Sandra Adams Dodd (born July 24, 1953, Augusta,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) is an

unschooling Unschooling is an informal learning that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. Unschoolers learn through their natural life experiences including play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, ...

advocate. Her articles have been published in homeschooling journals (particularly, Home Education Magazine), in her books "Moving a Puddle" and "Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling", and are available on her personal website. Articles she has written have been translated into several languages, and her "Public School On Your Own Terms" was featured in "The Homeschooling Book of Answers". She was frequently invited to speak at homeschooling and unschooling conferences and announced her retirement from conferences in 2017. Dodd grew up in

Española, New Mexico Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Founded as a railroad village some distance from the old Indian town of San Juan de lo ...

. When she was 14, Dodd (then Adams) received a promo copy of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's first album,

. Impressed by his lyrics and music, she wrote him a fan letter. Bowie responded, "... a few moments ago I was handed my very first American fan letter - and it was from you. I was so pleased that I had to sit down and type an immediate reply, even though Ken is shouting at me to get on with a script he badly needs." She attended the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

beginning in the fall of 1970 at age 17. She graduated at 20 with a major in English and minors in psychology and anthropology. Dodd was always interested in education and learning. She learned about the

open classroom An open classroom is a student-centered learning space design format which first became popular in North America in the late 1960s and 1970s, with a re-emergence in the early 21st century. Theory The idea of the open classroom was that a large ...

philosophy, free schools such as

Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-paying) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other wa ...

, and read the writings of

John Caldwell Holt John Caldwell Holt (April 14, 1923 – September 14, 1985) was an American author and educator, a proponent of homeschooling (specifically the unschooling approach), and a pioneer in youth rights theory. After a six-year stint teaching element ...

. She was a junior high school English teacher but chose to apply the progressive learning approaches she learned about in college when she had her own children. None of her three children have ever been to school and all three have been radically unschooled. Dodd has been an active member of the

Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...

for most of her adult life since joining in the 1970s. On her website, Dodd says:

References

External links

Sandra Dodd official website with biography and speaking schedule
Home Education Magazine
Improving Unschooling
Radio Free School interview with Sandra Dodd
Living Unschooling With Sandra Dodd
(pdf) Life Learning Magazine

Successful Homeschooling 1953 births Living people American education writers American non-fiction writers Schoolteachers from New Mexico American women educators Advocates of unschooling and homeschooling University of New Mexico alumni People from Española, New Mexico 21st-century American women {{US-edu-bio-stub