Good Vibrations Conference Site is open

UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE backdate!? The conference was a good one, and some of the talks are preserved. The photo link below might not work anymore, but the photo and a link to other talks from that conference is here: http://sandradodd.com/listen/connections

Holly took a photo of me especially for the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference web site, and it's here:

http://goodvibrationsconference.com/presenters.php

It's nearly a year away, but it will be the first time I've spoken near San Diego. I've been in Long Beach and that area before, and Sacramento, and Tempe (near Phoenix)and will be again in March '09), but haven't spoken in the San Diego area. I'm looking forward to it. I hope Kirby will be with me, but it's too far away to know his scheduling requirements. If he can't go, I hope Holly can.

sweets, principles, what it is

True Tales of Kids Turning Down Sweets
http://sandradodd.com/eating/sweets.html
New story, second item, in which a three year old hands back half a honey-ball in favor of pickled garlic

New intro page on principles
http://sandradodd.com/principles/
"I was all, 'what is all this rules vs. principles stuff anyway?' Now, in my unschooling, it seems like the most important part."

These pages were spruced up a bit and I thought it might be a good time to send their links out again for anyone who didn't know about them or who had forgotten about how much can be gained by just re-centering on the basic concept:
http://sandradodd.com/unschool/definition
http://sandradodd.com/unschool/moredefinitions

Holly took this photo of me and Keith, and animated photos I took of her and her boyfriend Brett, above. more

bad words, TV, following your heart

A link added to the page on Language
http://sandradodd.com/language/
about "Bad Words"
http://sandradodd.com/language/bad

Unexpected Learning and TV has been spiffed up and a brief video of Jackie Chan talking about TV has been added
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning

"Follow your heart"?
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/followyourheart
Joyce Fetteroll does it again.

An unschooled teen's viewpoint:
http://sandradodd.com/teens/dagny
"Leap of Faith," the text of a May 2008 presentation by Dagny Kream

It's possible to subscribe directly to all these blogs now:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com (Dodd house)
http://unschooling.blogspot.com (media announcements)
http://thinkingsticks.blogspot.com (ideas for the sake of ideas: strewing and exploring)

respect for children, change in the parents

Something new to this page (not newly written; something Ren wrote a
while back):
http://sandradodd.com/notfunny
(at the bottom)

New at the top. Important throughout.
http://sandradodd.com/change

Two new bits, upper right:
http://sandradodd.com/gettingit
(Also a new guessable address for that page. The old one, unschool/
gettingit, will redirect.)

Radio References, World, "Support"

There are comments and links, about that podcast interview I did here:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/09/corrections-and-comments.html

I've lifted and preserved a blogpost that compared me to Dr. Laura:
http://sandradodd.com/feedback/drlauraofunschooling
(and there's a link to the original blogpost, so you should probably read it there)

There are several additions and updates to the regional group links:
http://sandradodd.com/world

For possible future use when people complain that the Always Learning list or UnschoolingDiscussion isn't "supportive," I have created a self-serve, interactive support site on which people can stay as long as they like.
http://sandradodd.com/support
Take it as seriously as you wish to. Click at your own risk.

Here's a spooky picture of Holly and me at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, at a display on the history of computers

Podcast and conferences

Kim Campbell will interview me Monday, September 8 on her Relaxed Homeschooler podcast. The show is 90 minutes long. I'll be in the last hour. It starts at 9:30 at my house (mountain standard time) but if you go to the page you'll have an opportunity to get notification and it will know your own time zone. So go there before the day, and again then!

(It's here.)

Two conference appearances are confirmed for 2009 and another couple have been mentioned as possibilities (news as it arrives).

March 7-8, 2009
HENA 2009 Conference
Tempe, Arizona

All my kids will be there, and Pam Sorooshian and all of hers. This is a big deal, never before seen, and probably a once-only happening.

September 10-13, 2009
Good Vibrations Conference
San Diego/Del Mar, California

Flo Gascon's new unschooling conference!

"Unschooling" (the word itself)

What inspired "Unschooling" as a term? I have written a report (with videos and images):
http://sandradodd.com/unschool/theterm

Mindful of Words, housekeeping, "Autodidact"

How important are words? When they're all you've got, they're all-important.
http://sandradodd.com/mindfulofwords

There's a new link on the chores page
http://sandradodd.com/chores
concerning hiring or bartering for housekeeping
http://sandradodd.com/chore/hiredhelp

An unschooling dad (with the help of his daughter) has made a techno/electronica style song called "Autodidact." It's instrumental except for that word. It can be heard or downloaded free from MySpace. There is information and a link here:
http://sandradodd.com/music/autodidact
and a link at the music page
http://sandradodd.com/music

Restrictions, guns, multiplication

A quote from the toy guns page has been added at the bottom left of
http://sandradodd.com/spoiled

Three photos have been added to the "peaceful kids with toy guns" section at the bottom of
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns

There's a new multiplication story on the times tables page, by Lisa W.
http://sandradodd.com/timestables

Yes, and Winning Images

Jenny C. wrote something about saying "yes" which has been added here:
http://sandradodd.com/yes
(to the left of "My Favorite Word," the green box)

Winners of the Learn Nothing Day image contest

Animal: Mark, at greenraven.blogspot
Mineral: Flo Gascon and Camille Lavallee at sumbthucker.blogspot
Vegetable: Anza Firetail at deviantart
Video: MD and Alex Polikowsky at YouTube

More information is here: http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/08/learn-nothing-day-follow-up.html

Learning about Learning, and House Concerts

Madeline wrote something wonderful a few days ago at http://barn-raising.blogspot.com/2008/07/trying-to-take-break-from-learning.html
It's not technically on my site, but a link to it is.

Trying to Take a Break From Learning

Sandra Dodd's Learn Nothing Day has arrived! Unschoolers everywhere are finally taking a break. Kids who go to school get many breaks. Now we get one too.

So... how is it going? Well, my kids are at a fort-building camp this week and are staying with their cousin so I can tell you that they are not participating. Gillen told me on the phone that he is taking notes about this fort they are building so that he can come home and build one here. I am hoping he will then teach me to build a studio in the yard.

As for me, I have failed, as I knew I would, and am learning about all of the back-logged thoughts in my head that are having room to be heard in this quiet house.

There is no such thing as not learning. I challenge you to try! That is what makes our chosen path - unschooling - so delicious. We are learning all the time, even when we are "just" having fun, doing what people might term extra-curricular activities and even when we are quietly doing nothing—just letting what we have learned marinate and giving it space and time to morph into something new.

Six years ago, when I was reading about unschooling on discussion lists for the first time, I was intrigued by the idea that kids' natural curiosity, accompanied by committed parental support of their passions, could start them on a journey that would teach them everything they would ever need to know. Having embraced this philosophy for over five years now, I see that it is true. The more I trust that they know what they need, the more they thrive.

I expose them to a lot of possibilities and they pick and choose. They expose me to new ideas and pursuits as well. They talk and I listen. Sometimes I talk too much, and they don't listen and that's always a sure fire way to create a road block to relationship and joyful learning. Things go much better when I shut up more and really listen.

Sorry to talk so much on learn nothing day. I am embracing my failure to not learn and am recommitting to trust this process even more completely from here on out.

And a different thing:

http://sandradodd.com/kellylovejoy/houseconcerts

Dads, Obsession, Sleeping

I've added some blogs of unschooling dads here:
http://sandradodd.com/dads
If any of you know of others that might be added, please let me know. Thanks.

Focus, Obsessions, Hobbies
http://sandradodd.com/focus
Page updated, new title art by Holly (not hand done this time, but something she knows how to do that I don't.)

Because of KT's Learn Nothing Day post, I added photos of her kids to this page:
http://sandradodd.com/sleeping
If you click them you can see her original post, which leads to Learn Nothing Day, which leads to a long list...

Well here:
http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday
which has a growing list of sites and blogs with a link to Learn Nothing Day, which is only two or three days away (two and a half at my house while I write this, and maybe two if you read it Tuesday morning). There's a lot of reading to be had on those links!

The Learn Nothing Day contest has some entries in, and I figure other images will be made on the day itself and sent afterwards. My plan is to have the entries gathered and available for viewing by the 28th, and winners announced by the 31st.

Thank you all for your interest in my own personal obsession!