Sandra in the early 21st Century

I've been being the mom of people coming into and leaving their teen years.

So I waited six years to put up a page for this decade. I couldn't look back at it at all until now, I guess. I've learned quite a bit of html, because having lifted the code of the 50's page, which was created at some little fill-in-the-blanks website place ten years ago, I can see what parts of the code were doing nothing, but I was afraid to throw out before. That's a way to see progress and learning.

I'll look at this code someday and see how much better it could've been, but that's someday.

A lot of this decade so far has been unschooling discussions and talks, meeting unschoolers, hanging out with unschoolers. That's not a bad way to spend a decade.

In the year 2000, I spoke in Reno, Nevada (and once in Albuquerque). That seems a long, long time ago.

2001
I hung around with my kids and their friends, and some of my SCA friends, and spent every day doing things like watching movies, listening to music, writing about unschooling, and driving kids around, in various combinations.

2002
The first Live and Learn conference was held in Columbia, South Carolina, in October. I broke my leg and spent the whole time in the hospital, and the rest of the year on the couch in the den. Marty had gone with me, and made lots of friends during the conference, and helped me get home. He was 13. It changed his life. He was wonderful.

2003
In Feburary I went to Saskatoon to speak. I declared then that I needed to speak in Cucamonga so I could say "Albuquerque, Saskatoon, Cucamonga..."

I went back to Columbia and didn't break my leg. That was great!

2004
Holly and I spoke in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In August Marty got to spend a week with Anne Ohman's family, kayaking and having other fun in upper, outer New York. Then Holly and I met them and a few hundred of our closest friends in Peabody, Massachusetts, for the third Live and Learn Conference. We stayed with Joyce Fetteroll for several days afterwards. It was fun, but very exhausting. I got to have dinner with my college boyfriend.

Late that year, Pam Sorooshian arranged for me to speak in Rancho Cucamonga, at Barnes and Noble, and so one of my dreams was fulfilled. I have a Bugs Bunny series of speaking credits. Albuquerque, Saskatoon, Cucamonga..." The whole family went out there. The boys were at Gen Con, a gaming convention, as was Roya's boyfriend and some of the other unschoolers from around there. Keith and I saw the Body Worlds display.

2005
Our whole family went to St. Louis to the Live and Learn conference, in the white Chevy conversion van ("Shaggy"), which broke down in Oklahoma, but it wasn't too bad.

2006
During this year Marty worked at Raley's and Kirby worked at Dion's. That's not much about me, except that I didn't have to drive them to work! Marty walked, Kirby drove.

Also, Holly took driver's ed and ended 2006 with a learner's permit.

I started doing SCA again in fall, and Holly and Marty (as Asta and Bardolf) started going to the Wednesday philosophy discussions (Duckford II), rounding the regular group up to a dozen people, sometimes.

2007
Holly and I went to a conference in Phoenix in February (Karl drove). Pam and her girls and Howard were there.

In April I did an online chat for Mothering Magazine, and there's a little bio and a transcript here: http://www.mommychats.com/mothering/sandradodd.htm

We all went to Grand Outlandish and there are photos.

Kirby and I went to Sacramento for the HSC conference and he moved to Austin two weeks later to work for Blizzard. Holly and Marty went to Florida and then NC for Live and Learn. Holly and I went to Minnesota for a conference and then a visit with the Traaseths.

Site of the Month, The Natural Child Project, February 2007

Wikipedia article, by Pam Sorooshian, Laura Derrick, and the quotations in the notes/discussion were all sent by Ren Allen.

Connections, on Melissa Wiley's blog

Sandra Dodd … The Dr. Laura of Unschooling?

Strategic Strewing