Robyn Coburn, reading and vegetables

http://sandradodd.com/robyncoburn
Links to some of Robyn Coburn's writings

http://sandradodd.com/r/sandra
Two illustrations and an link added to a page about my kids learning to read

http://sandradodd.com/etymology
Also about reading, sort of (spelling, word histories), there are additions on the etymology page at the bottom.

http://sandradodd.com/eating/balance
New story there:

Holly has had braces since she was twelve years old. She's fourteen and they come off next month. On her Myspace page she has posted this:
Things to do when I get my braces off:
1. Have corn on the cob like all the time
2. Go to Shoney's and get like a ton of gum from their really cool 25¢ gum machine
3. Eat carrots until my skin turns orange
She doesn't chew gum much at all; never has. But she's frugal, and to spend a quarter to see that big gumball roller coaster work when she can't even eat the gum seems wrong to her. She has definitely been missing carrots, and grated carrots just aren't the same for her.—Sandra

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

Contents, Housework, Hannah Jenner

I've been working on the contents page. It will always be woefully
lacking, but it might lead you to some areas you hadn't seen lately
(or ever):
http://sandradodd.com/contents
I plan to work on it some more later today.

There's something new and inspiring about housework and chores, at
the bottom of this page, written today by CelticFrau/Nancy B.
http://sandradodd.com/chores/intro

That's Hannah on the left.

Diana Jenner's daughter Hannah died this morning, February 24. She
was nine and a half and had leukemia. Her dad died five years ago,
of cancer.

There is a new page concerning the coordination of family assistance,
because it was thought there would be a couple of years of
chemotherapy. The page will remain for a while, as Diana and Hayden
will need support. There are photos of Hannah, in case some of you
met her at Live and Learn conferences near Boston or St. Louis.
http://sandradodd.com/dianahelp the page is no longer up

Even those who don't know the family can benefit by remembering and
appreciating that we are with our children more than we might be in
other circumstances.

young kids, language, obsession, books

I'm sure all of these will be added to as time goes by.

http://sandradodd.com/language
Fun and Games with Language Arts

http://sandradodd.com/toddlers
A place to send people who ask about "pre-school" and toddler aged kids.

http://sandradodd.com/focus
This came up today, and gave me an excuse to link a couple of older bits.
What of a narrowly-focussed obsession or hobby? (I'd love additions for this.)

http://sandradodd.com//babytalk
From a conversation a week or two back, about whether it hurts or helps to avoid babytalk, or to use more than one word for an object or idea.

http://sandradodd.com/substance
I've saved a little file called "compost" for a long time, and got a reason to use it. There are links to other pages on "getting it."

http://sandradodd.com/bookbio
Stories about the power and importance of books. A couple of the stories I've told repeatedly are written down. Partly bio, partly evidence for book worship and such.

I made a mouseover!

Not a big deal for most people, but for me, big deal. House and yard page: if you hold the mouse over the photo of the kids, it should change.

I kind of liked the format of my dog and cats and flowers where they were before, and I don't like it yet here, but will keep working on it.

new and fun; not so important

I discovered the custom 404 page capability,

so make up a wrong SandraDodd.com/ address

or use this one if you want to see it.
http://sandradodd.com/wronglinksample

dads, music, nest, peaceful parenting

Good things for Unschooling Dads:
http://sandradodd.com/dads

New writing from Ren, and links about mindfulness and living more peacefully:
http://sandradodd.com/peacefulparenting

Links for goofing around with music (and others are welcome!)
http://sandradodd.com/music

Thoughts on creating an unschooling nest:
http://sandradodd.com/nest

That last one feels very incomplete, but it's better to let people know than to wait until I think it's "finished."

I'm trying to name things in simple, obvious ways, so these are
dads
peacefulparenting
music
nest

Sandra

Gamer as Artiste; interview; photos

The Gamer as Artiste, a 12/4/05 New York Times article linked from
http://sandradodd.com/videogames
(thanks to Joyce, who found the article)

In 1998 there was an interview in Home Education Magazine, with two photos. That was cut down from a longer version on the interview with three photos. I put the full version in Moving a Puddle, but have also now put it here:
http://sandradodd.com/interview

Several people have said the photos in Moving a Puddle were the best part for them, so I thought I'd make a hub page for photos of my kids, many of which are already out there (and others of which can be added as time goes on).
http://sandradodd.com/kids

photo (a link) by Irene Adams, my sister