Sandra Dodd

Though it has little to do with it, the song stuck in my head about
this is just a line:

"I wonder [wonder] who wrote the book of Love.... [who wrote the book
of (drums come in) LOVE]"

Wrong "wonder," really, but still...
Also, if you look "wonder" up on google, you'll get the site or the
Wonderbread company.

But what I really wanted to say was I have a new page:

http://sandradodd.com/wonder

And I added a few more things to my most favorite recent page,

http://sandradodd.com/history

queenjane555

On that page is something that Pam wrote:

"This might sound sort of phony or silly and unimportant - I'm just
recommending that people look at what their kids ARE doing and see
if they can change their own thinking about it - see it in the best
possible way. It doesn't change what they're doing, but it changes
the "tone" in the home and that is so all-important it can't be
overemphasized."

I think this is unschooling in a nutshell, for us. When my son runs
up to me, and says "Katherine, guess what!?! I just got a [insert
name of weapon here] in my game, for only 3000 gold, and with that i
can [insert special ability here]" and he's all excited and
happy....and i can be excited and happy for him, not roll my eyes
and wonder why he isnt doing something more useful...this is what
makes our relationship. And most parents don't have that. I think
most unschooling parents DO have that. Its pretty evident when i'm
at a park day, and the surly angry teenager of the controlling
school-at-home mom is being not-so-nice to the littler kids, i
wonder "Does this mom ever just revel in her kids passions? Does she
even SEE her kid??"

That kind of happiness, of being amazed and joyful about everyday
little things occurring around us, has made me a much happier person
in all aspects of my life. I've been checking out the myspace pages
of some people i used to know a few years ago, and i am so suprised
at all the angst, anger, and general moodiness, depression, and
negativity everyone seems to be wallowing in. I just don't get it.
We're so freakin' HAPPY here 99 percent of the time. I think people
forget that happiness is a choice, or maybe its just not cool or
interesting to be happy. I dunno. I do think that for our unschooled
kids, joy will be the default setting, and i'm prepared for my son
to bypass the whole "teen angst" thing altogether.

Ok, i got way off topic from the subject at hand. Then
again, "everything's connected" right?;o)


Katherine

Vijay Owens

That reminds me of my DD the other day, when, for the first time, she
called me something other than "mom" or "mommy." She was jumping (naked
of course) on the couch and she shouted happily,

"Look at this Veej!"

I about fell over, it was so surprising to hear my nickname from her.
And it occurred to me that in other households jumping on the couch
would not be allowed.

At the playground today we met a mom with a 3.5 y.o. and an almost 2
y.o. and a 3 month old. I said I'd never seen them at the park before
and had they just moved to the area. She said "We only go to the park
on Fridays *if* they're good all week."

Sigh.

-Vijay
Full-time radical unschooling mom to Charlotte and Violet


On Jun 30, 2006, at 4:04 PM, queenjane555 wrote:

> I think this is unschooling in a nutshell, for us. When my son runs
> up to me, and says "Katherine, guess what!?! I just got a [insert
> name of weapon here] in my game, for only 3000 gold, and with that i
> can [insert special ability here]" and he's all excited and
> happy....and i can be excited and happy for him, not roll my eyes
> and wonder why he isnt doing something more useful...this is what
> makes our relationship. And most parents don't have that. I think
> most unschooling parents DO have that.

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