Who helped you "get" unschooling?
Sandra Dodd
http://sandradodd.com/inspiration
At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting knowledge and practice.
The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t always positive.
Sandra
jodyxx
This is the anniversary of the creation of this page:
http://sandradodd.com/inspiration
At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting knowledge and practice..
The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t always positive.
Sandra
Jo Isaac
Jo
Sent: 08 May 2019 02:43
To: Always Learning
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Who helped you "get" unschooling?
This is the anniversary of the creation of this page:
http://sandradodd.com/inspiration
At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting
knowledge and practice..
The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t
always positive.
Sandra
wildwestsky@...
At the meeting, the teacher gave me a helpful review -- her input of Sky's development as someone who was really trying to see *him* and get to know him as a person. She asked at the end if I had any questions. I did. I was desperate to know how to make him stop lying and stealing things that I told him were "mine". My markers, my contact solution, the q-tips in my bathroom, tampons! It seems comical now, to think about how much I was getting in my own way by both being too far away and simultaneously trying to control every detail in our home.
The teacher smiled patiently, then said carefully, "Every behavior has a function."
While this moment had nothing to do with unschooling, it was pivotal for my relationship with my child. It gave me the approval from an elder that I needed, to see my role as his mother differently. She gave me permission to stop trying to make him understand me and instead to keep trying to understand him.
When he was a baby, I didn't take any of his behavior personally. I looked for cues, I assumed he knew something that I didn't know and that it was my job to understand. But in toddlerhood, I started to have shame around some of his behaviors. I was so concerned with getting the behaviors to stop -- and stop reflecting poorly on me -- that my priorities got jumbled up. My parenting had become very much a performance for the Gaze of others rather than a path to intimacy and peace with my child.
The paradigm shift that occurred when I understood her words to me handed my curiosity back to me. With it came trust, that I could follow his lead and we'd be ok. That moment primed me for unschooling.
Tara Joe Farrell