Seeds of a wonderful fruit
Sandra Dodd
This was written by Debbie Regan, in Australia:
"I have an image that you and the other wonderful unschooling writers have been generously tossing seeds, of what is said to be a wonderful fruit, up into the air. They've been blown and buffetted and the strong ones have survived. By now some of these seeds have fallen to the ground in odd spots all over the world. And in good conditions some of them have germinated and grown, and are
now fruiting. And the fruit is indeed wonderful :) "
She wrote it because of some things that had been written in an Australian unschooling discussion, based on something quoted from Just Add Light and Stir.
What we're doing, those of us who have shared our unschooling lives as they unfolded, in discussions where people could ask questions, challenge, pick apart, add their own unschooling experiences, is bigger than probably any of us think. Every day, a child somewhere whose mother or father won't ever write and say so is treated a little more patiently, because of something that parent, or a friend of his or hers, read in something that originated in a discussion like this one.
There are over 72,000 messages in the archives which (those of you who have had posts returned know) I have tried to keep strictly
and valuably on topic.
From this discussion a few others like it, I've collected gems over the years and those are here: http://sandradodd.com
Joyce has summarized and saved her best ideas, and collected complementary others, and those are here:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com
Pam Sorooshian has spent more time organizing events than collecting writings, but she does have a collection, too:
http://learninghappens.wordpress.com
From those, you can find others I appreciate that Joyce and Pam have helped me, and let me help them, in discussions since our children were in single-digit ages, and were dedicated to being there to help people with an earnest desire to learn.
Of those, very many have become interested in and proficient at helping others, and have stuck around—some for a year or two, some for five or ten or more.
THANK YOU to every one of you who has read a little, tried a little, learned and then shared back out freely and generously what is priceless and lifechanging from these ideas.
Sandra
"I have an image that you and the other wonderful unschooling writers have been generously tossing seeds, of what is said to be a wonderful fruit, up into the air. They've been blown and buffetted and the strong ones have survived. By now some of these seeds have fallen to the ground in odd spots all over the world. And in good conditions some of them have germinated and grown, and are
now fruiting. And the fruit is indeed wonderful :) "
She wrote it because of some things that had been written in an Australian unschooling discussion, based on something quoted from Just Add Light and Stir.
What we're doing, those of us who have shared our unschooling lives as they unfolded, in discussions where people could ask questions, challenge, pick apart, add their own unschooling experiences, is bigger than probably any of us think. Every day, a child somewhere whose mother or father won't ever write and say so is treated a little more patiently, because of something that parent, or a friend of his or hers, read in something that originated in a discussion like this one.
There are over 72,000 messages in the archives which (those of you who have had posts returned know) I have tried to keep strictly
and valuably on topic.
From this discussion a few others like it, I've collected gems over the years and those are here: http://sandradodd.com
Joyce has summarized and saved her best ideas, and collected complementary others, and those are here:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com
Pam Sorooshian has spent more time organizing events than collecting writings, but she does have a collection, too:
http://learninghappens.wordpress.com
From those, you can find others I appreciate that Joyce and Pam have helped me, and let me help them, in discussions since our children were in single-digit ages, and were dedicated to being there to help people with an earnest desire to learn.
Of those, very many have become interested in and proficient at helping others, and have stuck around—some for a year or two, some for five or ten or more.
THANK YOU to every one of you who has read a little, tried a little, learned and then shared back out freely and generously what is priceless and lifechanging from these ideas.
Sandra