Trust, "success," TV & learning

Trusting Kids
Link added on my trust page to something Jenny Cyphers wrote:
http://sandradodd.com/trust

I'm the unschooling representative on a site called "Successful Homeschooling."
http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/unschooling.html
There's a free e-book comparing methods. It might be of use to some of you one way or another.

Another new thing on learning from TV
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning

Snakes and Ladders, Issues, Curricula

Snakes and Ladders
http://sandradodd.com/game/snakesandladders
Some boards have overt child-training themes; some don't.
Two new examples there and worth considering.

When Parents Have Issues
http://sandradodd.com/issues

Another page on curriculum usage has been dusted off and cleared up:
http://sandradodd.com/curriculum
(Thanks to Joyce for a link correction and a clarifying question.)

Sandra's Unschooling Symposium in Santa Fe

Most of the Presenters:

It's time to make reservations now!

More information is available with a Pay-Pal link or the optional address to which to send a check if you'd prefer (saves me the PayPal fees).

http://sandradodd.com/suss

Some information that's also on that page, if you'd rather read here:

I need forty families who have unschooled at least five years and who have a teen. If I don't get forty of those, I'll open it up to families with younger kids or less experience. Alternately, the conference would be good for parents of younger children who leave their children at home, or who bring another adult to stay with the kids and find them things to do in Santa Fe or around there. Driving is better than flying, or flying to Albuquerque and renting a car could work well. It's off the path of public transportation, pretty much. But if you wanted to take the light rail to Santa Fe (or fly into Santa Fe if you're decadently wealthy) and use taxis in Santa Fe, that's a possibility. You might want a car to go up to Ten Thousand Waves (Japanese hot-tub/spa, in the tall pines), or skiing or snowboarding at Ski Santa Fe, if you're so inclined.

This would be the first and best conference for which an EXCELLENT arrangement would be for two or three dads, or two or three moms, to come without families and share a condo. This could be a great vacation for unschooling parents who have made friends with other parents they don't get to visit much. And honestly, if the kids got video games for Christmas, they'll still be mesmerized back home and one of the parents could sneak off to Santa Fe pretty easily; maybe both, if there are awesome grandparents or other caretakers the kids trust to feed them during video game play.

Most conferences emphasize the social aspect, and have workshops to introduce people to how unschooling works. I want zero beginner questions, and all very-advanced sharing of unexpected outcomes. I'll be learning too, if we take all our "Yes it's working; how and why did it work?" energy and bring it into one place where we can discuss things in depth.

The site is "Fort Marcy Hotel Suites" but the name is misleading. It's not a hotel; it's a timeshare condo complex with one main building. People's doors open to the outside, there are steps, it's hilly, and could be snowy or icy. We don't have lots of rooms, we have one big room for presentations and evening meals, and a breakfast room that could be used for gathering and visiting during the day. All the activities will be focused and together.

One of the most expensive parts of conferences can be the food and the cost of the rooms. Our condo rates are very low, but can't be had unless one is registered for the conference in advance. Each condo has a full kitchen and so food can be prepared inexpensively. Dinners will be shared in the conference room--two catered as part of the conference fee (not fancy catering, but plain and fun), and one will be a potluck.

Kirby and Marty will take and set up Rock Band and Beatles Rock Band in their condo, and other kids are welcome to go there and hang out. There will definitely be a session of the teens and young adults telling stories and answering questions, and one for dads only, as well.

The condos can be packed full. Two families would fit into a three- bedroom. A two-bedroom will hold probably four or five people easily. Any one-bedroom will hold three people, unlike hotel rooms. The living rooms all have either a couch someone can sleep on, or a fold-out bed, or both. You could bring a futon from home, too, if you drive.

We will furnish firewood and kindling, and each condo has either a fireplace or wood-burning stove. That might not sound good this week, but in January in northern New Mexico I can tell you for certain that it's magical.

Photos are on the blog, scattered throughout the posts, with more to come as days pass.

http://santafeunschoolingsymposium.blogspot.com/

"just semantics"; words, words; TV

What is "just semantics"?
http://sandradodd.com/semantics

"Words, words, words." —Hamlet
The video at right has been added at the bottom of the Shakespeare page:
http://sandradodd.com/shakespeare

Learning from TV, two brief new stories added, top left:
http://sandradodd.com/t/learning

labels (not), being calm, and "have to"

Another mom has articulated why it helped to stop thinking of her child as a label, and start to look at the cool things he could do.
http://sandradodd.com/words/without

I put it at the link above, though I considered here:
http://sandradodd.com/labels

Once again I've started two trails. It happens.

Schuyler Waynforth wrote a post I've put on parenting peacefully (third down on the left)
http://sandradodd.com/parentingpeacefully
but I also put quotes and links back to it on the pages on breathing, spanking and moments rather than days:

http://sandradodd.com/breathing
http://sandradodd.com/spanking
http://sandradodd.com/moment

I have cleaned up what might be the most important page on my site. (Sometimes other pages seem the most important, I know, but this is an important one.)
http://sandradodd.com/haveto
There were some formatting problems and a few little typos and it's better now.

The photos are by Holly, of Diana's dog Buddha (and one self-portrait-with-dog), taken this week.

Interview (new sound file for you, free!)

I was interviewed last week and here is a sound file, photos and links!
http://sandradodd.com/listen/schwartzinterview

Cleanup in the Curriculum Aisle; Teens & Parents

...The professor and Mary Ann
Here on Curriculum Isle

I've touched up the "Curriculum Page."
Some of the links had failed, and the Italian page hadn't been linked here.
http://sandradodd.com/unschoolingcurriculum

"My kids are whole and full and so is my life BECAUSE of how we live it!"
Jenny Cyphers wrote something beautiful about teens' relationships to parents.
I added the account to the page on "How are they as people" in the teens section of my site:
http://sandradodd.com/teen/people

The photo is the dresser Holly bought at a thrift store and painted last week. She's living in Oregon for a while, and within a year, if plans hold, she'll have lived a while in Ashford, Surrey and then west of Montreal, in Quebec a while, all with unschooling families.

boredom, single parent, babies, yes, Big Book

The photos were taken by Holly at the Teen/Young Adult panel at the Good Vibrations conference earlier this month. At the left, Kirby Dodd has the mic. In the other photo, Marty Dodd is handing it off.

Some new ideas on dealing with boredom, at the bottom of the "Bored No More" page: http://sandradodd.com/BoredNoMore Can a single parent unschool? Katy Jenning's experience: http://sandradodd.com/singleparent Good comments on why to think of it as unschooling even when the child is very young: http://sandradodd.com/babies Something new about "Yes," near the top: http://sandradodd.com/yes.html

I have some other things to add, sent to me when I was out of town and then laid up. I'm working forward and backward both to try to keep up with the great things being written yesterday, and getting them where others can read them for the benefit of their own families! Also the Big Book of Unschooling is ready, and its short list of typos and errors follows the order page. The cover Holly did is beautiful in person, all glossy and yellow. http://sandradodd.com/bigbook/order http://sandradodd.com/typo There is a deletion noted in the post below this one.

Positive and negative feedback

To recent bits added, without names, to http://sandradodd.com/feedback

On the plus side... Sandra, I'm writing because I always wanted to write a fan letter :). I saw you in San Diego, and I saw you in Albuquerque. I have your books, and I've read a lot of what you've written online. I rarely read any list but Always Learning. And honest to God, I am grateful every day for you for sharing your life. I have three daughters... and none of them ever had to go to school. One of the reasons they've been spared is because of you. Thank you. But I really wanted to tell you that everyone in my family came in contact with at least one of your kids in some way in San Diego, and all of us were impressed. My oldest... told me that Marty was so funny, and Holly impressed my husband when she showed up at baby dolls and played with the littles, and Kirby knocked my socks off when he heard me talking about facebook. He said (and I'm paraphrasing), "I'll be your friend. Not on facebook. I'll just be your friend." Your children are so warm and sweet. And I loved seeing what my children have in store for them. Thank you for making a difference....

...and the minus: Note added September 28: A paragraph has been removed, following seven e-mails by its author, whose name I had neither saved nor remembered, demanding that I remove it. I won't name her name, but I'll save a few words from the post, not in order, not in phrases [lest she want to publish it someday, as she said she might (to help persuade me that I was violating her copyright)]. whackjobs (unschoolers), condescending, narrowminded, snobby, arrogant (of my website and the Always Learning list) I hope it was a change of mind, remorse and contrition that caused the writer to want those words removed. I hope her child has a happy life, at least as happy as those "narrowminded whackjobs" pictured below. As to arrogance, it's confidence. http://sandradodd.com/confidence

Some new pages are coming in a day or two. Here are all the Dodds and the Sorooshians, in a photo by Dan Vilter, from the Good Vibrations Conference last weekend. Click it for another one (both enlargeable from that other site).

Certificado de Apoderamiento / Certificate of Empowerment

Joanette Aponte Yunqué has translated the Certificate of Empowerment into Spanish.
http://sandradodd.com/empowerment/certificado
http://sandradodd.com/certificado

The original, with notes and links and Chevy-on-a-Stick:
http://sandradodd.com/empowerment

Socialization? and more video coming

What about socialization? Finally, a page about that oft-asked question:
http://sandradodd.com/socialization/

The movie is still being finished, but those who contributed to the startup funding will receive their advance bonus DVDs soon. When the final movie is done, it will definitely be announced here! And I'm hoping to get a chance to put the raw interviews up where can see them at the Good Vibrations Conference in a couple of weeks, too!

Spanking and lying and yelling! (NOT)

Spanking Makes Kids Lie
(and has been known to make parents lie, too)
http://sandradodd.com/s/lying
(an older page, refurbished because it's one of the links in the book)

New piece on "Change," by Shan Burton
http://sandradodd.com/change

Similar accounts to those about the changing effect unschooling has on lives are at the "getting it" link at the bottom of that page.

That's a Holly-self-portrait at the right. It's all one image.