"Fell in shit and came out smelling like roses" - teenage trouble
http://sandradodd.com/teen/trouble
Addition to a page about adults looking back at what they've learned from TV.
http://sandradodd.com/t/gilligan
Dola, in New Delhi, telling what she has learned of the world beyond India (bottom of the page)
Something new on the Multiple Intelligences page:
http://sandradodd.com/intelligences
(at the bottom, something Katherine Anderson wrote last night)
New online (and it's on my site!)
One Dad’s Journey Thru Unschooling (full text)
Phil Biegler—Northeast Unschooling Conference, Wakefield, MA, August, 2010
http://sandradodd.com/philbiegler/NEUC2010
It will have photos eventually; when it does, I'll link it here again.
Hema Bharadwaj, on video games, added to this page:
http://sandradodd.com/game/benefits
(righthand column)
Not new, but new on my site. I've lifted and slightly tweaked a year-old blogpost by Shannon Burton, a beautiful juxtaposition of words and images, about the rules for meals in her childhood, and the way her own children eat.
http://sandradodd.com/eating/childhood
(Thanks to Kelly Lovejoy for pressing me to help make sure that item was seen by more people.)
 Holly, by Holly, last week |
Just like ALL learning, learning how to live comfortably and happy are really wonderful things. It takes a focus on turning away from what you know you don't like and turning towards something else, that something else that creates happy learning and living. Unschooling really is a shift in thinking and then acting on it.
A little interview, different from others!
http://naturalparentingcenter.typepad.com/natural_parenting_center/2010/08/interview-with-sandra-dodd.html
My favorite part is the last section which begins:
5. How have you created such a successful presence/business while pouring your heart into family?
Gradually. It's not "a business" so much as it's a self-supporting mission. (...and I include Keith and the kids in the description and "credits.")
Clean-up and a video added at Words, Words, Words
http://sandradodd.com/words/words.html
Connections: an example (new page)
http://sandradodd.com/connections/example
Dads, by dads, for dads (link to something new by Phil Biegler, up top)
http://sandradodd.com/dads
Alison Potter, of Glastonbury, Somerset, wrote:
We came to the London Unschooling conference in 2009. I loved listening to you, you were my favourite—you made so much sense to me and left me with a lovely warm glow. Thank you for your website full of amazing tales of wonder and discovery and for your love of life and children. Sometimes i need a paper reminder... Do you do daily email reminders too?And so in response to Alison Potter, who already has both my books and who wants more input, I'm launching a series of frequent (perhaps daily) notes.
New Page: Learning about values and coins in and around games
http://sandradodd.com/coins
From 2002, an article by Kathy Ward, newly transcribed and available again after some years.
http://sandradodd.com/people/kathyward/videogames
An addition to the page on Phrases to Hear and Avoid:
http://sandradodd.com/phrases
New page on owning and washing dishes: http://sandradodd.com/dishes Additions to the valuable "gradual change" page, nearly halfway down http://sandradodd.com/gradualchange Pam Sorooshian and Leah Rose "The leaps I've tried to take always seem to leave me feeling shaky and uncertain that I'm on the right track. When I inch forward in baby steps the ground feels solid and I know I'm heading in the right direction." ~Leah RosePartnership with children http://sandradodd.com/partners/child Lyla Wolfenstein and Pam Sorooshian, second section |  |
Added another good new story, at the bottom, by Pam Sorooshian.
http://sandradodd.com/chores/tales
Jenny Cyphers, on finding abundance in simple ways
http://SandraDodd.com/abundance
Breathing (and abundance), right side halfway down, Glenda and Leah Rose:
http://sandradodd.com/breathing
A quote from that:
I took a deep breath, and as I inhaled I felt my whole being kind of slide into place—it was weird, almost a tangible sensation—and suddenly I felt completely peaceful.
Several new accounts of kids helping with housework, for fun, to be nice!
http://sandradodd.com/chores/tales
"House" fan gets mom a new diagnosis:
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning
New writing about saying yes, by Jenny Cyphers.
http://sandradodd.com/yes.html
And below that is a story of when Kirby was little and "cross pollinated" some piles of armor, and tripped over a string. The story builds up to other things. The nice young man about 30 who is mentioned in that writing was my friend Leif Ivarson (Bill Hammond) who died last week and so for my friends who knew him, I'm noting that.
(an SCA memorial page for him—on my site, but not about unschooling)
HSC advance-registration time has been extended (JULY 18! Do it today if you've been stalling), and there's a cute video preview/advertisement for the conference. I have it here, with a list of my own presentations:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2010/07/kirby-and-i-will-be-here.html
Teens who came later to unschooling
http://sandradodd.com/teen/latertounschooling
Not new, but spruced up.
Same and Different: Easy answers and second looks
A HREF="http://thinkingsticks.blogspot.com/2010/07/same-and-different-easy-answers-and.html
Many answers that seemed obvious to us in childhood look different in the light of years and experience.
These things are not "on my site" directly, thought what's quoted below will be at some point.
The schedule for the HSC conference in Sacramento is online. Kirby and have been added in to a discussion on video games (Rose Sorooshian is the organizer; her boyfriend Daniel is the assistant organizer, and then Kirby, Pam Sorooshian and I have been invited as add-ons. That's at 4:00 Friday afternoon.
My 2:00 Friday talk is "Partnerships" (in case the typo confused you).
I'm presenting something every day, sometimes two or three things.
That was sent to the Always Learning list, and I'll quote it on my pages about eating, later, sometime. I thought it was too valuable to risk losing though, so I'm putting it here.
2 sweet stories about sweets
First one:
We were at a bar-b-q party and a 5 yr old friend dug into the cooler, pulled out a coke-a-cola and asked his Ma could he have it.
She said, "Heavens no, especially with that chocolate cake on your plate."
She then looked at me asking, "How do you do it?"
I told her, "I don't restrict what my kids eat," and pointed to their plates. XuMei had watermelon, strawberries, green beans and chocolate cake on her plate. Xander had chosen salmon, corn on the cob, watermelon, strawberries and a root beer to drink.
Later I was telling Chris (my spouse) the story and Xander, who I thought was asleep in the back of the van, perked up and said, "The trick is, there is no trick."
Second one:
At a second party the next day a Mom friend was having an upset tummy and she asked XuMei what she might do to feel better. XuMei said whenever her tummy hurts it's one of two things: either she is hungry or she needs to poop. The Mom friend was impressed because she felt the cause of her upset tummy was having over eaten the desserts at the potluck. She commented to me how great it was that XuMei had such a healthy relationship to food. XuMei has no need to over eat.
Renee Cabatic
Ma to Xander and XuMei (9)