cartoontv5

Hi.Would you guys mind telling me what goes on at the conference? As
you know I am new to this.I am biting my nails as my kids play in the
hot tub outside and are not doing anything educational....
Jeanne

Syndi

--- In [email protected], "cartoontv5"
<LJeanne28@a...> wrote:
>
> Hi.Would you guys mind telling me what goes on at the conference?
As
> you know I am new to this.I am biting my nails as my kids play in
the
> hot tub outside and are not doing anything educational....
> Jeanne

I haven't ever been to a conference, but, for the hot tub thing, I
see that as physical activity, as in PE !
---and as late as i'm responding to this i'm sure they are on to some
other adventure by now!
I haven't followed the list for a week or so, but i'm wondering if
anyone talked of deschooling? Its something you do to get
the "school" out of your head! Give yourself and kids, if they were
in school, a month for every year. That means you take that time to
just hang out and not worry about school a bit, give you and your
kids a BIG break! In the mean time if you are still reading about
unschooling, you'll notice more and more of what they are doing and
what they are learning! Syndi

Ren Allen

"I am biting my nails as my kids play in the
hot tub outside and are not doing anything educational...."

AH, but they are!! Learning that is....

As to your conference question, please come Jeanne. It will be the
most life changing experience, I can guarantee it! It's worth going
in to debt over.
If you spend the weekend with hundreds of bubbly, interesting
unschoolers and still have doubts, then you just shouldn't
unschool!!:)

It's a family event, with workshops and fun for everyone. Kelly will
have the website up soon, and you can start reading about the
offerings.

*Kelly: Is there somewhere she can read about past conferences? Is
that still online?

Ren

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/4/2005 9:57:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
starsuncloud@... writes:

*Kelly: Is there somewhere she can read about past conferences? Is
that still online?



The website should be up this week. There will be the "Testimonials"
page----cool pictures too!

I'll post it as soon as it's available.
~Kelly


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Heather

Back in 2000, my dh & I were just THINKING about homeschooling. I was sure
I wouldn't ever actually do it (little did I know...).

Luckily, we ended up attending an Unschooling conference in Dallas & it
totally changed our lives. I went in saying "it would be nice to
homeschool, but I could never do it". We came out saying "we will ALWAYS
unschool our kids". The only thing I can think to compare our experience
to, is a religious conversion. Our whole world view about school & learning
changed 360 degrees. We attended lots of talks & discussions. There were
lots of fantastic speakers. The kids did art projects & drumming & played
mini golf & watched movies & played chess & swam. We attended the super
talent show. And on and on and on. Just spending 3 days with a hotel full
of unschoolers was phenomenal.

I recommend it.

Heather m
Tucson az

mamaaj2000

--- In [email protected], "Ren Allen"
<starsuncloud@n...> wrote:
> It's a family event, with workshops and fun for everyone. Kelly
will
> have the website up soon, and you can start reading about the
> offerings.

Oh, I hope we can make it! Right now, we don't know where we'll be
living next fall. Dh got a list of possible bases and most of them
are remote--i.e., far from major airports. With 3 little ones (5 and
under next fall) driving a long way and then having connecting
flights sounds really hard!

--aj

soggyboysmom

We've been to exactly ONE conference and here's what went on for us:

I got to meet some folks I knew as online "voices" - that was cool

DS (6) built some cool structures out of marshmallows with my
assistance in holding the toothpicks as needed to keep things stable
as he built.

We spent a lot of time in the (indoor) pool area

I spent a lot of time catching DS as he jumped off the big rock in
the pool courtyard once he studied some of the bigger kids and
figured out how to climb up (with a boost from mom for the first
couple times).

Spent a lot of time in the "play room" with both DH and DS (there
was a pile of paper and DH had a great time folding things). Chatted
with folks at the pool and the play room.

Popped in on a couple of speaker sessions while DS and DH were up in
the room watching a movie. Oh and I also couldn't resist popping in
on the foster puppy funshop and getting to be near a pup for a while
(since our two dogs had to stay home with a sitter).

DH stayed for the whole Talent Show on Sunday night - DS and I
waited to hear Anne Ohman and clan perform the song Shaving Cream
(one of our favorite ditties) then we went to the pool for several
hours.

We went to out dinner one evening and I had wonderful plate of
ravioli stuffed with squash in a wonderful sauce. At the next table
at Capone's was another unschooling family which was cool - don't
experience that every day.

We went on the whale watch appended to the end of the conference and
that was great - lots of people all mingling and chatting. One girl
we had spent time with at the pool saw that DS was chilly (despite
his jacket) and went and brought a blanket over that they could
share. It was a really special blanket to her from when she was
little and she freely shared it - that was cool! We shared some of
our "ogre mix" snack with her - instead of mixing up the "trail mix"
(nuts, giant M&Ms, raisins, Cherrios, etc) we just layer them (ogres
have layers ...) and dig in.

We ate at the dockside seafood restaurant afterward and the place
was brim full of unschoolers which was really cool. Didn't stay to
see Whoopi though - we were heading home and wanted to get back
before it was too terribly late.

It's totally unlike anything schoolish, not even like a
homeschooling convention where you sit and listen to people explain
how to get your kids to ... and browse through tons of curriculum
vendors. The only vendors there had some really neat stuff (like
percussion instruments and craft materials), no "school in a box"
stuff anywhere. There are no "shoulds" only opportunities and
options. If you want, you can consider it a really cool vacation and
just take advantage of the discount hotel rate - but then you'd miss
a lot of the fun stuff from just mingling around and seeing what
transpires.

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/4/2005 1:31:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LJeanne28@... writes:

Hi.Would you guys mind telling me what goes on at the conference?<<<<

Jeanne, I will post the new site as soon as possible. It will have a list of
testimonials that are awe-inspiring in themselves! <g>

Speakers, funshops, pool, late night talks, talent show---lots of fun.

~Kelly





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