Beth Toolan

I am sitting in my living room with Kathryn and a bunch of really cool
unschooled teenagers, thinking about the one tiny green tomato in my garden
and listening to a conversation about crocheting bathmats accompanied by a
hummed rendition of �the first row is the hardest�� (hummed to the tune of
�the first cut is the deepest.�) The house smells like freshly mowed grass
and waffles, and I am hoping that I will see the foxes that live in the
cemetery across the road this afternoon.

I guess this is a typical day in the life of an unschooling parent.

My name is Beth Toolan. I live in Salem, MA with my wife, Kathryn Baptista,
our almost 20 year old son, Julian and Sadel, 12, who has shared our lives
for the past 16 months and will be moving on to new adventures in a few
weeks. We have unschooled Julian since he was 8.

I am really looking forward to seeing many of you at the Northeast
Unschooling Conference this August. Some of my favorite people in the whole
world will be there � the Lovejoys, the Kreams, the Davis-Pitres, Marji
Zintz, the Yablonski- Bieglers� and I am so looking forward to reconnecting
with old friends and making lots of new ones.
I am especially excited about spending a few hours learning from Rue
Kream, wife of Jon and parent of Dagny and Rowan, unschooling guru and
author of the book, �Parenting A Free Child: An Unschooled Life.� Any of you
who have met Rue, talked with her on the discussion boards, read her book,
or admired her butt on the book�s front cover will share my awe at her
gentle, kind wisdom and her unwavering commitment to parenting free children
and supporting all of us to do so as well.

Friends, laughter, music, a great location just north of Boston, and a
loving and welcoming community of people who share the unschooling lifestyle
� I can�t think of a better way to spend the last few days of August.

Please visit our website at www.northeastunschoolingconference.com for more
information and to register.



I hope to see you there!


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