Sandra Dodd: I've been interestingly disoriented lately. Not dangerously so.
Robin B.: I think it's the time zone shift.
Sandra Dodd: But with Marty's wedding next week (I'll miss the chat next time; sorry) and Holly leaving for India a week from Sunday, my own checklist and to-do list seems urgent, as though I'm leaving, myself. But I'm not.
Robin B.: I took a wee nap yesterday!
Sandra Dodd: Whatever I don't get done soon, I can do in late November, December, ANYtime. 
Robin B.: Next week! Wow, I didn't realize it was so soon, for some reason.
Sandra Dodd: The wedding is going to be a three-day road trip and Las Vegas hotel. Not so distant or elaborate. But I have the physical, emotional feeling that I'm leaving New Mexico as I've done when I went to Australia, or Europe. It's a kind of physical alertness that's unwarranted.
Robin B.: Yes, I get that.
Sandra Dodd: But that's better than if I WERE about to go somewhere, and hadn't thought to get ready.
Robin B.:
Sandra Dodd: I don't feel agitated, and I'm sleeping well. There's a kind of fear in it when I'm awake, though. For instance, the ghost armor (plastic cover, stuck on) on my iPad is coming off, in the back, and I want to get it replaced. There is NO hurry. But I feel each day as though some deadline is coming. Weird.
Misa: Sometimes, that can happen. When things are happening to people in your life, esp. immediate family members. Everything seems more urgent than it really is.
Sandra Dodd: Honestly, it could be the new feeling of an adult child getting married. That's never happened before. It could be a subtle stress or fear about Holly's impending trip to India. She'll be with a family I've met, and like, and trust. I've been to their house, and been with them places outside their house.
Sandra Dodd: Misa, that could be it. Keith is considering retirement, too, and that might be a stressor I've never felt before and so can't recognize it.
Sandra Dodd: We have a bit of time before the schedule topic starts—anyone have any immediate concerns or questions?
Robin B.: That all sounds like it all might put your mind on high alert.
Sandra Dodd: A topic turned awkward at Radical Unschooling Info.
Sandra Dodd: Someone with young children (who wasn't the original poster) said she was disagreeing with a lot of what had been written, so she was going to leave the discussion.
Robin B.: I just read that!
Sandra Dodd: It's quite awkward to try to explain (though we end up doing it regularly) that we're not a "fix-it" shop, we're discussions ideas so that people can untangle their own thoughts and beliefs.
Heather C: Does it take time for us as parents to also get our creative mind working again when unschooling? I feel like I draw a blank a lot. And I have 3 kids I am justing starting with.
Sandra Dodd: And the energy that comes with "that's not FAIR" causes problems, too, whenever we're talking about things some families can't afford to do. Like get a new house, send a kid to Europe (Jill's daughter is there now; Holly went ten years ago to stay with friends in England, and got to go to a hen party (bachelorette party) and a wedding in France.
Sandra Dodd: Partly that was having the connections and friends living there.
Sandra Dodd: Partly it was me and Keith seeing and knowing that it would have been uplifting and life-launching if either of us had had an opportunity like that when we were teens, but we were stuck in school, and stuck in the mindset that kids don't "need" fancy expereinces, and that if they go off without their parents, they will get in trouble or "be spoiled" by it.
Robin B.: Heather C., I think a lot of parents find it difficult at first to learn to play again.
Sandra Dodd: -=-Does it take time for us as parents to also get our creative mind working again when unschooling?-=-
Sandra Dodd: Always.
Robin B.:
Virginia Warren:
Sandra Dodd: That's what deschooling does the most with adults—unsticks us from stodginess and calcification.
Heather C: OK, good to know. I feel like I'm not doing it right but its only been 3 weeks LOL
Robin B.: Yep. And being aware when it creeps in again, because it might.
Sandra Dodd: it will take a year or two, Heather.
Virginia Warren: Don't panic.
Sandra Dodd: But work on it! If you don't really consicously deschool, it will take three or five years.
Heather C: But yesterday my daughter, 14, decided she is completely interested in learning American Sign Language. And I have a cousin that does that and we have been learning a lot just in 2 days.
Sandra Dodd: If at first you can only play for a minute, or only play awkardly, do that. Do what you can and you'll get better at it.
Sandra Dodd: So PLAY with sign language. Find fun videos of kids' songs, or jokes. Don't "STUDY" it school-style, or not exclusively.
Heather C: Oh NO, I don't sit around doing nothing, we get out there and discove things all the time. We are having a BLAST
Jill Parmer: It's not like you need to be creative all own your own, your kids will help! Look to them for things they want to do or talk about. Little by little you can expand on that.
Robin B.: Act like you're on vacation for awhile. Think of the things you might do just for fun.
Heather C: she has been on a video dictionary all day looking up different words and she loves it
Jill Parmer: I had a neighbor who when on 'silent retreats', she said it was so different not hearing for a weekend, and all the signing.
Heather C: Thank you Jill and Robin. I feel like I am a little needy in the reasurring area these days
Robin B.: I think when Sandra said "work on it" she meant you'll need to do most of the deschooling. Don't let it take too long for *you.*
Sandra Dodd: Neediness can come around, but don't live there.
Jill Parmer: Take the advice Sandra has been saying for years...Breathe. Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch.
Heather C: OK, I have so much support from my husband and other family too that I am sure we will figure it out sooner than later
Robin B.: Think about this for a moment, Heather. What if your daughter said tomorrow, or next week: I'm done with American Sign Language. What would you think?
Heather C: Robin B I would think "ok, next thing"
Robin B.: Cool. You're on your way.
Robin B.:
Heather C: I'm trying to remember everything Sandra says LOL
Jill Parmer: Don't do that. It's too much all at once. Seriously...breathe.
Jill Parmer: 
Heather C: I think that is part of my problem Jill, I'm so excited I want to read everything and know everything
Heather C: I think that is part of my problem Jill, I'm so excited I want to read everything and know everything
Sandra Dodd: One little note before the hour. I'm excitedly preparing for and promoting two art projects at the December symposium—rangoli (an Indian sort-of-sand-painting, temporary art) and knotwork (like Celtic, norse knotwork). They have a similarity, and Hema can do one and Keith can do the other.
Sandra Dodd: But I can't do either one.
Sandra Dodd: So I will be the supply office and make sure there are materials and space, and will just look at others doing a spatial/math/color thing that is beyond me.
Jill Parmer: I love the interesting thing you bring to the conference, Sandra.
Jill Parmer: That early excitement is exciting.
Heather C: Rangoli sounds really cool!!
Robin B.: Sandra, I've recently subscribed to a costume designer's blog and discovered she can't sew! But she makes amazing things happen. That's what you're doing.
Jill Parmer: I'm looking at patterns everywhere, because I'm interested in taking a surface design class. The rangoli and knotwork will be inspiring.
Sandra Dodd: Good, Jill!!
Sandra Dodd: Good, Jill!!
Sandra Dodd: In India, it's in front of houses, casually (seemed to me)—even if it's not a holiday, some people will do it. Hema said her husband's aunt does it every day. It's kind of a symbol of the floor having been cleaned, the front entrance swept, and now the house is ready for the day.
Sandra Dodd: And in apartments, where people live upstairs and the door opens onto a landing, people do it there, too, even though maybe only a couple of neighbors and any potential visitors or deliverymen will see it.
Sandra Dodd: It's not intended to last more than one day, and people step on it and nobody gets mad.
Sandra Dodd: But for us, it will be photo opportunity.
Jaclyn Koehl: I'm really excited about the rangoli and knotwork!
Jaclyn Koehl: I'm really excited about the rangoli and knotwork!
Sandra Dodd: Okay!
Sandra Dodd: "Enough"?
Virginia Warren:
Heather C: 
Sandra Dodd: What's enough, and who decides and what's soothing and what's encouraging and what's what?
Heather C: The whole concept is that we let our kids decide what is enough, right?
Sandra Dodd: No!
Heather C: oops
Sandra Dodd: Yes, but no.
Virginia Warren: Depends.
Sandra Dodd: "The whole concept" is way bigger than that.
Heather C: Still new
Robin B.:
Sandra Dodd: "let them decide" is a little rigid and sounds like a rule.
Sandra Dodd: If you go by principles, you can be more fluid than rigid
Heather C: in what ways?
Sandra Dodd: If you want learning and peace, sometimes there's too much of something, even if the child hasn't decided it's enough.
Sandra Dodd: Sometimes it's good to provide more! Sometimes it's good to distract from something and come back later.
Virginia Warren: My kids have very different social needs. What's "enough" for Lydia is just getting started for Miriam.
Robin B.: The concept of enough can change throughout kids' lifetimes, too.
Sandra Dodd: The mom can be the provider of materials, resources, opportunities, but should also be the guard of peace and calm and safety and all that good stuff.
Sandra Dodd: From moment to moment it can change.
Robin B.: Yes!
Heather C: I see
Sandra Dodd: Sometimes I haven't shopped enough, I'm needy, or there are things the house really needs. At the moment, cheddar cheese. We use it a lot and have been out for three days.
Sandra Dodd: We live 100 yards from a grocery store.
Sandra Dodd: We keep forgetting. Holly and I was at Sprouts yesterday and didn't think of it. But sometimes I have shopped too much. Either Holly says "Let's don't spend any more today" (she's super thrifty) or suddenly I need to get out of the store and go home, or eat. And SUDDENLY, sometimes.
Sandra Dodd: So even Holly and I can't predict how much is "too much."
Sandra Dodd: Marty used to play video games and then suddenly STOP.
Sandra Dodd: Even without a save point. Sometimes for some reason (stress?) he would stand up, set the controller down, and walk.
Sandra Dodd: But I shouldn't decide for others what is enough, in the absence of danger.
Sandra Dodd: One of the main problems these days (this year and last year) is the frightful fear of "screentime."
Sandra Dodd: Parents want to decide in advance, arbitrarily, that one hour, or two hours, or zero, is "enough."
Sandra Dodd: Or they want to "decide scientifically"—take the advice of some professional who wrote something online, or of school-based recommendations.
Virginia Warren: It's there with food, too.
Sandra Dodd: OH yes. "You've had enough of that." "Eat more vegetables." "Clean your plate."
Sandra Dodd: And sleep. Though lots of parents make a child wake up if it's daylight for fear of someone (someone imaginary, or the ghosts in the mom's head) thinking the kid is lazy.
Virginia Warren: Did you eat enough "real food" to qualify for a "treat ".
Sandra Dodd: I remember that, when I would tell Kirby he should get up at noon.
Sandra Dodd: And then I quit saying that, but stopped enforcint quiet, at noon.
Sandra Dodd: Because we would be quiet if someone was still asleep, and it would've been 24-hour quiet time, for a few years there.
Sandra Dodd: SO in that case "enough quiet" for the other three or four of us was trumping "enough sleep" for Kirby.
Virginia Warren: What about "enough" friends? Do people have preconceived notions of how many friends a child should have?
Laurie W: some people tell their kids to go outside because they think they have been inside too long.....rather than inviting them outdoors to do something interesting or to simply ask if they would like to go out.
Heather C: I had the food one this morning with my 9 year old. He wanted coffee LOL and instead of my usual "no, you don't need caffeine" I let him finish mine, and he's fine.
Laurie W: Some adults have one or two really good friends and yet people don't criticize them as much as children.
AlexPolikowsky1: Yes Laurie
Virginia Warren: I'm the only close adult friend my husband has.
AlexPolikowsky1: I think people are afraid their kids will turn out loners and you know what kind of people loners are
Virginia Warren: He gets all the casual social interaction he can stand at work.
Sandra Dodd: School appears to be "lots of friends," but sometimes it's no real friends.
Robin B.: I'm thrilled that my daughter has three very dear friends (none of whom live anywhere near us), people she can rely on. I only have about that many myself, as does my husband. We have many acquaintances, though.
Robin B.: You know what kind of people we are? Loners.
Misa: I know a lot of people get hear about "too many kids", but I hear, "You don't have enough kids to homeschool." Because we have just the one. And I'm not the only homeschooler I know who hears this.
Laurie W: My grandmother used to let me and my brother have coffee. Though we could have it we liked Ovaltine best!
Robin B.: My mum, too. I had a little demitasse cup with coffee, cream and sugar (lots of the last two).
Sandra Dodd: I hadn't heard that, Misa.
Robin B.: Me, either, Misa.
AlexPolikowsky1: Giving coffee to little kids used to be very common in Brazil
Sandra Dodd: I wonder if they're thinking economics—that it's "a good deal" for the mom to stay home with five kids but not so much with one?
Sandra Dodd: Or are they assuming kids would be each others' playmates?
Robin B.: Are they thinking of not enough to have a classroom, or have the older ones "teach" the youngers, Misa?
Misa: I hear it a LOT. A lot of people assume that if you have one child you can not or should not homeschool them because they won't learn how to be around other kids and won't have playmates at home.
Robin B.: Oh, yes. I see.
Virginia Warren: Coffee used to be a luxury, and luxuries are often denied to children.
Robin B.: Socialization!!
Laurie W: Maybe because with more kids people think they are getting social skills but that they wouldn't be able to do so as much with just one?
Sandra Dodd: I've said "too many kids," but only when the mom is complaining about not being able to handle four or five, and the youngest is an infant. Then I might suggest birth control, or school. Because if she's already blaming stress and failure on the number of children she has, unschooling isn't likely to work.
Virginia Warren: I think it depends on the kids.
Sandra Dodd: Virginia, and lies would be told! Coffee will stunt your growth. Chocolate will make you sick.
Heather C: You are right Virginia, I have people tell me all the time my kids are "spoiled" because my husband and I like them to try new and exotic foods
Robin B.: ^ Huh?
Sandra Dodd: Why will they be happy with American cheese and baloney if they've had better food and if they have options?
Sandra Dodd: That's the justification for "spoiled" about "adult food."
Sandra Dodd: If kids are only limited to cheap Kraft Mac'n'Cheese, and hot dogs, it's easier to feed them.
Virginia Warren: I think my older daughter would have been happy as an only child. I think my younger daughter would be happier if she had at least one more sibling.
Heather C: Exactly!!! We expose them to different things are people don't see the need to "spend the money" on the kids and I don't see it that way
Virginia Warren: They tell themselves kids can't appreciate it.
Sandra Dodd: Correct. Like avocado and imported cheese are only for adults.
Sandra Dodd: Kids should eat a carrot
Robin B.: Yep. I know a family who became vegetarians so they didn't have to buy meat. Cheaper to feed 5 kids on mac n cheese and vegetables.
Heather C: My kids LOVED the Indian place we took them to and it was a great experience
Sandra Dodd: I think it was that "four food groups" being pushed so much in school that messed up a lot of what was traditional and natural before then.
Robin B.: Whether their kids would have liked and needed meat or not.
Virginia Warren: My kids like the sushi cafe.
Sandra Dodd: Yes, eat more fruit. Yes, eat some lettuce.
Sandra Dodd: But meat every day was only for really wealthy people. Lots of families only had meat a time or two a week.
Sandra Dodd: Until school health textbooks indoctrinated the kids to go home and tell their moms the array of daily food needed to be broadened.
Virginia Warren: And most people did not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
Robin B.: Yes, true. But they weren't allowed to eat it, either.
Heather C: I feel like kids can never have "enough" new things in their lives. How will they learn what they truly enjoy or don't like
Sandra Dodd: It's not natural (not necessary) for people to have fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
Sandra Dodd: Without ocean shipping and trucks and trains, it's IMPOSSIBLE.
Virginia Warren: The internet is great for that, Heather C
Sandra Dodd: But there were the four food groups, in every classroom, in every book.
Sandra Dodd: And now it seems normal and "natural," but it sure as hell is not.
Robin B.: Then a food pyramid.
Heather C: Agreed Virginia
Robin B.: Is it something else, now? A food Eiffel Tower?
Virginia Warren: That's why "limited screen time" is so inimical to great unschooling.
Sandra Dodd: Paintings of hellfire overlaid on the food pyramid. The brightest flames are at the bottom, on bread and noodles.
Sandra Dodd: Dante's gluten inferno.
Virginia Warren: Gluten free Ebola!
Marta Pires: My mom thinks I'm not taking good care of Conchinha because we don't have soup/main course/fruit for every meal, Sandra.
Jill Parmer: I love that...Dante's gluten inferno!! 
Sandra Dodd: When you were growing up did you have soup at every meal, Marta?
Misa: MyPlate is big now, yeah? That's basically 4/5 food groups again.
Marta Pires: It took me a while to not feel anxious because I don't have soup for every meal.
Marta Pires: I did. We were very lucky.
Virginia Warren: There's 5 now?
Marta Pires: We always had big meals.
Sandra Dodd: Misa, do you have a link to an image so we can add it to the transcript, please?
Robin B.: <snort> Jill.
Misa: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/images/MyPlateImages/JPG/myplate_blue.jpg
Misa: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/images/MyPlateImages/JPG/myplate_blue.jpg
Sandra Dodd: When people are asking "is this enough?" very often their question is "am I doing enough to be approved by other unschoolers?" Am I doing it right?
Sandra Dodd: Misa, that's interesting.
AlexPolikowsky1: I could live on Korean food now! My kids not to much. I am used to cooking sometimes 4 different meals . There are things we all like though!
Laurie W: Better to look to your own kids.
Sandra Dodd: thanks. The "dairy" being separate from protein seems odd to me. What's the theory on that? Half the world is lactose intolerant after early childhood, so "dairy" seems an odd thing to push.
Jill Parmer: I was thinking about 'enough' in that context. Am I doing enough? for my kids.
Sandra Dodd: Laurie, I agree. If the kids seem satisfied, active, engaged, that's "enough," probably.
Robin B.: I don't know if Heather C. is gone (hope not), but this was interesting (what she posted): "I feel like kids can never have "enough" new things in their lives. How will they learn what they truly enjoy or don't like"
Misa: I don't know if they give a reason for that. I think they want you to have dairy for calcium and it's easier to show a cup than adding it to things.
Sandra Dodd: Okay.
Virginia Warren: At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, government diet advice has sometimes been influenced by agribusiness.
Robin B.: It seems such a luxury to be able to even come up with a "plate" doesn't it?
Sandra Dodd: I see the logic in Heather's statement, though I think her concern might be the parent cutting off the flow of provision before the child discovered the One Cool Thing.
Sandra Dodd: And I suppose that could happen.
Robin B.: Yes. I've had that worry now and again.
Robin B.: That maybe I didn't introduce the One Cool Thing.
Sandra Dodd: Virginia—that's very true. Maybe the dairy people sponsored the MyPlate image.
Sandra Dodd: Me too, Robin.
Sandra Dodd: But I don't think we can provide everything.
Sandra Dodd: And there can be TOO much input and overwhelming pressure to see/try/taste/know/hear everything.
Robin B.: Nope. We've done many, many things. And she's found her passions, for sure.
Misa: I worry about the One Cool Thing, as well, but I also know that too many options at once is often overwhelming.
Laurie W: I think it's good to offer new things or go with the kids flow of what they are asking about, but to also take no as their answer if they are not interested.
Sandra Dodd: For all the cool things Holly has gotten to do, she is flighty and dabbles.
Misa: Too many new options, especially.
Robin B.: My own One Cool Thing has changed over the years.
Sandra Dodd: And I wonder whether I missed "exposing" her to something that would have seemed to have given her focus and solidity.
Sandra Dodd: But dabbling is itself an art and an advantage.
Robin B.: Yes. I think I'm that kind of person. A dabbler.
Virginia Warren: Me too.
Robin B.: I've had many One Cool Things. Sometimes at the same time!
Sandra Dodd: I am too, though I find over-arching "true things" that have opportunites for dabbling.
Virginia Warren: I think I'm about to quit my last thing and start a new one.
Robin B.:
Sandra Dodd: Music, when I was young—included recorder, guitar, piano, several vocal pursuits and styles, learning ballads, collecting instruments.
Sandra Dodd: The SCA, for many years—music, food, costumes, calligraphy, writing, management, publications. That's where I learned layout, cut-and-paste, publication. All outdated now, but I was good at it when that was "high tech."
Misa: I'm a "streaker". I tend to jump in and get quite heavily involved in something and then one day, "Well. Ok. I'm done now. Next thing." I may come back to it, but never like before. I do that with foods, too. I am a streak eater. I often eat something just enough to warrant picking it up in bulk and them am suddenly tired of it.
Laurie W: I was just thinking about dabbling today...because Li is interested in programming and coding and learns a bit about so many languages, but then switches to another. in my head I think that maybe it would be better for him to pick one and stay with that for a while, but then I realize that This is how he IS figuring out which languages he likes and why.
Robin B.: Stopping one thing can open up possibilities for others. That's also a luxury many people don't have or think they have.
Sandra Dodd: Unschooling gave me chances to follow all my kids' trails into their interests. Holly is singing along with something from the 1930's or 40's right now, upstairs. I avoided those decades hard, when I was a kid.
Robin B.: Misa, I think I might be a bit like that, too. Whilst I dabble in other things.
Sandra Dodd: But Holly LOVED the 1930's, and so I relaxed into it.
Laurie W: Neat!
Virginia Warren: Laurie, yes, and different languages are good for different things
Robin B.: My daughter is a streak eater, as well.
Sandra Dodd: Both the SCA and unschooling gave me opportunities to travel and meet people and see things I wouldn't have otherwise.
alexPolikowsky3: Streak eater?
Sandra Dodd: I've not heard the term until just now, Alex.
alexPolikowsky3: Dog show gave a huge opportunity to travel and meet lots of people. Glad my parents supported me and let me quit school at 16 to go live abroad.
Virginia Warren: I think Misa invented it.
Sandra Dodd: I have a friend who did art that way. He carved boxes, gave one to each of his friends, and never carved another box as far as I know. He did beading—nylon fishins line and beads, in patterns. Made me a necklace, and gifts for other friends, and then quit and went on to something else. He learned many skills he could use if necessary, but it wasn't "his medium." His medium was broad knowledge of materials and processes.
alexPolikowsky3: Ha Misa.
Misa: Maybe I did! I've been using that term for years. I just mean that I go on a "streak" of eating a specific thing a lot and then, one day, I move on.
Robin B.: It kind of makes sense!
Marta Pires: I'm more like Misa. And nowadays my "thing" is radical unschooling.
Virginia Warren: The streak thing, I do that with games.
alexPolikowsky3: OK OK OK > I did many different things in my life. Works in many different , totally different things. I am probably a streaker!
Sandra Dodd: I went my whole life avoiding pork. Or i would have pork once or twice a year.
Laurie W: Maybe when you are streak eating, you are listening to your body and giving it the food it is asking for.
Sandra Dodd: A couple of years ago, it became my favorite meat for a while, and I ate it LOTS. Keith got tired of it.
Sandra Dodd: It was oddly interesting.
Misa: Oddly, my husband and my son could eat the same thing at the same meal for months on end and be just fine, provided they enjoyed it in the first place. But unless it's my "thing", I tire of the same thing really quickly.
Laurie W: But a parent can worry about a child having too much if they are streak eating. Especially if it is foods they think are not good for you.
Virginia Warren: My older daughter is eating a lot of ice cream
alexPolikowsky3: I went on a Kimchi streak and everything had to have kimchi in it. Only stopped when I ran out of it. Got to make some more! But maybe it is good I took a break as to not get sick of it!
alexPolikowsky3: My kids go on streaks! They will eat mac & cheese for a while and then not. Or bacon and then not. They get tired of the same food. I am so not a creative cook. I wish I was more creative.
alexPolikowsky3: Virginia as a teen I ate a lot of ice cream on and off or as Misa says in streaks!
Sandra Dodd: My kids always did that. Holly did an egg noodle period. And Ramen for months. And quesadillas for a year. Marty's was corn dogs (organic chicken corn dogs).
Laurie W: Kanoa was enjoying chicken nuggets for months and now his favorite food is French toast. plain and light.
Robin B.: Alex I thought of you yesterday when I saw an ad for a "Kimchi Teriyaki Cheeseburger."
alexPolikowsky3: IT maybe a normal thing for people to feel comfortable and well eating the same food and then move on?
alexPolikowsky3: Robin that sounds good!
Robin B.: I know!
alexPolikowsky3: I am going to make some when I make some more Kimchi!
Jill Parmer: Luke would love one vegetable a summer when he was young. One summer, carrots, the next English cucumbers, then red peppers.
Robin B.: Senna's is pancakes, now with butter and syrup. Was just butter for years. Oh and seared ahi and ramune.
alexPolikowsky3: So when is it enough ice cream? For me it was when I got sick of it for a while.
alexPolikowsky3: So I let my kids have enough of what they want to eat. And that is why I have buckets of sweets in my house that never get eaten and people have a hard time beliviing ! They say sweets ;ast one day at their house.
Robin B.: Ramune is the coolest Japanese soda. You need to open it by pushing down with a plastic plunger to dislodge the glass marble, so the soda will flow. It's still in there, though. Her fave flavor is lychee.
Her fave flavor is lychee.
Virginia Warren: I think Lydia doesn't trust yet that I'm going to keep bringing ice cream home from the grocery store, because for a long time I didn't.
Virginia Warren: My kids love Ramune
alexPolikowsky3: Maybe Virginia. But it maybe be that it does feel nice to eat ice cream. Did you see the post about Gigi and her stash of ice cream cones? She did it the first time . 5 boxed and over 60 cones. Lasted a wekk ( OK we all ate) and then the second time there was at least a box left/ Third time and we still have ice cream so now she does not want it anymore.
alexPolikowsky3: Robin is in Hawaii!!!!!!
alexPolikowsky3: That is funny Jill about one vegetable a Summer!
Virginia Warren: I used to be "food controlling mom" and I'm still cleaning up my mistakes two years later.
alexPolikowsky3: I see. I would make a huge ice cream stash in the freezer.
Virginia Warren: Awww
Laurie W: Lychee and seared ahi remind me of Hawaii!
Virginia Warren: I'm not if you're not.
alexPolikowsky3: SOrry I was late. Sick kids. sick kittens and no computer ( my husband has my laptop.) Now I am in my son's awesome computer and man I love this big screen and awesome keyboard.
Marta Pires: I'm still here!
Laurie W: I like ice cream more when it's warm out. Brewers natural vanilla....yumm!
alexPolikowsky3: I like ice cream at any temperature but it has to have nuts and chocolate chunks or chunky stuff in it. Cherry Garcia< Pistachio... Chunky Monkey, kinda like that!
alexPolikowsky3: I sometimes just add my won stuff!
Laurie W: I'm smiling at Daniel's big screen and awesome keyboard as those things mean a lot to li too!
alexPolikowsky3: I know right Laurie! He babies his computer~!
Misa: We did that when we had an ice cream maker (I plan to get one again before next summer). We'd make our own and add however much stuff we wanted.
alexPolikowsky3: Such a good computer! No issues over a year later!
Laurie W: That's nice that Daniel is letting you use his computer!
Misa: I also used to go to a place called Marble Top. It's a lot like Cold Stone Creamery. I loved that you can add all your own stuff.
Virginia Warren: Lydia needs a new video card to play sims 4
alexPolikowsky3: Ice cream maker! I have one. I make ice cream with greek yogurt and condensed milk and berries !! YUMMY!
Laurie W: That's great that it's running so well! Li just cleaned his with an air spray yesterday...stuff I don't think of!
alexPolikowsky3: He is! Real nice. He usually does not like anyone using it but he does let his sister play games and they laugh and have fun together.
alexPolikowsky3: Yeah I was just thinking it probably needs to get cleaned again. The computer sits high on a side table but still gets very very dusty! Amazing!
Laurie W:
alexPolikowsky3: I wish building computers was profitable because I love doing it!
Sandra Dodd: Sorry. Had phone calls.
alexPolikowsky3: I cannot get enough!
alexPolikowsky3: Sandra when is the wedding?
Sandra Dodd: 20th, next Thursday, Marty's wedding.
Sandra Dodd: I'm so sorry!!!
Sandra Dodd: I'm so sorry!!!
Sandra Dodd: I didn't mean to leave and let the chat fade.
Misa: Sandra, do you feel there are times where the parent needs to decide what is enough?
Sandra Dodd: Misa, maybe.
Sandra Dodd: It depends.
Sandra Dodd: I would not say "There is never a time when parents have no right to say no."
Laurie W: Li loved building his and is hoping to do it again for one of us or a friend...anyone!
Sandra Dodd: But that's not the same as "Sometimes parents need to decide what is enough."
Sandra Dodd: That statement could be abused and misused.
alexPolikowsky3: That is me Laurie!
Misa: I could see how that can be true.
Laurie W: Love your enthusiasm!!
Marta Pires: This is an important topic for me because sometimes I find myself wondering if I'm doing enough. I like what Karen James wrote about this and that Sandra saved on her "Enough" page:
-=-"Am I doing enough?" I asked the same question a few years back. I got an excellent, but unexpected reply. I was told if I thought I wasn't doing enough, then to do more. Now, if our unschooling days start to feel a bit stale to me, I try to make them lively again by using what I know about my son to introduce something(s) fresh to our experience. Doing this has never lead me astray. It might take me in a completely different direction from what I had in mind, but, to me, that's a big part of the fun of this life.-=-
-=-"Am I doing enough?" I asked the same question a few years back. I got an excellent, but unexpected reply. I was told if I thought I wasn't doing enough, then to do more. Now, if our unschooling days start to feel a bit stale to me, I try to make them lively again by using what I know about my son to introduce something(s) fresh to our experience. Doing this has never lead me astray. It might take me in a completely different direction from what I had in mind, but, to me, that's a big part of the fun of this life.-=-
alexPolikowsky3: I think that a lot of people read things like " always say some kind of yes" or " no limits or rules" and they take it as an unschooling rule. They are not looking at living by principles. If you are looking at principles I think most of the time it will be "depends"
Sandra Dodd: Yes.
Sandra Dodd: It depends.
Sandra Dodd: WHY would the parent be limiting? That's what going to make it good or bad.
alexPolikowsky3: YES! Why?
Sandra Dodd: if the parent is limiting because the parent is nervous or irritated and it's personal and the parent is unwilling to be more generous or to give the child some more time/space, then it's selfish.
Sandra Dodd: If the parent jumps in to save a life, or to keep a child from throwing a fit that would break something or ruin a friendship, that's an entirely different sort of thing.
Sandra Dodd: It's not about the clock or any measuring. It's about learning, peace, joy, relationships.
Sandra Dodd: So here is what I'm thinking about "enough."
Sandra Dodd: School has one field trip a year, maybe two. Sometimes school has a dance during school hours, or some assemblies or sports activities.
alexPolikowsky3: and Marta YES! Just on my local homeschooling list someone was asking about how she felt she was not doing enough ( she thinks of herself as unschooly-) and a dad who calls himself an unschooler said something like: "OH kids will find things to learn about">
alexPolikowsky3: I was like NO!!! Do more!
alexPolikowsky3: But unfortunately do more for this mom is curriculum and busy work. UGH!
alexPolikowsky3: But unfortunately do more for this mom is curriculum and busy work. UGH!
Sandra Dodd: In a school year there might be ten "things"—plays, musical performances, guests, field trip.
Sandra Dodd: Unschoolers can have one a week. That's 50, 52.
Sandra Dodd: Or one a DAY! That's 365.
Sandra Dodd: So how many is too many?
Sandra Dodd: How many is not enough?
Sandra Dodd: It will be more than school if children are taken to a museum and allowed to stay at the exhibit they like best instead of flitting all over and 'tagging" each thing for a moment.
Sandra Dodd: It will be more than school if a family gets a zoo membership instead of one frantic, pressured trip to the zoo.
alexPolikowsky3: THis week it seems we are going to be slow. Kids are sick. No piano and horseback riding.
Sandra Dodd: Get the magazine. Go see new baby animals. Go for special events.
Sandra Dodd: Go for one hour.
Sandra Dodd: Stop the frantic pace.
alexPolikowsky3: They had archery with the SCA group last Saturday and loved it again.
Sandra Dodd: One exciting thing like archery might be enough for a week.
Sandra Dodd: One week of staying home without going out might not be enough.
Sandra Dodd: Look at your children. Look at their mood, their eyes, their joy, their restfulness.
Sandra Dodd: Listen to their questions.
Marta Pires: Doesn't it also depend on the child?
Sandra Dodd: Touch them gently.
Marta Pires: Ok, I wrote that after Sandra mentioned looking at our children.
Sandra Dodd: See if that child seems content, stimulated. Does she feel safe? Warm? Loved?
Sandra Dodd: Good.
Sandra Dodd: And it depends on the season. A child might want to get out twice a day for a while, and then be ready to stay home a long time.
alexPolikowsky3: bUT WAIT! Gigi was really sick yesterday but we had a show on TV all afternoon ( hours I feel like it) about the building of the ski trails ( indoors) in Dubai!!!! She was paying super attention! She was asking questions and told me they get temperatures of 130 degrees that is how hot.
Sandra Dodd: Indoor skiiing? Wow.
Sandra Dodd: We have indoor skating rinks, two of them. It's not as hot as Dubai, but it's an expensive thing to do, to keep ice rinks cold enough in the desert.
alexPolikowsky3: Yes it was the whole step by step construction. An awesome show and Gigi watched all. Engineering stuff and so much more! Pretty great!
alexPolikowsky3:
Laurie W: Wow... I just looked it up! It's in a mall!
alexPolikowsky3: YOu have no idea the grandiosity of building these sky trails in Dubai.
alexPolikowsky3: Yep Laurie and if you get a chance watch the show about it~
alexPolikowsky3: It is an engineering feat ( as Dubai needs another one! )
Sandra Dodd: Guys, I'm really sorry I was absent for a bit of today. I didn't expect the phone call and it was important. (It was the cancellation of my site for the December symposium, because the hotel is being sold, but I didn't want to say so. I had another site by the end of the next day.)""
(Edited by Sandra 11/30/14)
(Edited by Sandra 11/30/14)
