Turning Down Sweets

Another shocking but true tale of children turning down sweets:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/sweets
Nancy, righthand column.
That's one of the coolest pages on the site.

Kate O'Mara's review of my Big Book of Unschooling
http://whenkateblogs.blogspot.com/2010/01/sandra-dodds-big-book-of-unschooling.html

I've changed the index page of my site, a bit. Newer photos; more than one. Better link to the books.
http://sandradodd.com/

There's a new link on the TV page:
http://sandradodd.com/tv
(to Is "I Love Lucy" Educational? by Jan Hunt, The Natural Child Project)

The Santa Fe Unschooling Symposium was really fun, and tiring. There are photos here, and might be more eventually:
http://santafeunschoolingsymposium.blogspot.com/
Kirby took that photo of me (top right) there.

Two things not fully about unschooling, but I can justify listing them:

More on the letter David Bowie wrote me in 1967, including a bit about Holly (which she considers to be a misquote or a bad angle on what she said:
http://sandradodd.com/bowieletter

and an interesting connection (small-world shock) about my little pump organ:
http://sandradodd.com/organ
(a block of notes near the bottom)

Hindsight: What Would You Have Done Differently?

What would you have done differently?
http://sandradodd.com/hindsight
with links to a chat transcript and some other contributions.

http://sandradodd.com/hindsight/chat
http://sandradodd.com/hindsight/outside

Choicemaking, WoW, Vegetarians and Vampires

Pam Sorooshian's clear explanation of learning to make better choices:
http://sandradodd.com/betterchoice

Something new on World of Warcraft:
http://sandradodd.com/game/wow

New on the Monkey Platter page: Vampire monkey platter, and Robin Yaeger's beautiful vegetarian platter:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/monkeyplatter

Outside Links and inside news

My site is linked and I'm quoted in an article which I think is in Chinese, with the English line by line. Leo Babauta：教育需要彻底改变"
http://fanyi.edu2do.org/page/2
If someone can read that enough to leave a note below about whether the site is more about education or economics or what, and to confirm that it's Chinese and maybe let us know where it's from, that would be interesting and useful!


And so from that I found the original they were translating. It was at ZenHabits.net in August 2009: Education Needs to Be Turned on Its Head

I added a new quote to the random quotes generator:
Start with love and respect and all the good things follow—it is not magic, and it is a lot of hard work especially at the beginning. —Marina DeLuca-Howard
Quotes storage is here:
http://sandradodd.com/quotes
and the random generator is in the upper right corner here:
https://sandradodd.com/unschooling

There are many more David Bowie fans than there are unschoolers, and here's my evidence:
My site usually gets between 1000 and 2000 visits per day (SandraDodd.com in general, I mean, and most of that to the unschooling pages). One day last week I got 90,096 hits. That's because a blog called "Letters of Note" had picked up my David Bowie letter

Those first few that look like zeroes, on this scale, are 1240, 1334, 1142, 1596, 2339 (up a bit when the Letters of Note post first went up) but numbers like that don't show when the graph scale moves up to the tens of thousands. Interesting.

Trust, "success," TV & learning

Trusting Kids
Link added on my trust page to something Jenny Cyphers wrote:
http://sandradodd.com/trust

I'm the unschooling representative on a site called "Successful Homeschooling."
http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/unschooling.html
There's a free e-book comparing methods. It might be of use to some of you one way or another.

Another new thing on learning from TV
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning

Snakes and Ladders, Issues, Curricula

Snakes and Ladders
http://sandradodd.com/game/snakesandladders
Some boards have overt child-training themes; some don't.
Two new examples there and worth considering.

When Parents Have Issues
http://sandradodd.com/issues

Another page on curriculum usage has been dusted off and cleared up:
http://sandradodd.com/curriculum
(Thanks to Joyce for a link correction and a clarifying question.)

Sandra's Unschooling Symposium in Santa Fe

Most of the Presenters:

It's time to make reservations now!

More information is available with a Pay-Pal link or the optional address to which to send a check if you'd prefer (saves me the PayPal fees).

http://sandradodd.com/suss

Some information that's also on that page, if you'd rather read here:

I need forty families who have unschooled at least five years and who have a teen. If I don't get forty of those, I'll open it up to families with younger kids or less experience. Alternately, the conference would be good for parents of younger children who leave their children at home, or who bring another adult to stay with the kids and find them things to do in Santa Fe or around there. Driving is better than flying, or flying to Albuquerque and renting a car could work well. It's off the path of public transportation, pretty much. But if you wanted to take the light rail to Santa Fe (or fly into Santa Fe if you're decadently wealthy) and use taxis in Santa Fe, that's a possibility. You might want a car to go up to Ten Thousand Waves (Japanese hot-tub/spa, in the tall pines), or skiing or snowboarding at Ski Santa Fe, if you're so inclined.

This would be the first and best conference for which an EXCELLENT arrangement would be for two or three dads, or two or three moms, to come without families and share a condo. This could be a great vacation for unschooling parents who have made friends with other parents they don't get to visit much. And honestly, if the kids got video games for Christmas, they'll still be mesmerized back home and one of the parents could sneak off to Santa Fe pretty easily; maybe both, if there are awesome grandparents or other caretakers the kids trust to feed them during video game play.

Most conferences emphasize the social aspect, and have workshops to introduce people to how unschooling works. I want zero beginner questions, and all very-advanced sharing of unexpected outcomes. I'll be learning too, if we take all our "Yes it's working; how and why did it work?" energy and bring it into one place where we can discuss things in depth.

The site is "Fort Marcy Hotel Suites" but the name is misleading. It's not a hotel; it's a timeshare condo complex with one main building. People's doors open to the outside, there are steps, it's hilly, and could be snowy or icy. We don't have lots of rooms, we have one big room for presentations and evening meals, and a breakfast room that could be used for gathering and visiting during the day. All the activities will be focused and together.

One of the most expensive parts of conferences can be the food and the cost of the rooms. Our condo rates are very low, but can't be had unless one is registered for the conference in advance. Each condo has a full kitchen and so food can be prepared inexpensively. Dinners will be shared in the conference room--two catered as part of the conference fee (not fancy catering, but plain and fun), and one will be a potluck.

Kirby and Marty will take and set up Rock Band and Beatles Rock Band in their condo, and other kids are welcome to go there and hang out. There will definitely be a session of the teens and young adults telling stories and answering questions, and one for dads only, as well.

The condos can be packed full. Two families would fit into a three- bedroom. A two-bedroom will hold probably four or five people easily. Any one-bedroom will hold three people, unlike hotel rooms. The living rooms all have either a couch someone can sleep on, or a fold-out bed, or both. You could bring a futon from home, too, if you drive.

We will furnish firewood and kindling, and each condo has either a fireplace or wood-burning stove. That might not sound good this week, but in January in northern New Mexico I can tell you for certain that it's magical.

Photos are on the blog, scattered throughout the posts, with more to come as days pass.

http://santafeunschoolingsymposium.blogspot.com/

"just semantics"; words, words; TV

What is "just semantics"?
http://sandradodd.com/semantics

"Words, words, words." —Hamlet
The video at right has been added at the bottom of the Shakespeare page:
http://sandradodd.com/shakespeare

Learning from TV, two brief new stories added, top left:
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning

labels (not), being calm, and "have to"

Another mom has articulated why it helped to stop thinking of her child as a label, and start to look at the cool things he could do.
http://sandradodd.com/words/without

I put it at the link above, though I considered here:
http://sandradodd.com/labels

Once again I've started two trails. It happens.

Schuyler Waynforth wrote a post I've put on parenting peacefully (third down on the left)
http://sandradodd.com/parentingpeacefully
but I also put quotes and links back to it on the pages on breathing, spanking and moments rather than days:

http://sandradodd.com/breathing
http://sandradodd.com/spanking
http://sandradodd.com/moment

I have cleaned up what might be the most important page on my site. (Sometimes other pages seem the most important, I know, but this is an important one.)
http://sandradodd.com/haveto
There were some formatting problems and a few little typos and it's better now.

The photos are by Holly, of Diana's dog Buddha (and one self-portrait-with-dog), taken this week.

Interview (new sound file for you, free!)

I was interviewed last week and here is a sound file, photos and links!
http://sandradodd.com/listen/schwartzinterview

Cleanup in the Curriculum Aisle; Teens & Parents

...The professor and Mary Ann
Here on Curriculum Isle

I've touched up the "Curriculum Page."
Some of the links had failed, and the Italian page hadn't been linked here.
http://sandradodd.com/unschoolingcurriculum

"My kids are whole and full and so is my life BECAUSE of how we live it!"
Jenny Cyphers wrote something beautiful about teens' relationships to parents.
I added the account to the page on "How are they as people" in the teens section of my site:
http://sandradodd.com/teen/people

The photo is the dresser Holly bought at a thrift store and painted last week. She's living in Oregon for a while, and within a year, if plans hold, she'll have lived a while in Ashford, Surrey and then west of Montreal, in Quebec a while, all with unschooling families.

boredom, single parent, babies, yes, Big Book

The photos were taken by Holly at the Teen/Young Adult panel at the Good Vibrations conference earlier this month. At the left, Kirby Dodd has the mic. In the other photo, Marty Dodd is handing it off.

Some new ideas on dealing with boredom, at the bottom of the "Bored No More" page: http://sandradodd.com/BoredNoMore Can a single parent unschool? Katy Jenning's experience: http://sandradodd.com/singleparent Good comments on why to think of it as unschooling even when the child is very young: http://sandradodd.com/babies Something new about "Yes," near the top: http://sandradodd.com/yes.html

I have some other things to add, sent to me when I was out of town and then laid up. I'm working forward and backward both to try to keep up with the great things being written yesterday, and getting them where others can read them for the benefit of their own families! Also the Big Book of Unschooling is ready, and its short list of typos and errors follows the order page. The cover Holly did is beautiful in person, all glossy and yellow. http://sandradodd.com/bigbook/order http://sandradodd.com/typo There is a deletion noted in the post below this one.

Positive and negative feedback

To recent bits added, without names, to http://sandradodd.com/feedback

On the plus side... Sandra, I'm writing because I always wanted to write a fan letter :). I saw you in San Diego, and I saw you in Albuquerque. I have your books, and I've read a lot of what you've written online. I rarely read any list but Always Learning. And honest to God, I am grateful every day for you for sharing your life. I have three daughters... and none of them ever had to go to school. One of the reasons they've been spared is because of you. Thank you. But I really wanted to tell you that everyone in my family came in contact with at least one of your kids in some way in San Diego, and all of us were impressed. My oldest... told me that Marty was so funny, and Holly impressed my husband when she showed up at baby dolls and played with the littles, and Kirby knocked my socks off when he heard me talking about facebook. He said (and I'm paraphrasing), "I'll be your friend. Not on facebook. I'll just be your friend." Your children are so warm and sweet. And I loved seeing what my children have in store for them. Thank you for making a difference....

...and the minus: Note added September 28: A paragraph has been removed, following seven e-mails by its author, whose name I had neither saved nor remembered, demanding that I remove it. I won't name her name, but I'll save a few words from the post, not in order, not in phrases [lest she want to publish it someday, as she said she might (to help persuade me that I was violating her copyright)]. whackjobs (unschoolers), condescending, narrowminded, snobby, arrogant (of my website and the Always Learning list) I hope it was a change of mind, remorse and contrition that caused the writer to want those words removed. I hope her child has a happy life, at least as happy as those "narrowminded whackjobs" pictured below. As to arrogance, it's confidence. http://sandradodd.com/confidence

Some new pages are coming in a day or two. Here are all the Dodds and the Sorooshians, in a photo by Dan Vilter, from the Good Vibrations Conference last weekend. Click it for another one (both enlargeable from that other site).

Certificado de Apoderamiento / Certificate of Empowerment

Joanette Aponte Yunqué has translated the Certificate of Empowerment into Spanish.
http://sandradodd.com/empowerment/certificado
http://sandradodd.com/certificado

The original, with notes and links and Chevy-on-a-Stick:
http://sandradodd.com/empowerment

Socialization? and more video coming

What about socialization? Finally, a page about that oft-asked question:
http://sandradodd.com/socialization/

The movie is still being finished, but those who contributed to the startup funding will receive their advance bonus DVDs soon. When the final movie is done, it will definitely be announced here! And I'm hoping to get a chance to put the raw interviews up where can see them at the Good Vibrations Conference in a couple of weeks, too!

Spanking and lying and yelling! (NOT)

Spanking Makes Kids Lie
(and has been known to make parents lie, too)
http://sandradodd.com/s/lying
(an older page, refurbished because it's one of the links in the book)

New piece on "Change," by Shan Burton
http://sandradodd.com/change

Similar accounts to those about the changing effect unschooling has on lives are at the "getting it" link at the bottom of that page.

That's a Holly-self-portrait at the right. It's all one image.

Words, Italian curriculum for unschoolers

The beginnings of a new index page on Words. When I have the art done, I'll bring that too, but I'm working on a book this week, not on art.
http://SandraDodd.com/words
(the photo is not the word art I plan to do; click it to see me in Wales)

Melissa Dietrick's curriculum, in Italian
http://sandradodd.com/curriculum/italy
Melissa is living in Italy, and has Italian-speaking children, and has shared what she created and translated for use there.

Mathematik (article in German)

This is a new announcement of something a year old, but that's fine. I only just knew about it recently.

I had a request to write about mathematics for a German magazine, and sent it off and didn't hear about it for a while. Apparently the paper copy went astray, that they sent, and I was waiting patiently. Or rather I was busily distracted and forgot about it.

http://sandradodd.com/math (upper right)
http://sandradodd.com/math/unerzogen
Those lead to links to the publication's website, and the German version in PDF. It was translated by Niki Lambrianidou.

I also have the book cover complete, and the book almost so, with help thusfar from Keith and Holly Dodd, Jill Parmer and Robin Bentley. Holly has done the cover layout. I took some of the photos, did some of the hand art, and she did the photoshop magic to make it whole.

Schuyler's talk on TV, responses from London Conference

Follow-up on the London Unschooling Conference:

Schuyler's presentation on The Wonderful World of Television
http://sandradodd.com/schuyler/tv

A clarification of a story I didn't finish telling, and responses to questions on 3x5 cards from conference attendees:
http://sandradodd.com/musicroom








Schuyler took the photo, outside of a water mill we visited last week near Holt, in Norfolk.

clear to "Yes", chat, The Big Book Back Cover

Amy Kidwell let me quote her on my yes page, but there wasn't a good place for her quote where it couldn't get lost, and so this is what the Yes page looks like now:
http://sandradodd.com/yes

CHATS, and I'll list today's as a sample, but there are two a week, and could be more if there were enough interest.
The chatroom password is goodidea
and the chatroom itself is SandraDodd.com/room

MONDAY CHAT
also known as "too early Tuesday chat" in some parts of the world, and as ten-to-midnight-chat in the U.K.

Maybe this time if there aren't pressing needs, I'd like to talk about the more serious core of unschooling—how it works, and what the principles are.

Two hours, beginning:

Pacific: 2:00 pm Monday
Mountain: 3:00 pm
Central: 4:00 pm
Eastern: 5:00 pm
England: 10:00 pm Monday

Pune, India: 2:30 am Tuesday

Naranara, NSW: 7:00 am Tuesday

New Zealand: 9:00 am Tuesday

The back cover of the book is finished; Holly made it and sent it to me.
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/holly-sent-back-cover-for-book.html

More Random Opportunities

I've added over 20 pages to the random page generator, and then I broke it two different ways, so if you tried it and it didn't work, I think it's working again.
http://sandradodd.com/random

I'm in England staying with Schuyler Waynforth and her family. I'm collecting photographic trivia here:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com
(If you come across this and it's not July 2009 anymore, check there in the blog archives.)

"Special programs"; Kelly L. defines unschooling; LND

Being your child's partner even in the face of special education programs
http://sandradodd.com/special/program

"What exactly is unschooling? I thought it was another name for homeschooling."
http://sandradodd.com/kellylovejoy/whatisunschooling

Learn Nothing Day has been criticized again.
http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/critics
I love when that happens. I didn't mean for it to be a trap for outsiders. I meant for it to be a fun trap for INsiders!

If any of you see any natural, candid criticism out there of Learn Nothing Day, please leave a link below or e-mail me. Thanks!
If you'd like to put a link to that page on your blog or site, you can lift the code with logo here:
http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/images

Toddlers, a good "No," Terminology

More on Piaget and what toddlers can't yet learn by Pam Sorooshian:
http://sandradodd.com/piaget
(bottom left)

Alex Polikowsky and the huge manure pit (down at the bottom)
http://sandradodd.com/no
(the bottom of the page, not of the huge manure pit—eeyew)

So I'm workin' on this book, and generally I'm summarizing or quoting from a page and then putting the page address in case the readers want to put down the book and go to the website for more information. It turns out I didn't have a page on particular unschooling terminology. There's not much of it! But whereas most of the book will be the website in book form, this page is the book in website form. (One small part of it, anyway.)
http://sandradodd.com/terminology

Piaget, School/"child-led", typical overnight

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
http://sandradodd.com/piaget
I made a page from an unschooling point of view; it's worth knowing but it's not worth making a religion about.

On the page about public school on your own terms, I've added a note (in a box, halfway down on the right). That article is twelve years old, in September, and I wanted to note some changes in my awareness.
http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice

Typical day (though it was at night)
http://sandradodd.com/day/robynnight

(The photo is Kirby and Marty, in Austin, a few days ago. They are 22 and 20 years old. There's a shadow behind them that looks a little like a dirty halo.)

Being friends, eye contact, fathers' day thoughts

Keith and Holly, two days ago

Pam Sorooshian, mostly, on whether children need a parent or a friend:
http://sandradodd.com/friend

Some comments on the value and uses of making eye contact:
http://sandradodd.com/eyecontact

On Being a Father, "Father's Day maunders," link, quote and backup link added to
http://sandradodd.com/dads

Quality time, things to hear

What do we mean by "quality'? What do we mean by "time"?
http://sandradodd.com/being/with

New index page about things to listen to:
http://sandradodd.com/listen
For the "Big Book of Unschooling" I'm working on I needed a single link instead of several. I had expected the book to be created from the website; didn't know the book would be building on the website, but that's fine.

Help needed with a project

Lee Stranahan who, with his wife Lauren, performed the technical wizardry that made Peaceful Parenting and some of my other talks available to hear free, has been interviewing me quite a bit, and Holly some, and plans to interview Broc and Brenna (maybe Gail and Logan) later this month, and who has personal family experience to share, is creating a DVD about unschooling but needs starter funding. Click that box for more details.

That's their daughter, Olivia, in the photo.

Some of the things the Stranahans have already made available to unschoolers on my site:

http://sandradodd.com/introduction

http://www.sandradodd.com/parentingpeacefully

http://sandradodd.com/video/

Here's more by and about Lee Stranahan:http://leestranahan.com/

Thanks for considering this!

To read and to hear and attend

Holly and Ben in Silver City this week.

Two new transcripts for videos,
http://sandradodd.com/video/sandra2
http://sandradodd.com/video/sandra3

One new-improved (I found the handout) audio file from when my kids were 9, 7 and 4 years old:
http://sandradodd.com/introduction

Monkey Platter Festival Confirmed for November 10-12, 2008, Albuquerque
http://sandradodd.com/festival09

Details, intelligences, another transcript

Some details of unschooling in Ronnie Maier's life and words, and links to others':
http://sandradodd.com/day/meme

New info, also by Ronnie, at the bottom of this page:
http://sandradodd.com/intelligences
(Not new by Ronnie, but new on my site and by Ronnie.)

"How Do they Learn?"
http://sandradodd.com/day/meme/caren

The first of the YouTube videos Lee Stranahan made of me has a transcript now:
http://sandradodd.com/video/sandra1

relatives, the problem with "support," phrases to avoid

Transcript of a chat from June 1, 2009:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/relatives


The problem with "support"...
http://sandradodd.com/support/problem
(mostly Joyce's writing)


Two new links on the "Phrases to Avoid" page;
http://sandradodd.com/phrases

Clarity, a day in NYC, Detox

What makes thoughts and and words "clear"? How might "a clear singing voice" be described to someone who is deaf?
http://sandradodd.com/clarity

Out and about in New York City: a recent day reported
http://sandradodd.com/day/meryl

Fourteen years ago there was a chat. The transcript was available for a few years after and then time passed. Today it's available here:
http://sandradodd.com/detox

More Stores, Geography, Transcription of Holly

There are some new photos of kids in stores, and a few links at "Stories of Stores" https://sandradodd.com/stores

Newly famous places: Pop Culture sites (ties movies and music to geography, with photos!) has been added to the geography page
https://sandradodd.com/geography (Joyce Fetteroll sent that link to the Always Learning list)

Katherine Anderson transcribed Holly's little video for adreanaline who comes to the chats and is deaf.
https://sandradodd.com/video/holly

Katherine is going to transcribe one or some of the youtube videos of me, too, so if you have friends who can't see video on their computers or can't get youtube or who are hard of hearing, links will be on the videos page to transcripts as they come up.

Seeing without labels, natural reading, "chop wood"

Michelle Thedaker wrote about the change unschooling is making in the way she sees her son.
http://sandradodd.com/words/without
http://sandradodd.com/labels

The reading page has been cleaned up a bit. The older the page, the more likely it is to have no margins or other formatting left over from when I was just first learning. I still have a lot to learn about web pages, but this one is "new improved."
http://sandradodd.com/reading

I guess the definition of "my site" needs to be expanded to include some of my blogs, which makes sense. They're just more interactive pages where you can leave messages directly! The video I've put here reminds me of the wood splitting opportunity there will be at the Santa Fe symposium (SUSS). (Keith will provide hatchets and axes, and will advise and serve as safety officer.) There's a new post there, too:
http://santafeunschoolingsymposium.blogspot.com/

---

I changed the videos on my main page
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
and started a videos page here:
http://sandradodd.com/videos

THANK YOU again, Lee Stranahan, for your interest in these ideas and for what you're able to do with artistry and technology!
(http://leestranahan.com/)

pressure, gradual change, sleep

A flash player once embedded here is gone, but click for a slide show!

Pressure: pushing vs. allowing interest https://sandradodd.com/joyce/pressure

Coming to unschooling gradually: https://sandradodd.com/gradualchange I'm starting to wish I had pushed this page sooner and harder, to help people prevent problems.

There's something new by Joanna Murphy, which links to that plus some more, on the sleeping page: https://sandradodd.com/sleeping (1/3 of the way down or so) and some new photos

Stories of Stores (well, I have one so far...) https://sandradodd.com/stores

Right up top, a new description of deschooling by Robyn Coburn. Short and strong: https://sandradodd.com/deschooling

"cheese and crackers," me on others' blogs

Something new by Lissa in San Diego, on simple, practical ways to show love:
http://www.sandradodd.com/peace/becoming.html
(lower left)

Me on other blogs:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/

It's my writing, but not new on my own site, so this is a borderline announcement. :-)
I'm featured on one blog today, and was on another last week, and there are another couple of cool things there.

comparisons, and a speaking schedule change

Chat transcript for Monday's "comparisons and judgments" chat:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/comparisons

The June 13 "unconvention" is being postponed until some time in the fall. There might be one in Los Angeles in addition to the one in Albuquerque; I'll let you know as I learn more.

In November or maybe October (or maybe early December), we're having guests from India—Ravi and Hema Bharadwaj and their children Raghu and Zoya. I promised to invite some other unschoolers with young children over, and now it's turning into a three day opportunity to meet other unschoolers. Because the January symposium isn't really geared toward beginning families or younger kids, this is an partner-plan.

It's still unformed, but in my head I'm calling it The Monkeyplatter Festival, and I'm hoping to have three days—one at Explora, one swimming/water play and one at my house and the park near me. When the date's known, I'll arrange good days and opportunities for those other activities. Conference fees? Nothing. Out-of-towners might get a conference rate at the new water park hotel if I can arrange that (all still to be determined), and we might have a room there for a gathering with a couple of speakers, or we just might not even bother. But somewhere there will be inexpensive lodging suitable for little kids, and I'll get a group rate at the museum, and we can have a monkey platter feast and work party at my house one day (with playground opportunities for anyone who wants to walk two blocks to the playground!). I need to do a couple of things before the Santa Fe Symposium that will be easier and more fun with other people. Nothing difficult at all...

children's food choices, changing, speaking

There's a new account at the bottom of True Tales of Kids Turning Down Sweets
http://sandradodd.com/eating/sweets
and a photo.

The full version of that account is here:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/susanmay

There's been a page on "getting it" for a long time, but I've just made a new one about the first glimmers of getting it, which is another state of being worth considering.
http://sandradodd.com/change/

At the request and urging of some of my readers, I'm including videos on my front page now. I think it can help people read my words better to see how they're presented in person. With apologies to those who wish I had a different accent or was better looking, they're here:
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling

Mystery art, another random generator, new quotes

http://sandradodd.com/mystery
The new image in the upper left leads to a couple of new pages. Follow the trail.

I'm never sure whether to include my family blog as part of the site, but for those who would vote yes, I've put a random generator there, in the upper left. It has 2005-2007 in, and I'm half finished with 2008.
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com

The quotes collection has some new items at the bottom:
http://sandradodd.com/quotes/

Thanks, all, for reading!

Joy, Gratitude, Service and Gifts

"Maybe dishes make other people joyful. Maybe that's why they think I should be joyful while doing dishes. Hmmm . . . maybe I am OK not being joyful every minute. Maybe this isn't a problem for me. Maybe I don't need someone to tell me it's OK not to be ceaselessly joyful."

Yep, someone actually wrote that on an unschooling list. But luckily, I saved Ren's response!
It's been a while, but that page is all spruced up now and connected to the one below it.
http://sandradodd.com/gratitude

In Friday's chat, the topic turned to older kids jumping up to help bring in groceries and put them away. Then it turned to service, and that idea at a pretty deep level, so I saved all that.
http://sandradodd.com/service

Good URLs, huh? Easy to remember or to guess. This one, not so much. An oldie but goldie I've linked back and forth with the two above.
http://sandradodd.com/chores/gift

Cleaned up, and image added to the index page of the chores section:
http://sandradodd.com/chores
(That used to be chore without an "s" and I changed it, so if you had it bookmarked or linked anywhere, if the link doesn't work, just add the "s".)

Tone of Voice, Jenny, Jill

Tone of Voice and Joy
http://sandradodd.com/tone
(not new, but spruced up with notes of improved access to information, and a talk you can hear freely that used to cost money)

A page to link to things Jenny Cyphers has written, with two sub-pages:
http://sandradodd.com/jennycyphers
http://sandradodd.com/jennycyphers/dance
http://sandradodd.com/jennycyphers/tv

There are photos on the page about Jill's 7th Anniversary of Unschooling now. Puppies. Seriously...
http://sandradodd.com/milestones/jill

Reading without hearing well, Seven Years Unschooling

Something new from Ruth, in Yorkshire, on Encouragement and Confidence about Reading
http://sandradodd.com/r/encouragement
(there at the top)

Because Jill Parmer wrote something very sweet about their Seventh Anniversary of Unschooling, I created a new section.
http://sandradodd.com/milestones

If any of you have similar times of note in your lives and would like to write, or if you've already written or blogged and would like to have your special event or time linked or included, please let me know.

Another newly finished and deposited for your reading enjoyment:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/bilingualfamilies
That turned into a discussion on ASL (American Sign Language), and other things, so although it ties in to the hard of hearing and deaf, Ruth is in the U.K. so some of those resources might not be good, though Four Weddings and a Funeral has a deaf Englishman signing.

Video Interview by Lee Stranahan

Video, part one, of an interview with me. This is on the blog of the UnConvention to be held in Albuquerque in June, and which might also be held later in Los Angeles, I hear. It's small and inexpensive! If you watch it there, maybe leave a note so the organizer will know someone's looking. Lee Stranahan, who's created the conference, also made the video.

Toddlers, Infants, and The Chewbacca Defense

Thanks, Tammy in Australia, for the new title art for the toddler page:
http://sandradodd.com/toddlers

It also appears here, in the righthand column:
http://sandradodd.com/youngchildren

Joyce shared a hundred-year-old poem on the treatment of infants:
http://sandradodd.com/culture/infants

To Get More Jokes
The Chewbacca Defense video has disappeared. I have another one.
This one will someday disappear. Watch it before it too is a bad link.
http://sandradodd.com/connections/jokes


I wish to thank Brad Holcomb for generating a report on my site that shows broken links. About four percent of my links were broken, but many of them are fixed now. Nancy Wooton also sent a list of broken links, some of which are still broken because some people just don't keep their sites up forever. Those are on my list to repair or to drop from the video games page. If any of you find bad formatting, typos or broken links, please let me know. I'd rather fix them than let them stay there. Typos or informalities in quotes from online discussions can stay, but if they make something confusing or scatological, please send a note with a link to the page it was on. Thanks!

cleaning up seen as replacing a canvas; being

"Now I think of cleaning up after my kids as replacing a canvas."
Not new, but new on my site, and one of the best quotes ever.
Third item here:
http://sandradodd.com/chores/shift

This little exchange was posted at the Always Learning List, so I'm sharing it and the link it rode in on:

I just wanted to jump in and say that this link is exactly what I needed right now in this moment. Thank you for posting it.

I have been needing that link too, Maisha. That's why I posted it.

So let's just keep posting it. :D It really is very good.

~Katherine

http://sandradodd.com/being

Speaking in June, How To Unschool, and live chats

I'm speaking in Albuquerque in June.
Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 10:00 AM
http://unconvention-abq.eventbrite.com/

Several "how to unschool" posts have been gathered together. There's a new directory page for them here:
http://sandradodd.com/howto

Online chats continue. There are regular text chats early in the week (Monday afternoon at my house) and late (Friday morning at my house) and times for regular chatters are listed here:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/regular

Hema Bharadwaj and I are working on a time for a chat that will work for her in India. It might be Sunday mornings at my house, Sunday evenings at hers. It's not a good time for New Zealand, but with enough regular chats, everyone should be able to get in on one.

The advertisement-free chat room, passworded so trollers don't find us, is $15 per month, and if anyone would like to contribute to this, funds would be gratefully accepted though my regular e-mail address, at PayPal.

UNESCO report, chores, BEing with children

An UNESCO report places the UK an the US on the lowest places of a list of countries, looking to the well-being of children, and places the Netherlands on the top of the same list.
http://unschooling.blogspot.com/2009/04/britain-and-us-worst-places-for.html

Deb Lewis on how a parent can overcome feeling "taken advantage of."
http://sandradodd.com/chores/unfair

Transcript of chat on *being* with kids
from Wednesday, April 1, 2008
http://sandradodd.com/chats/being

abundance, changing the world, Joyce, "educational stuff"

Abundance
http://sandradodd.com/abundance

"New Improved" page. This writing has been published under two different titles, "Thoughts About Unschooling," and "Changing the World." It's written for people who don't know much about homeschooling, and so might be useful for sharing with relatives.
http://sandradodd.com/thoughts

I made a random page search for Joyce Fetteroll's page. It's on my own Joyce index page and also in the upper right corner of her page now:

http://sandradodd.com/joycefetteroll
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/

Thought on the use of intentional/professional "educational materials" by unschoolers:
http://sandradodd.com/stages/materials

I hadn't shared the new art
for "the randomizer" here.
My friend Bo King did it,
who also did the trees
for my unschooling page.

A child's interests, food, and quotes

New story on the Focus, Hobbies, Obsessions page, lower left:
http://sandradodd.com/focus,
and below that, a link to a Pam Laricchia article (created from a 2007 conference presentation), with graphics.

Transcript of the second food chat, with some good links and a great little video:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/food2

Messy full version of the chat on ideas, quotes, affirmations (or maybe the edited chat, depending when you read this)
http://sandradodd.com/chats/affirmations

Two upcoming chats are listed at
http://sandradodd.com/chat

New title art by Jack and Lauren Stranahan at
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns

Sandra Speaking (and travelling lots and a little)

My next four speaking engagements are detailed on my own blog. They are Albuquerque, London, San Diego and Santa Fe. That is one cool set of places!!!!!

Monkey Platters, Winning Images

           

Every person who has come into the house since yesterday has been recruited to choose a favorite and second favorite of 17 photos. I will contact the creators of those winning images separately. The names have been separated from the pictures, so I'll need to go through the notes to see whose is whose, but the three at top are the first, second and third place winners in that order.

I'm grateful to everyone who participated. Thanks!

These also have special mentions:
Marty's favorite:

Keith liked the colors on the one at the left, and said he would be like to taste the one at the right, more than the others. (But Keith's an old guy, and monkey platters are for kids to have variety, so it's just a comment. )

    
I really like this one myself, for the perspective and the colors: