Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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.

Monday, September 28, 2009

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.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

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).