Sunday, October 29, 2017

Wrong questions, spirituality, points



When we answer the wrong question:
http://sandradodd.com/wrongquestion

Something new by a mom named Tracey, on the page on spirituality.
http://sandradodd.com/spirituality.html

How DO people acquire respect or social credits?
http://sandradodd.com/points


photo (a link) by Cathy Koetsier

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Dentist, Trust, Waldorf


New page, because it comes up two or three times a year, about kids' teeth and options and compassion and such
http://sandradodd.com/dentist

New page, Karen James on trust (and I added some of her photos with links to other writings)
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/trust

Some parents say "oooh, Waldorf," with dreamy eyes. Unschooling is way better.
http://sandradodd.com/waldorf

photo (a link) by Karen James

Monday, October 9, 2017

Zen Everything, Interviews and a recommendation


There is something new, about a 19-year-old essay, "Knowing Everything."
If you haven't read it, you should (and the commentary).
If you have read it, read it again (which is what the commentary is about).
http://sandradodd.com/zeneverything

A text-chat-style interview was published in July that had been mostly unavailable for ten years. I've added it at
http://sandradodd.com/interviews
but its home is http://homeschoolrealm.com/sandra-dodd/

I was interviewed in June 2017 by Rebecca Bohman at The Luminous Mind. That podcast is available to hear here on YouTube:
Episode 197 - Sandra Dodd, “Everything Counts”

Jessica Hughes has a series I like called "An Unschooling Journey," on a new site called Steemit, about unschooling.
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-unschooling-journey.html

photo (a link) by Janine Davies

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Reality, for reals

These three links were brought here four years ago, but one has additions, and they're a good set.


New link added to page on reality (and note there that I created reality!)
Would you rather live in a stone-age village? Early 19th century sod house?
http://sandradodd.com/reality/

Unschool World, another sort of alternate reality
http://sandradodd.com/unschoolworld

Potential problems with Reality TV and unschoolers
http://sandradodd.com/problems/realityshows

The photo is by Bea Mantovani, and is a link.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Respect (problems), points, cursive



Today's links are to quite philosophical ideas—even the one on cursive writing ('joined up' writing, in the UK). Anyone thinking these things are off topic and can't help them unschool can go here instead: http://sandradodd.com/beginning, or check elsewhere around this announcements blog for something that does look fun.


"Some problems with respect"—newly on my site, but written in 2010.
http://sandradodd.com/respect/problems

Earning social points, and how they can be spent
http://sandradodd.com/points

Older page on cursive writing, never announced here, some photos were lost but thanks to The Wayback Machine, I could grab and replace them as they used to be.
http://sandradodd.com/cursive

photo (a link) by Janine Davies

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Not changing, changing slowly, changing quickly!


A story of NOT Changing—how people can plan and prepare and provision themselves and not actually accomplish any unschooling
http://sandradodd.com/change/not

August 31, in a presentation at the Free to Be Unschooling Conference, I said "Gradually move toward doing it right now."
It was amusing, so I told the audience I was writing it down. I have added it to the bottom of both of "Gradual Change" and "Do It", each with a link to the other page:
http://sandradodd.com/gradualchange
http://sandradodd.com/doit

painting and photo (a link) by Karen James

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Big Book, new feedback, abundance, Deb Lewis on peace



Quote added where there was a link before. Page clean-up.
http://sandradodd.com/bigbook/random.html

New quote, even with the top of the book-cover image:
http://sandradodd.com/bigbook

New by Caren Knox (near top) and Sandra Dodd (near the bottom):
http://sandradodd.com/abundance

By Deb Lewis, about peace, but it's on the indignation page:
http://sandradodd.com/indignation

photo (a link) by Lydia Koltai

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

"Deserve," fear-based action, change


"I deserve..." or "ALL children deserve..." is a signpost taking you down a brambly path.
http://sandradodd.com/deserve

Joyce Fetteroll, on fear-based actions; added at the bottom here:
http://sandradodd.com/foodfear/

Stories of How Families Changed (not a new page, but not announced before):
http://sandradodd.com/change/stories.html

photo (a link) by Lisa Jonick

Friday, August 4, 2017

Quotes, focus, ideas-not-individuals


New quotes added:

Emily Strength quote added to Do It
Meredith Novak quote added to Beginning
Sandra Dodd quote added (in Spanish in a graphic, and then the English original) to Quotes

It came up again, someone recommending "Non-Violent Communication" as an unschooling tool.
That's a problem.
http://sandradodd.com/nvc

Learning to participate in discussions of unschooling ideas: It's not personal.
http://sandradodd.com/notpersonal

photo (a link) by Gail Higgins

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Food as religion, fears and health


I don't consider any of these pages "finished," but they all have the starts of good collections.
Before about 2012, I wouldn't have thought they had anything to do with unschooling, but increasingly people are finding it difficult to unschool because of their dietary beliefs.

Food as a religion
http://sandradodd.com/foodreligion.html

Credentials (lack of value, in unschooling discussion)
http://sandradodd.com/foodfear/family

Choosing food fears over families, with a beautiful account by a mom named Nicole, box on the left:
http://sandradodd.com/foodfear/nutritionist

Health is NOT improved by nagging, says a study from the University of Copenhagen.
http://sandradodd.com/nagging

photo (a link) by Hannah North

Monday, July 31, 2017

Request for help, and many anniversaries


So on July 23, I asked for donations, with this link:
http://sandradodd.com/2017/

After September 2 (the 7th anniversary of Just Add Light), I won't ask again until 2020.

Thanks to those who have already helped!

AND ANOTHER THING (lots of things): It's been nine years since I reminded anyone about this feedback page:
http://sandradodd.com/feedback/

photo (a link) by Shonna Morgan

Monday, July 10, 2017

The fabric of life


Turns out there's a phrase I've used several times, "fabric of life".
http://sandradodd.com/Fabric

There was already a "fabric of life" page with writing by Schuyler Waynforth. I introduced it on this blog in 2013, though it wasn't quite new at that time. I didn't want to dilute the beauty of that page, so I made the new page with a capital F in Fabric. Later, whichever one you guess will lead to the other, too.

quoting from 2013:
The Fabric of an Unschooling Life (new page I had not previously announced):
http://sandradodd.com/fabric

photo (a link) by Sandra Dodd

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Comparisons and judgments

None of these are introductions to unschooling, but are about ideas at a more philosophical level. Some people like such things, and others don't.

Clean-up and additions (good ones!) to three pages considering judgment:

New writing, second item in right-hand column:
http://sandradodd.com/chats/comparisons.html

Addition of "All sin is equal?"
http://sandradodd.com/judgment.html

Additions and cleanup to a page about sleep, advice and defensiveness:
http://sandradodd.com/goodorbad.html

And one more bonus page, in which I implore unschooling parents to respect what their children love.
http://sandradodd.com/crap.html
photo (a link) by Sandra Dodd

Monday, July 3, 2017

Instinct, smells, defend yourself, divorce


Instinct—something beautiful by a nearly anonymous mom, and the beginning of a collection,
http://sandradodd.com/instinct

Smells and smelling (and instinct)
http://sandradodd.com/smells

An older page never yet announced, cleaned up, a bit harsh, but says this important thing:
"If someone can't defend a position to other unschoolers, how will they do with the relatives or the social workers?"
http://sandradodd.com/defendyourself

Addition to page on prevention of divorce (box, right), and follow links too if you haven't been there before.
http://sandradodd.com/divorce

photo (a link) by Sandra Dodd

Friday, June 16, 2017

Socialization, "just", Robyn Coburn

New writing, second item, about finding social experiences for children:
http://sandradodd.com/socialization

New page on problems with adding "just" to an otherwise powerful phrase.
(Not counting "Just Add Light and Stir," which is a reference to old advertisements for instant foods.)
http://sandradodd.com/just

New, Pam Laricchia interviewed Robyn Coburn. I've saved Pam's beautiful into, and more, as part of my Robyn Coburn collection:
http://sandradodd.com/robyn/interview

photo (a link) by Megan Valnes

Monday, May 15, 2017

Support, change, decisions

Addition to support, "I want my own child to do more than just survive," 3/4 of the way down:
http://sandradodd.com/support.html
and some other clean-up on that page

"Changes in Parents"—Pam Laricchia's second interview of Sandra Dodd:
http://sandradodd.com/parentschange

Newer photo of my three now-grown children next to one when they were 13-17 or so:
http://sandradodd.com/decisions

photo (a link) by Chrissy Florence

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Sharing, Glued (or not), Awareness



New writing by Karen Angstadt on the "Shared Experiences are Important" page, second item:
https://sandradodd.com/t/sharing

That item links to an addition on "Phrases to Hear and Avoid": Glued to the screen (Jo Isaac)
https://sandradodd.com/phrases#glued

Additions and links to "Your Mind and Awareness"
https://sandradodd.com/awareness

photo (a link) by Lydia Koltai

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Toothbrushing, research on food, Gilligan's Island


New page on how to get a child to brush teeth (because someone deleted a post with good responses)
http://sandradodd.com/teeth

Addition to page on research on eating:
https://sandradodd.com/eating/research

Several additions to the already-rich Gilligan's Island page, but if you're not on a computer you might not see all of it.
Don't try to live by your phone alone!
http://sandradodd.com/t/gilligan

photo (a link) by Jennifer Smith

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Strewing, writing, perspective (and zombies)


New, thoughtful acccounts and commentary by Karen James on strewing, bottom of:
http://sandradodd.com/strew/strew

New at the bottom, Marty Dodd on superheroes:
http://sandradodd.com/writing/seeing.html

New, two, top, by Belinda Dutch and Alex Arnott:
http://sandradodd.com/perspective

And something new on the still-new Zombie page:
http://sandradodd.com/zombies

photo (a link) by Erika Ellis

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Zombies, Changes and Changing


What might turn your child into a zombie? Rules, mostly. Or zombie attack.
The page isn't new, but I added new writing, lower right, and I had not announced it previously!
http://sandradodd.com/zombies.html

There are several pages now about changing—becoming better parents, changing terminology and ideas, becoming softer and less inflexible, understanding why the discussions are as they are. Not all are directly helpful to new unschoolers. Some are meta-discussion (discussing the discussions, or analyzing why some advice is given, or how it is given).

Announced here before:

Thoughts on Changing
http://sandradodd.com/change/

How Unschooling Changes People
http://sandradodd.com/change.html

Unschooling—Getting It
http://sandradodd.com/gettingit
photo (a link) by Roya Dedeaux
Thoughts on "yes" again (second section is an account of changes)
http://sandradodd.com/yesagain

Not announced before:
Negative opinions changed to positive
http://sandradodd.com/feedback/changed.html

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Unexpected, work ethic, terminology


New account of unexpected results and effects of unschooling, upper right, Janine Davies:
http://sandradodd.com/unexpected

Short beginnings of a page on whether or how to instill "a work ethic"
http://sandradodd.com/workethic

Additions, bottom, about when to say "homeschool" and when to be more specific (my writing):
http://sandradodd.com/terminology.html

photo (a link) by Janine Davies

Friday, February 3, 2017

Trust, connections, being offended



Newest addition at the bottom of the page on trust, plus smaller bits above that:
http://sandradodd.com/trust

New on Connections, about supporting a child's interests:
http://sandradodd.com/connections/example

Sometimes people jump to offense. Try not to.
http://sandradodd.com/offended

Sometimes people take pride in their indignation or whip themselves up into outrage.
The first link is more fun because it has Donald Duck. Don't be Donald Duck.
http://sandradodd.com/outrage
http://sandradodd.com/indignation


photo (a link) and the new writing at /connections by Beth Lamb

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Positivity, food fears, cautions & curses,


Addition, middle of page where it says "Words create mood. Words can BE negativity."
http://sandradodd.com/battle

Overcoming food fears
http://sandradodd.com/foodfear/

When I recommended that people read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch, even about things that aren't unschooling, I was sent some ill wishes on the side. There's commentary at the bottom, for those curious who don't want to read the whole new page:
http://sandradodd.com/readalittleother.html

photo (a link) by Melissa DeLong

Friday, January 6, 2017

Feedback, Too Much, Archeology

 photo TVSadieBugni.jpg
Several recent additions to the feedback page, tops of each column:
http://sandradodd.com/feedback/

Two pages that weren't announced when they were new:

"Too much"—prejudices against loving or doing anything "too much"
http://sandradodd.com/toomuch

The Use of Archaeology as Alternative Education, Helene McNeill
http://sandradodd.com/archeology

photo (a link) by Sadie Bugni

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Learning safely, Karen James

New by Karen James, about her first experience with virtual reality, but more than that...
http://sandradodd.com/learning

It links to and is linked straight from my Karen James collection, which also other links you might have missed:
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/

photo (a link) by Chrissy Florence

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Happier and more postive, considerations, interview




Happier and more positive: a happy quote added to a long page, but this links straight to it.
http://sandradodd.com/negativity#happier

Considerations about unschooling
http://sandradodd.com/considerations

Those considerations are a transcript of part of a recorded interview which is now here:
http://sandradodd.com/interviews/2012BaroneInterview.html


photo (a link) by Lisa Jonick