Lift him up

I've added a quote about being a child's partner to this page:
http://sandradodd.com/partners/child

It's my writing. I found it on Just Add Light. Sometimes I write something new there. Perhaps I was quoting myself from a discussion, but I usually note that.

The quote is:

There are WONDROUS things people can do with current technology, and it's likely to get better and better, isn't it?

Don't separate your children from the future, from progress, and from understanding and using things just because the parents don't understand them or use them as well as they might. Don't hobble your child out of fear or superstition or trying to impress people you don't even know who want to scare and shame you. Be your child's partner. Lift him up and let him see.

This is what I was glad to come across, to preserve and share again. It's small gift I can share more than once, and you can pass it on within your family:

Be your child's partner. Lift him up and let him see.

Do you have a daughter and not a son? Lift her up and let her see.

Do you have more than one? Lift them up and let them see.

Movies, Fears, Negativity, TV News

The names of the pages sound scary, but the ideas are all about more peace.
If any of this disturbs you, go back to the movie link and find something bright and funny!

This 2010 page about movies for unschoolers has a new list added, upper right:
SandraDodd.com/t/movies

Joyce, on how fears are formed and maintained (and how to avoid that), added, bottom:
http://sandradodd.com/fear

New, by Jen Keefe on being a more joyful mother, upper right:
http://sandradodd.com/negativity

An argument against watching the news on TV, for mothers of young children
http://sandradodd.com/news

Photo (a link) by Janine Davies

Screentime; Janine Davies; new, improved, mindful heart

New, about communicating with a spouse, under the photo of Noor:
http://sandradodd.com/screentime.html

First it was photos, and now it's writing! Janine Davies has blossomed, and I started collecting:
http://sandradodd.com/janine

I was going to link a podcast Amy Childs did of the dregs and leftovers of interviews—things I said that didn't fit anywhere else. The photo at right is by Janine Davies, who is linked above. Click the photo for a quote that ends "it needs to be their new, improved, mindful heart," which then has a link to where it came from. You can hear candid outtakes, as it were, of me about various unschooling ideas.

Growth, TV, Baby Jesus

New, by Janine Davies, looking back at big changes in her family's life:
http://sandradodd.com/janineSuccess

Small additions to a 2001 page—two links and an update. The world has changed!
http://sandradodd.com/t/debate

Additions to a page about the celebration of newness and innocence, and how to treat our children. MUSIC!
http://sandradodd.com/christmas04
Don't be afraid to read that, nor to watch the videos. There is something bigger and older than religion, and most parents have touched it.

Photo by Julie, of Holly Dodd and Adam Daniel, and it's a link.

14th Anniversary of Always Learning discussion at Yahoogroups

Nov 23, 2001 was the founding date of the Always Learning discussion at Yahoogroups. There were a couple of other groups involved and active in those days; one is archives only now, and one reformed with the same name but different people. Always Learning has survived for fourteen years. That's old, for an online forum! Recent posts are numbered in the 76,221 and such... and we don't have chit-chat there, so that's over 70,000 substantial posts, in fourteen years.

I missed the fifth anniversary of Just Add Light and Stir. The first post was September 2, 2010. Five years of a post nearly every day (I've missed twenty or so, I think, in scattered fashion) adds up to... over 1800, in five years.

The less placid online discussion at Facebook, Radical Unschooling Info, was five years old in February. It was created February 13, 2010.

Time/energy/cost, needs, happy moms

A page on how much time and energy unschooling takes. It's not new, but when I went to add a couple of links, I saw it hadn't been announced here before! So it will be new to some of you.
http://sandradodd.com/unschoolingtime

These two are not new, but they weren't linked to each other and should have been. Each got a little clean-up as the links were added. The two together might be therapeutic for anyone confused or frustated.

Thinking about needs
http://sandradodd.com/needs

Being a happy mom
http://sandradodd.com/peace/mama

Danger, angles, strewing

Perhaps people look for or create dangers, in times of peace and plenty.
http://sandradodd.com/danger

New page on seeing things (physically and otherwise) from different angles:
http://sandradodd.com/angles

Strewing, and how to provide without being self-conscious about it, by Deb Rossing years ago
http://sandradodd.com/stringless
I don't know why that was not announced before, but here it is.

Photo by Colleen and Robbie Prieto
of trees reflecting in an upstairs window,
viewed through a skylight

Morality, choices, misconceptions

How Morality Grows, and how unschooling can help
http://sandradodd.com/issues/morality

The one above has been sitting in the queue waiting for touchup. Two others came along that go very well with it. [October 2015 note: These aren't new, but none were announced before; the post sat in the drafts folder for a long time.]

"It Depends"—thoughts on choice making
http://sandradodd.com/depends

Misconceptions about radical unschooling
http://sandradodd.com/misconceptions

Exploration, mistakes, deprivation

"Exploration" was started and just lately finished. It's one long but interesting topic from early 2014, with lots of voices:
http://sandradodd.com/exploration

Addition at the top, to the page on how one might view making parental mistakes:
http://sandradodd.com/mistakes

Not new, never announced before. Collen Prieto, on trauma, toys, hoarding...
http://sandradodd.com/deprivation

Photo of little Kirby Dodd sleeping is a link.

Proof, math, being with a child

New page, started and forgotten in 2006; found, formatted and expanded September 20, 2015:
http://sandradodd.com/proof

Second half is new, by Karen James, about her son and math at the dentist's office:
http://sandradodd.com/math/found

Karen is writing quite a bit lately, and it's good. I've saved something she wrote about being with her son, and about playing. The photo here goes with that writing.
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/beingwith

photo by Karen James

Wonder, Bien mettre en œuvre le unschooling

New page, Karen James: "Open your heart to wonder"
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/hindsight

New, in French, with subtitled video: Bien mettre en œuvre le unschooling; traduction : Malika Kergoat
http://sandradodd.com/french/doright

That page was already on my site in English and in Portuguese.

The photo, of Kirby and Marty Dodd, is a link.

Don't measure; avoid divorce; unschooling "schools"

New writing, second half of the page, about learning, and not comparing and measuring one's child.
http://sandradodd.com/karenjames/deschooling

Addition of writing by Cass Kotrba, about 3/4 the way down:
http://sandradodd.com/divorce

A collection for future use when people ask if an alternative school is the same as unschooling:
http://sandradodd.com/school/alternative




Photo (a link) by Janine Davies