Alan & Brenda Leonard

6/3/03 18:43:

> Hi folks...
>
> I am getting on the planning for the New England Live and Learn Conference in
> 2004. It looks like it will probably be in August, but the exact dates and
> location aren't final yet. In the meantime, I have a few questions.
>
WOW, you're efficient! Didn't we just talk about maybe you would do this a
few weeks ago? Amazing.

> Picture your fantasy Unschooling conference. What workshops would it have?
> What speakers would absolutely motivate you to come?
>
David Albert. I'm never in the same town he's speaking at, and I keep
wanting to hear him. Also the guy that Sandra does that really neat
workshop that she sent me the tape of.....ummmm......Sandra, please help, I
can't find his name in my head right now. He was Jewish, and taking about
questioning. The tape was facinating, I want more.

> If there were a few extra things your family could sign up for that had an
> extra fee (like a whale watch) would you like that?

YES!
>
> And would you like one (again optional, again with an additional fee)
> Conference dinner or lunch planned?

I like the casual style that you can move about at, rather than the
trap-you-at-a-table-with-the-same-7-people kind. But having chances to get
together with food could be good.

Here's a idea that just popped into my head, but it might be truly
infeasible. What about making reservations at a few nearby restaurants for
10 people or so, and it could be first come, first sign up for dinner.
That might be good for people who don't know folks to get to eat with some
other interesting unschoolers.
>
> Thanks....I'm getting excited about this!

You're wonderful, Kathryn!

brenda

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/03 3:37:52 PM, abtleo@... writes:

<< Also the guy that Sandra does that really neat
workshop that she sent me the tape of.....ummmm......Sandra, please help, I
can't find his name in my head right now. >>

Richard Prystowsky!

http://conference.hsc.org/2001/speakers/bio/prystowsky-richard.html

<A HREF="http://conference.hsc.org/2001/speakers/bio/prystowsky-richard.html">
California Home=Education Conference - Richard …</A>

(Wow! That's old! But it's still there. The backwaters and oxbows of the
WorldWideWeb.)

Sandra

Robin Clevenger

> Subject: Re: Conference organizer questions
> > I am getting on the planning for the New England Live and Learn
Conference in
> > 2004. It looks like it will probably be in August, but the exact dates
and
> > location aren't final yet. In the meantime, I have a few questions.

I have a question - why is the conference in August? We usually try not to
do any big traveling in the summer when all the people who are slaves to the
school schedule are doing so. Airfare is often more expensive (we'd be
coming from the other side of the country), and to be honest, for people
from a temperate climate, the eastern seaboard heat and humidity and pretty
off-setting at that time of year. Is there any reason the unschooling
conference can't be in, say, late September? Better weather, less
travelers...

> > Picture your fantasy Unschooling conference. What workshops would it
have?
> > What speakers would absolutely motivate you to come?
> >
> David Albert. I'm never in the same town he's speaking at, and I keep
> wanting to hear him.

I'll second that recommendation. Just got to hear him talk last week and he
is really a great speaker and very thought-provoking. Our homeschooling
group parents are still discussing it. And his second book looks really
great too. I didn't buy a copy and I'm now regretting it. Need to save up
some more sock money :-)

I'd like to get a chance to hear Sandra (of course). Ummmm, since we're
dreaming, maybe John Taylor Gatto? Reviving John Holt from the great beyond?
:-)
I'd love to have some kind of panel with several older unschoolers and their
parents, just to get an idea of the direction we're headed in. Or maybe even
ones of several different age groups as what interests me now most are the
years that lie directly ahead of us (8 - 12) instead of the teenage years.

> > If there were a few extra things your family could sign up for that had
an
> > extra fee (like a whale watch) would you like that?

More than likely, that sounds like fun!

> > And would you like one (again optional, again with an additional fee)
> > Conference dinner or lunch planned?

Yes, or even a potluck. Something casual for sure.

I'm really bumming that we can't make the conference this year, so I'm
holding out hope for next year, though August is always a hard time for us
to travel, too much going on here. Glad that you're planning this, I hope we
can make it.

Blue Skies!
-Robin-

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/4/03 8:21:02 AM, diamondair@... writes:

<< Is there any reason the unschooling

conference can't be in, say, late September? Better weather, less

travelers... >>

EXCELLENT points made.

August is still really busy and expensive.

Also, as to people's logistics and unschooling, in August most new
homeschoolers seem to know EXACTLY how it is going to work, and wouldn't want to hear
from us, but by October, they find it is NOT working and they might appreciate a
rescue!

Sandra

[email protected]

> (......I'd love to have some kind of panel with several older unschoolers
> and their
> parents, just to get an idea of the direction we're headed in. Or maybe even
> ones of several different age groups as what interests me now most are the
> years that lie directly ahead of us (8 - 12) instead of the teenage
> years........)

I second that, though I would think there would be some there already right?
>
>
> >>And would you like one (again optional, again with an additional fee)
> >>Conference dinner or lunch planned?
>
> I agree Robin *Casual*/come as you are *potluck*. I dislike dressing up it
makes me uncomfortable and takes me out of my normal skin.

Laura D



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

[email protected]

One idea could be to have a couple of people who had to be convinced about
the merits of unschooling. Like a husband or mother-in-law, who could come with
and could talk about what was the road block for them and what helped them to
see the "light." We seem to talk quite a bit about reluctant husbands or the
reluctant mother-in-law. This might help the unschoolers to see the other
side and to see what helped.

Just an idea,
Pam G.


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

Pamela Sorooshian

In case you are looking for any outside-of-homeschooling types to give
a talk:

Frank Smith - the Book of Learning and Forgetting. He might come just
to hear Sandra again! <G> He was a delight, I listened to him with a
goofy grin on my face the whole time. There is a lot he could learn
from us - and vice versa.

Alfie Kohn -- he'll speak cheap if it is in Boston, I think, and will
negotiate fees. Tell him we'll make a trade -- we'll tell him all
kinds of amazing things about kids who not only do not GO to school,
they don't even do school at home - things that will delight and thrill
him. (We don't want him to talk about school, of course, but about
learning.)

Not sure what David Elkind is up to these days - but I'd love to hear
him speak and I think he's in that area.

You might not want any out-of-homeschooling speakers - but I just
thought I'd toss those out there, in case that possibility exists.

-pam

Pamela Sorooshian

Historic sites - I'd love to get trotted around to visit all the places
we ought to see <G>.

I've been to Boston once before but I was with my husband's Iranian
relative whose wife is Chinese and, as much fun as we had, they didn't
have a clue about the historic stuff. I dragged them to a couple of
places, but they really get a chuckle out of us thinking something only
a couple of hundred years old is "history!" That falls under "current
events" to them <G>.

-pam

On Tuesday, June 3, 2003, at 02:44 PM, Alan & Brenda Leonard wrote:

>
>> If there were a few extra things your family could sign up for that
>> had an
>> extra fee (like a whale watch) would you like that?

Pamela Sorooshian

For those of us coming from far away - to be able to be there when the
leaves change would be a real thrill!!! That would be mid-October, I
think?

-pam


On Wednesday, June 4, 2003, at 07:41 AM, SandraDodd@... wrote:

>
> In a message dated 6/4/03 8:21:02 AM, diamondair@... writes:
>
> << Is there any reason the unschooling
>
> conference can't be in, say, late September? Better weather, less
>
> travelers... >>
>
> EXCELLENT points made.
>
> August is still really busy and expensive.
>
> Also, as to people's logistics and unschooling, in August most new
> homeschoolers seem to know EXACTLY how it is going to work, and
> wouldn't want to hear
> from us, but by October, they find it is NOT working and they might
> appreciate a
> rescue!
>
> Sandra
>
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