Vanessa Orsborn

This is a little off topic in that it's not a request for help with an issue..
But I'm wondering if there has ever been an unschooling conference or get together in the UK or if there are plans for one?
I'm starting to feel a little jealous about all these references to conferences ;-)

Vanessa

Sent from my iPhone

Sandra Dodd

-=-But I'm wondering if there has ever been an unschooling conference or get together in the UK or if there are plans for one?-=-

The term has been resisted for years in the UK, so that's part of the problem.

There was a one day conference in July 2009, but it wasn't a very good one (even though I spoke, and Schuyler did too).
There is HesFes, which isn't just unschooling, but it's a way to meet a lot of partyish people, and hear speakers too. Holly went in 2005 and did a presentation.
I might be there this year.

http://www.hesfes.co.uk/

In the past hour, there is news. :-) [WAIT... I walked away. In the past five hours there's news.]
I've been waiting for my husband's shoulder surgery to be scheduled so I can make more definite summer plans. It will be February 1.

Julie Daniel is planning to do a small conference in London this summer when I'm there, with David and Schuyler, some other local/UK speakers, and me. I'll be in the UK (and France a bit) for two months or a little more. When the conference date is chosen, then the Edinburgh group can pick a time for a gathering they want to do. There will be smaller get-togethers along the route, and a camp-in-the-yard hang out at my friend Helene's house in Brittany (Bretagne, France), which will be planned after the Edinburgh weekend. So I don't know if those will count as "conferences" (Julie's will), but they will be UK local or accessible.

Sandra

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

Vanessa Orsborn

Fantastic :-)
I'm new to this and although I 'get' everything I read, I really need help in practice.. And meeting people in person will really help and keep me inspired :-)
Thanks
Vanessa
London

Sent from my iPhone

On 6 Jan 2011, at 05:17, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:

> -=-But I'm wondering if there has ever been an unschooling conference or get together in the UK or if there are plans for one?-=-
>
> The term has been resisted for years in the UK, so that's part of the problem.
>
> There was a one day conference in July 2009, but it wasn't a very good one (even though I spoke, and Schuyler did too).
> There is HesFes, which isn't just unschooling, but it's a way to meet a lot of partyish people, and hear speakers too. Holly went in 2005 and did a presentation.
> I might be there this year.
>
> http://www.hesfes.co.uk/
>
> In the past hour, there is news. :-) [WAIT... I walked away. In the past five hours there's news.]
> I've been waiting for my husband's shoulder surgery to be scheduled so I can make more definite summer plans. It will be February 1.
>
> Julie Daniel is planning to do a small conference in London this summer when I'm there, with David and Schuyler, some other local/UK speakers, and me. I'll be in the UK (and France a bit) for two months or a little more. When the conference date is chosen, then the Edinburgh group can pick a time for a gathering they want to do. There will be smaller get-togethers along the route, and a camp-in-the-yard hang out at my friend Helene's house in Brittany (Bretagne, France), which will be planned after the Edinburgh weekend. So I don't know if those will count as "conferences" (Julie's will), but they will be UK local or accessible.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


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

Schuyler

There was a specifically unschooling conference in the UK a couple of years ago.
It was a small one day gathering in London. I know there have been more ad hoc
gatherings arranged on Familyrun.ning.com at the uk unschoolers group:
http://familyrun.ning.com/group/ukunschoolers. Looking for conferences on
unschooling in the UK means looking more at autonomous education sites since
that's what it is more likely to be called here. AEUK has a yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AEUK/. I very rarely read or post there as it
often seems to be about the political situation of education in the UK and less
about unschooling. I tend to be a purist in what I want to focus on.

There is HESFES, http://www.hesfes.co.uk/gpage6.html, which is going to be near
Bury St. Edmunds this year. Just a hop skip and a jump away from us.
Unfortunately it looks like we'll be in the U.S. during the week of the camp.
Oh, I may have to juggle some things.


Schuyler




________________________________
From: Vanessa Orsborn <orangeness1@...>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 5 January, 2011 20:18:13
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Conference in the UK


This is a little off topic in that it's not a request for help with an issue..
But I'm wondering if there has ever been an unschooling conference or get
together in the UK or if there are plans for one?
I'm starting to feel a little jealous about all these references to conferences
;-)

Vanessa

Sent from my iPhone


------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links



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

Sandra Dodd

-=-I'm new to this and although I 'get' everything I read, I really need help in practice.. And meeting people in person will really help and keep me inspired :-)-=-

It's hard to consider "getting" unschooling. Usually in our lives (speaking for school kids, as I was), understanding means being able to recite back, or to answer multiple choice questions, or to summarize. And man people think they understand unschooling because they would be able to take a test on it. But the real test is whether it can work with the kids and the family.

My current advice on that is "Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch."

I wish I had thought of that about fifteen years ago.

Your'e right that meeting people helps, and seeing other people with their kids helps provide good AND bad examples. :-)

There's a newish group southwest of London, listed here:
http://sandradodd.com/world

And if ANYone looks at that list and knows of another group that's really good for unschoolers (and not a profit-making outfit, preferably), please let me know.

If you haven't looked lately, maybe look again. There occasionally new groups listed and I rarely announce changes to that page.

Sandra

Vanessa Orsborn

Thanks Schuyler, I'll check those links. I'm on AEUK but haven't found it very useful.

And Sandra, I should have said that it's makes sense in theory but in practice it is harder to change controlling habits quickly ;-)

I have been doing everything slowly (food control being my big issue so doing it bit by bit so I don't panic and backtrack).

I'll have to chat to my husband re HESFES, it clashes with our favourite festival :-(

Thanks
Vanessa
London

Sent from my iPhone

On 6 Jan 2011, at 14:05, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:

> -=-I'm new to this and although I 'get' everything I read, I really need help in practice.. And meeting people in person will really help and keep me inspired :-)-=-
>
> It's hard to consider "getting" unschooling. Usually in our lives (speaking for school kids, as I was), understanding means being able to recite back, or to answer multiple choice questions, or to summarize. And man people think they understand unschooling because they would be able to take a test on it. But the real test is whether it can work with the kids and the family.
>
> My current advice on that is "Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch."
>
> I wish I had thought of that about fifteen years ago.
>
> Your'e right that meeting people helps, and seeing other people with their kids helps provide good AND bad examples. :-)
>
> There's a newish group southwest of London, listed here:
> http://sandradodd.com/world
>
> And if ANYone looks at that list and knows of another group that's really good for unschoolers (and not a profit-making outfit, preferably), please let me know.
>
> If you haven't looked lately, maybe look again. There occasionally new groups listed and I rarely announce changes to that page.
>
> Sandra
>
>


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

Sandra Dodd

-=-
I'll have to chat to my husband re HESFES, it clashes with our favourite festival :-(-=-

It clashes with my birthday!!
As of today, I'm thinking I might come back to the US before then, now that I know I could back my eight week trip up into May. Schuyler's family is coming to the US the second half of July, too. HESFES isn't going to be very seasidish this year, and I'm old to camp. Still thinking.

Sandra

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

Carole

I am one of the people involved in starting the newish group that Sandra
mentioned (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/south_of_england_unschoolers/
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/south_of_england_unschoolers/> ). Julie
Daniel is also one of the founders/moderators. We are mainly focused
outside of London, but we do have some members who live close to London
and some who are in London, so you may be able to make some local
contacts to arrange to meet people, or - depending on where in London
you are - you may be able to make some of our existing meets. Also, last
year, we had a couple of weekend camps that went really well, so we are
planning a week-long camp for this year (probably early summer, it won't
clash with HesFes or the one day conference that Julie is putting
together).
Spending time with real life unschoolers in the UK (which we have been
doing for less than a year) and benefitting from all the wisdom,
experience & discussions on this list have been, and continue to be, two
of the cornerstones of my family's unschooling journey. I don't think I
would be overstating it to say that these two communities have changed
our lives and are the main form of support for unschooling that my
family has, so I can definitely recommend finding people to meet up
with. I hardly ever post on here, but I read and digest as much as I can
of what is written and find it so helpful in putting the philosophy into
practice and in making choices that move us more towards unschooling
than away from it, so I would like to thank those who do post regularly
for your generosity in sharing your thoughts and experiences. It really
is appreciated by the committed 'quiet lurkers' like me.
Back to Vanessa and the UK - please contact me directly
(carole.lovesey@...) if you would like to find out more about the
South of England Unschoolers group, or just click on the link to join.
The other UK list that could be worth joining is Unschooling UK
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingUK/?yguid=416020383
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingUK/?yguid=416020383> ). It's
not a particularly active list at the moment (in terms of numbers of
messages), but the members are unschoolers and there have definitely
been London-based people posting on there.
Carole(+ Tess, 7, and Brodie, 5, in Hampshire, UK)
--- In [email protected], Vanessa Orsborn <orangeness1@...>
wrote:>> Fantastic :-)> I'm new to this and although I 'get' everything
I read, I really need help in practice.. And meeting people in person
will really help and keep me inspired :-)> Thanks> Vanessa> London > > >
Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:> > > Julie Daniel is planning to do a
small conference in London this summer when I'm there, with David and
Schuyler, some other local/UK speakers, and me.> > > There's a newish
group southwest of London, listed here:> http://sandradodd.com/world>


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

Vanessa Orsborn

Thanks Carole, I'll check those links out, I may be able to make the odd get together (I'm north London).

We do occasionally go to London home ed groups (when my daughter wants to.. Which isn't often, she's a homebody), but I've not come across many unschoolers with older children, or of similar age.

And I've persuaded my husband to come to hesfes for half the week, then head off to the festival :-)

Vanessa

Sent from my iPhone

On 7 Jan 2011, at 13:15, "Carole" <carole.lovesey@...> wrote:

> I am one of the people involved in starting the newish group that Sandra
> mentioned (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/south_of_england_unschoolers/
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/south_of_england_unschoolers/> ). Julie
> Daniel is also one of the founders/moderators. We are mainly focused
> outside of London, but we do have some members who live close to London
> and some who are in London, so you may be able to make some local
> contacts to arrange to meet people, or - depending on where in London
> you are - you may be able to make some of our existing meets. Also, last
> year, we had a couple of weekend camps that went really well, so we are
> planning a week-long camp for this year (probably early summer, it won't
> clash with HesFes or the one day conference that Julie is putting
> together).
> Spending time with real life unschoolers in the UK (which we have been
> doing for less than a year) and benefitting from all the wisdom,
> experience & discussions on this list have been, and continue to be, two
> of the cornerstones of my family's unschooling journey. I don't think I
> would be overstating it to say that these two communities have changed
> our lives and are the main form of support for unschooling that my
> family has, so I can definitely recommend finding people to meet up
> with. I hardly ever post on here, but I read and digest as much as I can
> of what is written and find it so helpful in putting the philosophy into
> practice and in making choices that move us more towards unschooling
> than away from it, so I would like to thank those who do post regularly
> for your generosity in sharing your thoughts and experiences. It really
> is appreciated by the committed 'quiet lurkers' like me.
> Back to Vanessa and the UK - please contact me directly
> (carole.lovesey@...) if you would like to find out more about the
> South of England Unschoolers group, or just click on the link to join.
> The other UK list that could be worth joining is Unschooling UK
> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingUK/?yguid=416020383
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingUK/?yguid=416020383> ). It's
> not a particularly active list at the moment (in terms of numbers of
> messages), but the members are unschoolers and there have definitely
> been London-based people posting on there.
> Carole(+ Tess, 7, and Brodie, 5, in Hampshire, UK)
> --- In [email protected], Vanessa Orsborn <orangeness1@...>
> wrote:>> Fantastic :-)> I'm new to this and although I 'get' everything
> I read, I really need help in practice.. And meeting people in person
> will really help and keep me inspired :-)> Thanks> Vanessa> London > > >
> Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:> > > Julie Daniel is planning to do a
> small conference in London this summer when I'm there, with David and
> Schuyler, some other local/UK speakers, and me.> > > There's a newish
> group southwest of London, listed here:> http://sandradodd.com/world>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


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

[email protected]

Hello everyone

I am very happy there will be a one day conference this year! Wow that is so cool! And what about the Edinburgh gathering - will this be public as well?

We are also part of the mentioned group South of England Unschoolers and live only one hour away from London. We are planning to go to London more often this year and it would be great to meetup with you.

Cheers
Bettina

Sandra Dodd

I wrote all that's below and then came up top to say this: In three weeks or so I'll be in the NE U.S. for two weeks, and the details are here:
http://aboutunschooling.blogspot.com/2011/01/im-visiting-northeast-in-february.html

Now, back to the UK stuff, and my justifcation for putting it here.

I left this on the list even though it's regional because it's about where I'll be speaking, but not just me. Schuyler Waynforth, and her husband David will be at these places too (some or all of them), and other unschoolers and autonomous ed families I don't know of yet. And Julie Daniel. And Helene McNeill (American friend, in France this year, resident in the UK for six or seven years a while back) whose two younger kids are in school this year to learn more French, but were never in school before.

This schedule is rough. Tentative. Nothing certain yet.

Don't put it on a calendar; don't take it to the bank.

It looks like I'll be in Edinburgh from about the 20th or 21st of May, for a while. There will be at least one announced gathering, and people on lists in Scotland will get that, when the dates are firm and for sure.

I will be speaking at a conference in London. It will probably be June 25-26, but might be June 18-19. Others will speak too. Schuyler and David, I hope. Others I can't name yet because they're not confirmed, but all the others are (as David is) Brit.

After the conference, I'll be in France for four or five days, with David and Schuyler and their kids Simon and Linnaea. Anyone who wants to go there at the same time is welcome to camp on the five-acre property where my friends Helene and Leon McNeill are living in Baud, in Brittany/Bretagne. Their oldest daughter, Jasmine, might be visiting then (she's attending the University of New Mexico and so didn't move to France on this temporary move). The younger kids are Darwin and Sophie. They have room for 30 tents, and there's a river people could potentially fish in.

Various other times I will be in Darby, Sheffield, Bristol, north Wales (Connah's Qay, Conwy or both), Londonderry, and maybe another couple of places more briefly. I don't know whether there will be "gatherings" there, but people near there who can't attend any of the main things (Edinburgh, London, Baud) should let me know on the side and I'll see if I can get you an invite or meeting time at a pub lunch or some such, at least.

I had mentioned HESFES at one point a while back, but I'll be back in the U.S. by then.

ALL tentative, as to dates and the order of things, but being firmed up within a week or so. I'll put the notes here when it's more sure:
http://aboutunschooling.blogspot.com

Sandra