me wish I had saved every good piece of others' writings on a topic.

Pam Sorooshian links, Deb Lewis lists, Strewing

I added some links to my Pam Sorooshian page. The writing was out there, but now will be more easily found: http://sandradodd.com/pamsorooshian Not a new page, but a reminder (and it has been linked another place or two): Economics of Restricting TV Watching of Children http://sandradodd.com/t/economics.html I also added to the Deb Lewis lists. Sometimes someone's writing speaks easily to a particular reader, and its nice to be able to give them more of the voice they like. http://sandradodd.com/deblewis My writing, from a post on unschooling discussion, added to http://sandradodd.com/strew/how There have been a couple of discussions in which people said strewing was manipulative and sneaky. I don't see it that way at all. If I know what kinds of things my children could use being exposed to to be more well rounded, or to "fill in gaps" in what they know, or to take them to another level of understanding, bringing those things up in physical or conversational ways is no more "manipulative" than bringing more fruit into the house if there hasn't been much fruit consumption lately, or bringing them bottles of water on hot summer days. I don't need to force them to eat oranges or drink water, but I can notice it might be good for them and make it appealing.

New TV love note

The following addition, with three links for biographical and photo-
reminder purposes, appears on "the Gilligan's Island page" and also
on its own page, though that one won't be linked unless other Star
Trek stuff presents itself down the line.

Star Trek leads to Science and Astronautics

LaVar Burton directed an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation,
on which astronaut Mae Jemison played the transporter operator. In
the commentary following the 6th season on DVD (interview November 8,
2001, on disc 7, "Communications: Bold New Directions"), he said:

Mae Jemison was really thrilling for me because May and Whoopi and I are all fans of the show and have had the conversation among
ourselves that Star Trek was hugely important to us as kids when we were growing up.

I read a lot of science fiction books, as a child. Science fiction was pretty much my body of literature of choice and it was rare, it was not very often, that I encountered heroes in the pages of those novels who looked like me.

So in Mae’s case, Mae Carol Jemison, first African-American woman in space, flew a shuttle mission— became first a scientist and then an astronaut because she watched Star Trek, and one of the messages that she received was that “This is a job that’s possible for you, too, little girl.” And so, to be able to bring Mae on Star Trek in an episode that I directed and just have her be transporter chief, but even more than that, to have Nichelle come by that day and to have the two meet was huge… huge.

For those who aren't Star Trek Fans, Whoopi is Whoopi Goldberg, who played the wise Guinan in TNG (The Next Generation), and Nichelle is Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, the communications officer, in the original series.

If anyone here doesn't know why it would go with Gilligan's Island,
maybe you haven't been to that page for a while! Check it out—
http://sandradodd.com/t/gilligan
http://sandradodd.com/t/startrek

Chores, ElleGirl article, Dinner fears and joys

Addition to the true tales of children helping with chores when they don't have to:
http://sandradodd.com/chores/tales

Holly is in an article in the April 2006 issue ElleGirl, a fashion magazine for teens. The article is on unschooling, and also quotes Brenna and Gail, and Roya Sorooshian. It mentions Kirby and Marty and quotes me. I've been quoted better. So in my frustration I wrote something that's not on the site proper, but some of you might want to read. It's here:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2006/03/first-flower-of-2006-and-other-little_02.html.
link to scan of article
What about Dinner?
Someone asked a good question and got some good answers at Always Learning. I saved some here:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/dinner