Sandra Dodd

Jon Kream once wrote, "The thing I like most about hanging out with
unschoolers is we never
have 'small talk' - there are never any conversations about the
price of
gas or when you last mowed your lawn, or the weather."


That's what I like best about the Always Learning list, too. I'm
grateful to all of you who help keep it so rich and interesting.

I'm hosting a symposium on unschooling in Santa Fe in January 2010.
I've been hesitant on putting out a big push, because I don't want to
create any conflict with other things that have already been
planned. I've been "laying low," but I do have a contract with the
facility and a headful of ideas and plans. The connection with this
list is that although anyone who attends will get to participate, my
main guests will be Pam Sorooshian, Joyce Fetteroll, and all of my
family and theirs'. The dads' session will have Cyrus Sorooshian
(his first name sounds like his last name, not like American "Cyrus,"
but like SoROOS Sorooshian; it's pretty), Carl Fetteroll, and Keith
Dodd. Other dads too, with other experiences, but as a core group,
this is good.

Because space is limited, if you decide your family is serious about
wanting to attend, please let me know. It will help with planning.
The site is a former time-share condominium complex on the north side
of Santa Fe, on the road to the ski basin, within walking distance of
the plaza, called Fort Marcy Condo Suites Hotel. Please don't try
to make reservations yet or you'll mess us up--they'll go through a
link on my site when we're nearer the time, but I have a contract so
don't worry. We'll have 39 units, mostly two-bedrooms, with the
possibility of adding a few more if those fill up. There is an
overflow hotel possibility at the same rates.

It might seem ironic, but the site isn't an indoorsy carpeted hotel,
and there are stairs, and there might be snow, and we only have
smallish meeting spaces, so this isn't an ideal event for families
with small children. It's better for families with teens, or (yes,
brace yourselves) for parents without their kids. It might be great
for a couple of dads, or a few moms, to come without the families.
Or if you bring small children, plan to bring someone to do something
fun with them during the sessions (or to stay in the condo with them
or to go visit Kirby's place and play games or something). There
WILL be families, and lots of teens, but the focus is on exploring
the ideas and philosophy of unschooling. And the main attraction is
Santa Fe itself. I don't want to schedule so much that people don't
get to explore the town some! We'll be walking distance from the
plaza. Easy walk down there, not as easy coming back up the hill,
but it's certainly doable for the young and strong, and old folks
like me might be able to call for a ride. Driving, even easier.

I'm partly sorry to talk about this here because I know most of you
won't go, but the benefit to this list should be noticeable. Even
though I don't think there's a better unschooling list available,
after some of us get to share our very best ideas in person, and when
dozens have had the experience of meeting some of the others who
write here and getting to observe and speak with some of their teens,
we'll all have more knowledge as it's shared back onto this list and
discussed some more.

Every conference has this effect, but this symposium will focus on
the depth of why unschooling works, and on what has been learned by
families with teens who were parented so differently.

It is possible, but not definite, that Schuyler Waynforth and her
husband David will also be guests of the conference. When that's
known for sure, it will be stated here, but I won't harp on the
symposium on this list at all. The gathering clues and details are
here:
http://santafeunschoolingsymposium.blogspot.com

While I'm excited about the symposium (which I'm calling "suss"--
which can mean to figure something out in one's own way), I don't
want to cause disappointment in those who can't even consider
attending, and so I'll try to shush about it here now.

Sandra

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