Monday, November 11, 2013

Electronic strewing

Physical strewing is fun—shells, leaves, crystals, puzzles, widgets and tools... Younger children need to touch things, turn them over, feel their texture and weight.

Older children have more experience, and deeper questions. They're involved with collections and connections. Recordings, video, photos and trivia can be drink bottles with American-flag metal caps easily collected and shared, without needing storage.

At my house, we're saving bottle caps for a young friend who's collecting them. He knows how big a bottle cap is, and what it feels like. I saw these and collected an image, thanks to the wonder of digital cameras.

SandraDodd.com/strewing
photo by Sandra Dodd
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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Who's in charge?

When someone reported having told her child that there was no boss in their house, I wrote:

Honestly, there should be a boss. A kind boss, but someone with the last word, in a situation. Being a child's partner is better than saying "we're all equal and nobody knows or says more than another." The land lord, the city, social services... none of them will want to hear that you felt your child was as much responsible for things as you were.

SandraDodd.com/child-led
photo by Karen James
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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Exploring

museum building, stone arch, ramp, steps.jpg"The idea of unguided discovery in a school setting isn't anything like the kind of discoveries unschooling kids make. There is a difference between a teacher handing a kid a pulley and telling him to discover what it does and write a paper about it and a kid finding an interesting object and messing with it because it sparked his curiosity. A lot of what my son has learned he's learned in a way that might be called unguided discovery, but it didn't look much like the model in the article, and it didn't happen in a vacuum."
—Deb Lewis

SandraDodd.com/deblewis/discovery
photo by Sandra Dodd

Friday, November 8, 2013

Surprises

This plant was found in the trash a couple of years go. Just on speculation, I kept it and watered it even when it wasn't looking good.

It has bloomed a couple of times, but this set looks to be a big one.

People can't always plan or predict or control what happens with flowers, or days, or children. Live in the moment as well as you can and be glad of happy surprises.
SandraDodd.com/unexpectedarticle
photo by Sandra Dodd

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Empower and enliven!

photo from a car in a tunnel without other cars

Anything you feel you "have to" do is entrapping and stiffling.

Something you *choose* to do can be empowering and enlivening.

SandraDodd.com/haveto
photo by Marty Dodd
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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Peace rules

So what's the "rule" about peace?
There's not a rule about peace.
If you want to live peacefully, make the more peaceful choice.

SandraDodd.com/peace/noisy
photo by Marty Dodd, of found art—a peace symbol made of rocks on dry, cracked desert sand

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Unschooling is...

Unschooling is creating and maintaining an atmosphere in which natural learning can flourish.
SandraDodd.com/definitions
photo by Sarah Dickinson
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