Sandra Dodd

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn
how to do it.

� Picasso



==============



I found that quote on the Procovery site. I had gone to find the
current URL of their use of my Certificate of Empowerment.

I had gone to get that URL because today, March 23, 2006, is the
tenth anniversary of that certificate. http://sandradodd.com/blog



Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

katherand2003

> I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn
> how to do it.
>
> – Picasso
>
>
>
> ==============

:) Oh I like that this is an artist quote. The fun approach to the
unknown.

Picasso was criticized for dabbling in many styles of art. He managed
not to be pigeonholed and did a lot of cool stuff along the way.

I agree with a friend who said there's not much academic in art. She
said art is often used for credit and advancement, but it's really
about life-- not academic purposes that can use, misuse, abuse,
minimize, break down, and belittle. Some people go so far as to say
that art IS life. They flow and swirl, and don't depend on perfect
approaches. Life, art and things like that are very forgiving, and
steps are only necessary if you want or need them to be to be there.
You could edge in toe-wise, move in a bit at a time, or dive in.

I think that goes for unschooling too.

Kathe



--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>

>
>
>
> I found that quote on the Procovery site. I had gone to find the
> current URL of their use of my Certificate of Empowerment.
>
> I had gone to get that URL because today, March 23, 2006, is the
> tenth anniversary of that certificate. http://sandradodd.com/blog
>
>
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Sandra Dodd

On Mar 24, 2006, at 10:25 PM, katherand2003 wrote:

> Life, art and things like that are very forgiving, and
> steps are only necessary if you want or need them to be to be there.
> You could edge in toe-wise, move in a bit at a time, or dive in.
>
> I think that goes for unschooling too.


It would TOTALLY go for unschooling if it only involved one individual.

Someone who's baking a cake can't ignore the steps. You can't add
the eggs just before you take the cake out of the oven and still call
it cake.

A parent can take six months or a year or two to ease in to
unschooling, but we have had dozens of people bemoan the fact that
they didn't do it sooner. Can a parent take four years? Six or
eight years?

Sandra

Cally Brown

I think it's too earyly for me to be reading e-mails....

Sandra Dodd wrote:

>It would TOTALLY go for unschooling if it only involved one individual.
>
>Someone who's baking a cake can't ignore the steps. You can't add
>the eggs just before you take the cake out of the oven and still call
>it cake.
>
>A parent can take six months or a year or two to ease in to
>unschooling, but we have had dozens of people bemoan the fact that
>they didn't do it sooner. Can a parent take four years? Six or
>eight years?
>
It must have been that cake sticking in my mind... on first reading I
read "stir for eight years"!

But when you think about it, the cake (the unschooled kids) are never
going to be as unschooled as they could have been if mother hadn't
stirred (eased into) unschooling over a period of 6 - 8 years. Like I
have, sadly. My kids are great, but they will always have residual
damage from all that stirring - the cake never rises so well if you stir
for too long.

Cally

Sandra Dodd

On Mar 25, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Cally Brown wrote:

> It must have been that cake sticking in my mind...

Should have oiled your mind.
Or butter and flour!

Sandra

katherand2003

Well yes. I agree. Don't wait. You might do better to have your art
supplies right there and the canvas primed before painting. But
sometimes it doesn't work out that way and you dive in even if you get
different results than you're used to. Discover new things. You very
well could end up with cake in the oven without eggs. And it would be
fine even if you don't call it cake. You don't have to have
everything perfect, especially if the kids are in school.

Sticking a toe in is not waiting six months or a year. I've been in
the waiting stage for a couple years (painful counterproductive years)
and am only just starting to live unschooling. It *feels* like I'm
diving in but maybe that's just my toe. Hard to know which.

I thought since ds is only 2 1/2 we couldn't seriously be unschooling
until closer to when he's 4 or so. He deschooled the idea of
kindergarten age out of me. Ds is on the move. He doesn't wait for
anything. So I decided it would be so much easier to continue the way
we mean to go now instead of allowing baggage to become firmly
entrenched and stay a while unheeded just to be shucked later. Why do
that when we've been laying a beautiful basis of attachment parenting
up til now? We've got a nice start. I would think we could just keep
on going, and not listen to stupid things like "you're babying him."
He's so *not* babyish and I love "pandering" to him.

Kathe




--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> On Mar 24, 2006, at 10:25 PM, katherand2003 wrote:
>
> > Life, art and things like that are very forgiving, and
> > steps are only necessary if you want or need them to be to be there.
> > You could edge in toe-wise, move in a bit at a time, or dive in.
> >
> > I think that goes for unschooling too.
>
>
> It would TOTALLY go for unschooling if it only involved one individual.
>
> Someone who's baking a cake can't ignore the steps. You can't add
> the eggs just before you take the cake out of the oven and still call
> it cake.
>
> A parent can take six months or a year or two to ease in to
> unschooling, but we have had dozens of people bemoan the fact that
> they didn't do it sooner. Can a parent take four years? Six or
> eight years?
>
> Sandra
>

Sandra Dodd

On Mar 25, 2006, at 4:26 PM, katherand2003 wrote:

> Sticking a toe in is not waiting six months or a year.


HEY... I just used a sticking-body-parts-in reference and then read
yours.
Must be in the water.
<bwg>

katherand2003

You put your right toe in, you put your right toe out
You put your left toe in, you put your left toe out
You do the happy dance and you turn it round and round
That's what it's all about!!! *clap clap!*

Kathe


--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> On Mar 25, 2006, at 4:26 PM, katherand2003 wrote:
>
> > Sticking a toe in is not waiting six months or a year.
>
>
> HEY... I just used a sticking-body-parts-in reference and then read
> yours.
> Must be in the water.
> <bwg>
>