mascire2

Hi everyone,
I am trying to make plans to be able to attend the conference, and I
have a few questions. First, do Dads usually attend? I am just
wondering how things work out when I want to do one thing, and the
kids will want to do something different? Will I need someone there to
help with so that I can listen to speakers, etc? I am just not sure
yet whether dh can come with me. Do most people already know each
other IRL? Just curious!

Thanks!
Amie

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: amiersa2@...

Hi everyone,
I am trying to make plans to be able to attend the conference, and I
have a few questions. First, do Dads usually attend?

-=-=-

Amie,

You could probably get better answers on the
[email protected] site.

Quickly, here:

Yes, many dads attend. I don't have the count in my hand right now, but
I'll guess we're at 65 or so right now. Plenty of moms come without the
dads though. One dad came last year withOUT his wife or child! <G>

I am just
wondering how things work out when I want to do one thing, and the
kids will want to do something different?

-=-=-

Depends on your kids' ages. If the children are old enough, they can
just go from funshop to funshop while you do your thing. Some parents
"tag team" with littler ones. Some people bring family sitters. There
are ofte teens willing to strike a deal with you for babysitting during
the conference. Some people give up on ever hearing a speaker and just
buy the recordings! <g>

-=-=-=-=-

Will I need someone there to
help with so that I can listen to speakers, etc?

-=-=-=-

Again, depends on your kids.

-=-=-=-=-

I am just not sure yet whether dh can come with me. Do most people
already know each
other IRL? Just curious!

-=-=-=-=-

No one knew anyone else IRL before the first conference except maybe
Sandra Dodd and Lisa Bugg. But the conference has allowed many of us to
get to know each other IRL and to hang with each other at least once a
year.

Now many of us are best buds! <G> But if you don't come, you won't get
any closer to knowing us! <G>

Again, you might want to log onto the conference yahoogroup and ask a
bunch of questions there.

~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org

School's goal is to prepare them to be anything they want. But the
process is so dullifying and kids haven't explored the possibilities
of what they could be that many set their sites as low as possible.
They go to college to get a job to buy stuff. ~Joyce Fetteroll


________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email
and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

Sandra Dodd

-=-No one knew anyone else IRL before the first conference except maybe
Sandra Dodd and Lisa Bugg.-=-

I knew Lisa because we liked each other online and met up with some
other unschooling families in Indiana once, long ago, for a weekend
of hanging out. We had the downtime of a conference without a hotel
or speakers. <g>

I knew Joyce because we liked each other online and she and Kathryn
came to visit.

There were others I met at that first conference for the first time,
but I knew them from writings and sometimes from seeing photographs.
Anyone who wants to see photos of what the conference looks like,
there are lots of people's online photos linked at the bottom here:
http://sandradodd.com/abq

For some people it helps to just see candid shots of what kinds of
things happen.

Most of the unschoolers I have met, I met first online. That's been
going on for a long, long time, since I was on *Prodigy and a few who
wrote on that came to a little state conference in New Mexico so we
could meet each other�Karl Bunday, Jim Jackson (now deceased), Cafi
Cohen (who had lived in New Mexico before, so had more excuses)...

Pam Sorooshian's family and mine have been friends for a long time
now, ten years or nearly so I think. (Numbers escape me.) We liked
each others' writings, we both had three children at about the same
age spread (her set is slightly older than my set, but there was
still intertwining of ages), and she offered to pick us up from the
airport to take us to the conference because she wouldn't get to go
to the conference, so we got to know each other in her van, and at a
lunch stop, and it put an overlay of voices and faces on the words we
had exchanged before, and after, and still.

There are lots of ways to see some unschoolers in real life, look at
their kids when their kids aren't looking at you, and so forth.

There are some local groups and ideas about finding others here:
http://sandradodd.com/local

And now the internet is MUCH more colorful and full of faces and
voices! You can see photos of kids in action and hear real people's
voices. There are links here:
http://sandradodd.com/help

So while conferences are fun, those who have no chance of attending
are still way ahead of where people were when their only access was,
say, Growing Without Schooling magazine, or just a newsgroup of mixed
homeschoolers of all sorts.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Cally Brown

I hate this time of year!

I so wish I could come to conference!

Not fair :-(

I want to meet people too!

Cally
in New Zealand

Sandra Dodd

-=-I hate this time of year!

I so wish I could come to conference!

Not fair :-(-=-

Okay, then.

Take all the conference talk to the Live and Learn list. Anyone
who's going to the conference or thinking about the conference, talk
about it there instead of here.

Seriously.

I don't want this list to be the cause of unhappiness for people who
are too far or too poor or too otherwise-engaged to go to the
conference. People can unschool without conferences. Let's talk
about other things!

Marty won a grocery bagging contest yesterday. Got a certificate, a
pin, $100 and gets to go to state. Hmmm... maybe I already told you
that.

Keith's brother is coming for three days, with his girlfriend.
They're 60ish, but youngish and funnish. Ish.
His way of being, though, although amusing to me, is also
exhausting. He tells us how everything should be done differently,
and asks why we do this or that, why we chose one doorknob or DVD
player instead of another, and asks the kids irritating questions.
They give him zinging smart-ass answers. Amusing, but tiring.

The girlfriend, I've met twice and she's not easy to guess. I'm
afraid we'll offer to do too much or too little, but really I don't
want to do anything, because I don't know her at all, and other than
that she likes to go to professional sports things and I don't, we
have nothing in common. <g>

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: mjcmbrwn@...

I hate this time of year!

I so wish I could come to conference!

Not fair :-(

I want to meet people too!

Cally
in New Zealand

-=-=-=-

We have a family coming from Australia this year! Maybe you could jump
in their luggage. <g>

I'm sorry, Cally! I'd love for you to come too.

That's why I was trying to move the discussion over to the L&L group.


~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org

School's goal is to prepare them to be anything they want. But the
process is so dullifying and kids haven't explored the possibilities
of what they could be that many set their sites as low as possible.
They go to college to get a job to buy stuff. ~Joyce Fetteroll


________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email
and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

Cally Brown

I don't really mind that other people are going to L & L :-)

But today here it is a cold, rainy, windy, grey, bleak day. The dog
doesn't understand why I don't want to go outside and play in the
puddles (lakes more like!) and mud. The chooks (NZ speak for hens,
chickens) glared at me when I went to feed them and collect eggs, even
the cow seems to think I am personally responsible for her discomfort!
So hearing about you guys all planning something exciting
seems....hmmmm....well, it felt a bit bleaker here. But Jeff (16) and I
are off to start a night class in computing shortly - new things to
learn, new people to meet - so I'm feeling a bit better - though getting
from car to classroom might be a soggy experience! Still, it will be
fun, I'm sure.

Cally
feeling a bit better this evening :-)

Ren Allen

"But today here it is a cold, rainy, windy, grey, bleak day. "

Ah Cally....and I dream of seeing that beautiful country of yours one
day.:)

I have your little Raglan weaving in my meditation closet, on an altar
shelf, it always brings me happy thoughts of my friend over the waters.

Ren, sending some sunshine from TN, where the cows are trying to stay
cool in the pond.
learninginfreedom.com

Cally Brown

Well Ren, the sunshine hasn't travelled as fast as your e-mail and kind
thoughts, but the wind and rain have gone and it is a lot warmer today.
And after a 2 hour yoga session I'm feeling pretty good :-)

Cally

Ren Allen wrote:

> "But today here it is a cold, rainy, windy, grey, bleak day. "
>
> Ah Cally....and I dream of seeing that beautiful country of yours one
> day.:)
>
> I have your little Raglan weaving in my meditation closet, on an altar
> shelf, it always brings me happy thoughts of my friend over the waters.
>
> Ren, sending some sunshine from TN, where the cows are trying to stay
> cool in the pond.
> learninginfreedom.com
>
> <mailto:[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]