Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Success, abundance, empathy


photo by Sarah Dickinson
New story, second item:
http://sandradodd.com/success

New second item, and page name very slightly changed (from / to .html, for those who might have linked it elsewhere)
http://sandradodd.com/abundance.html

New page:
http://sandradodd.com/empathy

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Clare Kirkpatrick, Jo Isaac, and lots of photographers

I have added two new collection pages by unschooling moms whose writing has helped many other families:

Clare Kirkpatrick, in the U.K.

Jo Isaac, in Australia

In response to my request for assistance in November, I received photos for use in Just Add Light and Stir, from:

Jennie Gomes
Meghan Pawlowski
Lynda Raina
Nicole Kenyon
Becky Sekeres
Celeste Burke
Andrea Justice
Eva Witsel
Katy Jennings
Sam and Jasmine Baykus
                      Megan Valnes
Marin Holmes
Elise Lauterbach
Nancy Machaj
Susan Gaissert
Julie Markovitz
Jane Clossick
Andrea Taylor
Abby Davis
Sukayna and Ruqayya
                      Julie T
Murtaza Usman
Shannon Loucks
Susan Waters
Talia Bartoe
Rachel Singer
Janelle Wrock
Heather Booth
Charles Legacé
Ve Lacerda and Rodrigo Mattioli of wearenotlimited
Isabelle Lent

They've all been uploaded and organized, and I've used several already in Just Add Light, beginning 8 December 2015, so over the next few months you'll see new names and imagery there. Please subscribe, if you haven't already: (upper right, under "MORE OF...")

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Stress release, being "open to experience"

photo by Nicole Kenyon
and it's a link.
Release your stress! Stress is.... stressful. Addition to page, right-hand box.
http://sandradodd.com/stress

Added something at the bottom of "Openness to Experience" and added a link to the chat below:
http://sandradodd.com/open

Edited transcript of a chat about being open to experience:
Openness to Experience chat transcript

Monday, December 7, 2015

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.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

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

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

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.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

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.

Monday, November 23, 2015

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.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

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

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Danger, angles, strewing

 photo PrietoTriangulation.jpegPerhaps 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

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Morality, choices, misconceptions

 photo kdk_0374.jpgHow 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

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Exploration, mistakes, deprivation

Kirby Dodd 1990 photo KirbyAsleepJan90.jpg"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.