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13:02:42 |
Webmama_Tina |
Mothering Magazine sponsored chat with
guest speaker Sandra Dodd is starting
RIGHT NOW in the Mothering Mag chat
room...Join us! |
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13:03:32 |
Webmama_Tina |
Sandra Dodd grew up and lives in New
Mexico, where she taught English when
she was younger. Her children never went
to school, and are now 15, 18 and 20.
Sandra and her husband like to play and
sing early period music for fun. Sandra
has been active in online discussions of
unschooling and natural learning for a
dozen years and has an extensive
prairie-dog-village of a website (
www.sandradodd.com ). Sandra has
been published in several magazines, and
the book in which those articles have
been collected, Moving a Puddle, can be
purchased from
http://sandradodd.com/puddlebook . |
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13:04:28 |
SandraDodd |
And postage is going up very soon, so I
need to change that page soon. But it
hasn't gone up yet! (end of my plug,
totally) |
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13:04:59 |
Webmama_Tina |
lol sandra |
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13:05:08 |
SandraDodd |
Yes? |
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13:05:16 |
Webmama_Tina |
oh that was me laughing at what you said
:) |
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13:05:29 |
Webmama_Tina |
ok so lets get started and people will
arrive as they can |
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13:05:43 |
Webmama_Tina |
gave you guest speaker clothes, sandra
:) |
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13:05:48 |
SandraDodd |
Thanks. |
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13:05:49 |
Webmama_Tina |
you're now green in the list to the
right too |
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13:05:58 |
Webmama_Tina |
ok sandra did you want to add anything
to the intro? |
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13:06:04 |
Webmama_Tina |
abotu yourself or your knowledge? |
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13:06:07 |
Webmama_Tina |
or anything? :) |
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13:06:09 |
SandraDodd |
When I play board games I always try to
get the green marker. How appropriate! |
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13:06:12 |
SandraDodd |
Ah... |
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13:06:17 |
Webmama_Tina |
lol |
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13:06:28 |
SandraDodd |
About my knowledge? I can speak to that,
I suppose. |
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13:06:42 |
SandraDodd |
When I was in first grade I decided I
wanted to be a teacher. |
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13:07:01 |
SandraDodd |
All through school I paid attention to
what teachers did and how, and why (when
I could figure that out, which was
pretty often) |
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13:07:13 |
SandraDodd |
And I asked the other kids what they
liked about teachers and what they
didn't |
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13:07:31 |
SandraDodd |
So I learned LOTS and lots about how
learning works and what factors work for
different kinds of peope |
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13:07:36 |
SandraDodd |
people (sorry) |
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13:08:06 |
SandraDodd |
When I was older, 13/14 or so, I wanted
to become a missionary (still
teaching-related), or to work at a
magazine. |
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13:08:36 |
SandraDodd |
And it seems all those rolled together
are what I've become. I write, and I
help people have happier more peaceful
lives, and it's all about learning. |
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13:08:40 |
Webmama_Tina |
woops, i forgot to turn off the
entrance/exit notifications...its off
now...anyone bugged by the notices can
refresh their page and relogin to make
them go away :) |
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13:08:59 |
Webmama_Tina |
that's awesome sandra |
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13:09:05 |
SandraDodd |
So in a natural-learning way I've been
working up to this always. |
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13:09:44 |
Webmama_Tina |
did you always unschool your children? |
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13:10:17 |
SandraDodd |
My children never went to school;
right. Outside my family (or lately
with my two younger kids, actually) I'm
often involved in philosophy discussions
of history and virtues and such, and one
concept that evolved from that was... |
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13:10:22 |
SandraDodd |
\preparing for one's unseen future.\"" |
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13:10:36 |
SandraDodd |
And so in that way, I've always been
preparing to be an unschooler, I guess. |
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13:10:51 |
Webmama_Tina |
they never went to school, got it, but
were they unschooled the entire time or
did that evolve to unschooling over
time? just curious |
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13:10:56 |
SandraDodd |
And I've seen such things in my
children. Things they've done for fun
have turned into opportunities to help
others (or helped in employment). |
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13:11:02 |
SandraDodd |
To back up on the knowledge and
preparation, |
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13:11:35 |
Webmama_Tina |
and mamas, start posting your single
question marks if you want to get in
line to ask sandra a question...i'm
ready to start the queue. ;) |
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13:11:52 |
SandraDodd |
when I went to college to become a
teacher (I attended from 1970-1974,
University of New Mexico, in the radical
hippie days, at a radical hippie
college) we studied alternative
education heavily. |
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13:12:29 |
ElijahsMommy |
? |
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13:12:37 |
SandraDodd |
My oldest was born in 1986 and I joined
La Leche League, here in Albuquerque. I
was in a babysitting co-op in which half
the families homeschooled. |
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13:12:52 |
SandraDodd |
Two families were unschoolers (and all
LLL) and the other two did school at
home |
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13:13:23 |
SandraDodd |
So for a couple of years before I had
even considered homeschooling at all, I
interacted frequently with these
families--the kids without the parents,
the parents without the kids, the whole
families all together with other
families. |
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13:13:24 |
Webmama_Tina |
current chatter: Webmama_Tina
...upcoming chatters: ElijahsMommy |
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13:13:26 |
SandraDodd |
What a lab!! |
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13:13:39 |
SandraDodd |
I could not have hoped for a better
experience. |
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13:13:52 |
SandraDodd |
And that too was preparing for my unseen
future, because all through that I
thought I would send Kirby to school. |
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13:14:37 |
SandraDodd |
What I discovered was that I wanted our
family to be like those two unschooling
families whose children would come and
climb up into parents' laps, whose
parents helped their children try
things, taste/touch/see/hear things, and
were gentle and sweet. |
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13:15:04 |
SandraDodd |
And the other two homeschooling
families, though they were just as
involved in La Leche League, were quite
antagonistic with these school aged
kids. |
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13:15:09 |
SandraDodd |
So I saw what was possible. |
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13:15:14 |
SandraDodd |
And we always unschooled. |
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13:15:23 |
Webmama_Tina |
very interesting! :) |
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13:15:35 |
SandraDodd |
My children are 20, 18 and 15 now so
only the youngest is \school age.\"" |
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13:15:48 |
SandraDodd |
Okay. I'm done with my long intro. |
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13:15:52 |
Webmama_Tina |
so your kids would be great to use to
research how children turn out that
always unschooled...that's fascinating
:) |
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13:16:00 |
Webmama_Tina |
:) that's great, thanks sandra!\ |
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13:16:05 |
SandraDodd |
Tina, do you prefer one line or two at a
time, or whole paragraphs for posting? |
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13:16:12 |
Webmama_Tina |
elijahsmommy, you're up! |
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13:16:28 |
Webmama_Tina |
either is ok |
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13:16:37 |
Webmama_Tina |
you seem to type fairly fast so i think
we're good either way |
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13:16:59 |
Webmama_Tina |
for slower typers i ask for them to hit
return more often so we don't have as
long of a gap waiting for the
response...but you're good the way you
are i think :) |
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13:17:02 |
ElijahsMommy |
ok |
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13:17:03 |
SandraDodd |
My sister assures me that I type faster
than I think. That could be a danger
here. <g> |
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13:17:04 |
ElijahsMommy |
ummm |
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13:17:08 |
Webmama_Tina |
LOL |
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13:17:10 |
Webmama_Tina |
i hear ya |
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13:17:30 |
ElijahsMommy |
What is the difference btwn homeschool
and unschool? Can they later go to
college? |
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13:17:45 |
SandraDodd |
Anyone can go to college, regardless of
other factors. |
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13:17:54 |
Webmama_Tina |
and don't mind me as i post welcomes for
latecomers, and remind the rules and
queue |
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13:18:00 |
Webmama_Tina |
Welcome to this week's Mothering
Sponsored chat! This is a moderated
chat. Please make sure you read and
fully understand the Moderated Chat
Instructions before participating in
this chat. Instructions can be found
here:
http://www.mommychats.com/modrules.htm
...A Friendly Reminder: Please do not
post unless it is your turn to ask a
question. If you have a question, please
post a single \?\" and you'll be added
to the queue. Have your question ready
when your name is called. " |
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13:18:09 |
SandraDodd |
They can just take the SAT, ACT or
whatever, or go to a community college
and transfer. |
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13:18:35 |
SandraDodd |
There are lots and lots of ways to get
into college, though high schools for
their own purposes lead people to thing
that only a great high school record and
the recommendations of counsellors will
get you in. |
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13:19:20 |
ElijahsMommy |
Ok so what is the difference btwn
homeschool and unschool, and how was it
doing it for 3 kids? |
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13:19:33 |
SandraDodd |
As to the difference, unschooling is a
kind of homeschooling. There are other
kinds, too. |
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13:19:53 |
SandraDodd |
Unschooling isn't a thing I \did for 3
kids,\" though." |
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13:19:56 |
SandraDodd |
It's a way to live. |
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13:20:26 |
SandraMort |
? |
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13:20:46 |
SandraDodd |
I can't scroll up and see the top, so I
don't remember if my website's there,
but there's more information at
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
|
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13:20:59 |
ElijahsMommy |
so it was a way of life...you just
taught them little things everyday...? |
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13:21:03 |
Webmama_Tina |
for people that are new to the concept,
could you give a short explanation of
unschooling, sandra |
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13:21:12 |
SandraDodd |
If a link starts at the beginning of a
line, Tina, will it be clickable? |
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13:21:25 |
Webmama_Tina |
if you type it as a url or with www at
the beginning its clickable |
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13:21:39 |
SandraDodd |
They learned little and big things every
few moments, day and night. |
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13:22:10 |
SandraDodd |
http://sandradodd.com/help |
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13:22:20 |
Webmama_Tina |
perhaps a comparison of traditional
homeschooling vs unschooling would help
for those that don't understand
unschooling yet? :) |
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13:22:25 |
SandraDodd |
It's all... pink and green. <g>
I'm afraid to click it because I don't
want to boot myself out of the chat. |
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13:22:42 |
SandraMort |
the link looks good |
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13:22:45 |
Webmama_Tina |
if you click a link inside the chat room
it will open the page in a new window |
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13:23:02 |
SandraDodd |
OH GOOD! Thanks. |
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13:23:02 |
SandraMort |
iit's fine |
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13:23:03 |
SandraMort |
I checed |
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13:23:06 |
SandraMort |
checked. |
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13:23:26 |
Webmama_Tina |
if you click any other link on the page
(such as in the navigation in the bar at
the top of the page) that will take you
away from the chat, but any links IN the
chat, are fine to click |
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13:23:40 |
SandraDodd |
Okay. Among homeschoolers, the most
conservative sort of homeschooling is
sometimes referred to as \school at
home\"" |
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13:24:18 |
SandraDodd |
Some families go so far as to have a
classroom, a school schedule, flag,
pledge of allegience, the kids have to
address their mom as \Mrs. Wilson\" (or
whatever) during \"school\" and the kids
have to dress in \"school clothes.\"
Whole school." |
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13:24:44 |
SandraDodd |
Most, though, don't go that far, but
they'll have school-style materials and
lessons and \subjects\" with reports and
tests and all." |
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13:25:38 |
jenajustice |
what about when a child *wants* that
style of \homeschool\" and the parent
doesn't?" |
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13:25:41 |
ElijahsMommy |
so with doing unschool did you do alot
of research on things they liked, if you
didn't know much aobu tit |
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13:26:00 |
SandraDodd |
There are within that range some
particular kinds of programs that are
less like public school and more like a
stricter private school (more religious,
more classical/Greek/Latin) and some
that are more like more liberal
schools. |
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13:26:05 |
SandraDodd |
But still it's like a school one way or
another. |
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13:26:48 |
SandraDodd |
For myself, if I thought school was the
way to go I'd send them to school with
professionals. Because one drawback of
school at home is that kids don't like
school, but at least if school's bad
they get to go home. |
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13:27:03 |
SandraDodd |
To make home a school robs the children
of the relief of going home. |
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13:27:13 |
SandraDodd |
But I really don't want to spend the
hour talking about school. REALLY
don't. <g> |
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13:27:18 |
Webmama_Tina |
current chatter: ElijahsMommy
...upcoming chatters: SandraMort |
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13:27:35 |
SandraDodd |
I don't know any children who would want
a strict adversarial relationship with a
parent. |
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13:27:49 |
SandraDodd |
I didn't need to do a lot of research on
subjects. I just shared the
explorations with my children |
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13:28:10 |
ElijahsMommy |
are any of your children in college? |
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13:28:21 |
ElijahsMommy |
