Sandra Dodd on Unschooling


Interviewed by Michelle Barone
May 28, 2012


In 2022, this feedback appeared in my Facebook Memories from May 29, 2012. I don't think I had seen it before; Michelle Barone had posted it the day after the interview.

Wow, what terrific information from Sandra Dodd's interview. The information was concise and enriching.

Just when you think you've read it ALL(lol) it gets better. Sandra has a unique way. She is concise, gentle, clear and touches the soft spots of the soul. Sandra's work will benefit families for generations.

Thank you Sandra for your professionalism and gift of communication. Sweeeet!


That last icon, the little building, leads to The Internet Archive. You can download the recording in any of several formats, if you want to save it elsewhere.
Unsolicited review:
Brad-Stacey Propst (on facebook, May 28, 2012)

Well I just finished listening to Sandra Dodd's interview on the Unschooling Summit. While I took away a lot of info to think about, one thing Sandra said is really sticking with me... "If you didn't think before you acted, than you acted thoughtlessly" ... Love it! Thanks Sandra and Michelle E Barone

Notes:

I did not get to India in 2013. I did visit there in 2010, staying with Hema Bharadwaj's family, and did a workshop on attachment parenting (with Schuyler and David Waynforth in on the wall by Skype, thanks to Anand's computer abilities and their generosity).

When I put the file here in 2016, my kids were 30 (Kirby, living very near us, in Albuquerque with his new wife and her daughter who is 7), 27 (Marty, living with his wife of two years in our old house) and 25 (Holly, living and working near my hometown of Española).

Sometime later, in writing, I told the story of Nada and the penance, and said three or four years, but when I re-read that, I thought "No, it was two years." And so I'm glad I heard this. I'm sure it was two years. (I'm writing this after having helped people now for twenty-five years.)

Links to pages I mentioned about "do it" and "gradual change":

SandraDodd.com/doit
SandraDodd.com/gradualchange

Michelle said that it's someone's "god-given right" to be with their children. It's not, though. Laws that require school are not universal, but when there IS a law that requires school, because a nation has decided to require that, it's as real as laws get. Different states, provinces, countries have homeschooling laws because parents there have proposed, requested, pressured the government to allow them to homeschool. There are countries in which it has not worked. There are places where the restrictions are high. It's about legality, and not "god-given rights."

More details and links on a few things:
India 2010
Hema Bharadwaj
more on making better choices

A transcript of what I said at 36:50 and following is here: SandraDodd.com/considerations

Michelle Barone passed in 2016 of cancer. She was listed as an unschooling-friendly therapist on my site, and I knew her from conferences in California. This was part of an online Unschooling Summit. As it's no longer available for sale, I'm providing access this way.
—Sandra Dodd, December 2016
Interviews Sound Files