Vanessa O

We've just finished our Always Learning Live conference in Melbourne (Adelaide last week, Gold Coast coming up) and what an amazing two days we've had.

I'd like to encourage any newcomers to the list to seriously consider looking into attending one of Sandra's events as they are second to none in getting inspiration, advice and a deeper understanding of unschooling. Secondly I'd like to encourage people who have been unschooling for a good while but who may have not attended one, as it's so easy to get into bad habits, patterns of thinking or get off track, even when you don't realise. There is always more to learn, more inspiration, more great Sandra quotes, more more more. Also the learning from the fellow attendees, I heard some great stories and inspiration from them along with making great local and national connections.
I thought I was doing a decent job at this but things came up for me this weekend that I hasn't realised was there and have come home really inspired and determined to up the sparkle and fun factor a level.

So get to a conference!
Vanessa

Sent from my iPhone

Sandra Dodd

Thanks, Vanessa. :-)

I'm really tired.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to be on TV briefly (in Australia), live, 9:20 a.m., on "Mornings" on Channel 9.   
I was looking forward to sleeping late, but it seems a worthwhile thing to do.

Friday and Saturday, March 28-29 Gold Coast (with Schuyler!)

south of Austin, April 11-15 (with Kirby)

Rochester, Minnesota, May 29-June 1 (with Pam Laricchia and Alex Polikowsky)

(and a few more later in the year...)




<bragdontina@...>

I second what you say, Vanessa! Especially if you have littler ones, or preteens and have some fears about the teen years...seeing older kids and their interactions with family and to glean ideas from others further along the path is fantastic. I was fortunate enough to attend the Toronto Unschooling Conference in 2007. I couldn't have my family there though. My kids were little, only 7 and 4 at the time, and now that my first was school age a new round of doubts had slammed me. I was (and pretty much still am) the only unschooler in my area and I even didn't know any eclectic homeschoolers. I was the only non-christian non-school-at-homer i knew, and till that time my support was online, bookmarked web sites, and message boards. I felt like I was in uncharted waters. Once I was there, I remember the impact of having my fears examined, like some of those talks sounding like they were written just for me, and of being moved to tears. It was so great to see people with older children and to see how interaction could be with them...no talking down, interacting with them as people, not the way conventional society seems to treat teens...I felt like I was being given a tantalizing peek into all that unschooling could be and how it was SO not just a "method of homeschooling". I don't mean to sound too dramatic when I say that it was lifechanging for me at that point in my journey! Even though it is a number of years later, I am expecting much the same at the symposium in Minnesota and am looking forward to it, and I can bring my family to boot. Definitely take the plunge, people! Or at least if time and money are a factor, get your hands on recordings if you can! :)

Sandra Dodd

-=-Or at least if time and money are a factor, get your hands on recordings if you can! :)-=-

http://sandradodd.com/listen has lots for free, and a few for sale from the Homeschool Association of California site.  (I'm speaking there again this year.)