For the historical record

This ran as an ad in Life Learning. I was cleaning some image folders and thought it should be saved somewhere. And I leave these old event-particular blogs up so that people can look back on their memories, if they were there, and so I have records. I'm doing more of my pack-rattery on the internet now. :-) It was a big deal to have Deb Lewis there, and I'm very heppy to have met her.

Notes from Rose's talk

Rose's notes are up here: http://sandradodd.com/rose/ALL2011 and that links to a new-improved bio page, because Rose will be speaking again this year.

Registration is open for this December!

Photo of Rose by Tim Mensch, whose other photos from 2011 are linked in the photo tab above:

Photos at Facebook

Theresa Porter's photos are here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2887749080066.143833.1450374775&type=1

Mine and Holly's (she took quite a few with my camera):

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150479976821374.365215.602511373&type=3

I plan to upload those (and a few others) to photobucket, and when I have I'll bring the link here: (future home of link to photobucket set) and anyone who wants to link directly from those can freely do so!

A report with photos on the whole conference

Heather Booth, at her blog: http://todaywasamazingsf.blogspot.com/2012/01/always-learning-live-2012.html



That's her! That's the blogger on the left!

(and now I've corrected the name, or tried to)

Lost and found and news and notes

Dear Conference attendees and vicarious observers:

I'm still tired, and I have a cold now, but I don't care!! IT was worth it!!

I had company until the 5th, and I keep thinking that within the next hour I'll write to you all, and have my photos up. How about I write without photos for now.

The symposium was successful. People are writing to me, to each other, on blogs, on message boards, coming up with things they've processed and considered since. The whole idea was to help people have some new ideas and some more confidence in their old ones.

Saturday some poo was deposited on a UK list saying I was just wrong. I was invited in to defend myself. The first full day of my real post-conference life was spent defending unschooling. And while a couple of people were making crazed, defensive claims about my stuff (which they hadn't read), one by one moms previously undecided were coming over to join Always Learning or the Radical Unschooling Info page at facebook, or writing to me and saying "Okay, I'm ready to do this now." Five so far changed my direction, because two jumped me in a crazy fashion. I'm used to that. I understand Heather having been upset because it was new to her, and I'm sorry people weren't nice to her about admitting she was a radical unschooler and was coming to the symposium, but it says more about them than it does about Heather, who is sweet and good.

Someone left a game: Sequence. I can mail it home if it's claimed, or I can hang on to it until next year if the owner is coming back.

There is a little plastic horse, three fingers tall, aqua with an orange mane and tail, pink saddle. Carl Fetteroll thinks it's Lily Yatzeck's. Just in case it isn't, though, I describe it here.

That's all for lost and found; that's not bad!

THANK YOU all for coming, for the help moving furniture, for donations of food, assistance picking up and keeping other attendees happily entertained.

You can subscribe to next year's blog if you want to, though it's too soon to register. I need to find all the receipts and tally up so Keith can give the go-ahead for rates. The hotel averaged us up, so six "speaker nights" were comped. I paid $750 three days ago as my final payment, and we either are below break-even, or a little above, or perhaps (as if by winning a lottery) to the dollar. Nice! Thanks!

Walk the Dogs:

Photos from Heather Brown

http://heathersmovingcastle.blogspot.com/2012/01/sandra-dodds-always-learning-live-2011_4444.html

http://heathersmovingcastle.blogspot.com/2012/01/sandra-dodds-always-learning-live-2011_02.html

http://heathersmovingcastle.blogspot.com/2012/01/sandra-dodds-always-learning-live-2011.html

And I lifted one I liked:

Photos from Tim Mensch

Thank you Tim!!

If others want to send links to photos, if and when you get them into a viewable place, I would love to share those links, too.

---

Hi Sandra,

Here's a link to a photo gallery of the shots that I took at the conference.

If you (or anyone) want a higher resolution version of any of the photos, please let me know. I exported them all at "web" resolution because it was faster that way. :)

Tim

Please credit Tim if you use the photos. If you want to print one, ask him to upload a higher resolution. He's willing to have them used without purchasing them, but please do credit him. Also he wrote: "Apologies to the parents of the tweens/teens who were playing in the game room, since I didn't really get in there with the camera."


http://photos.realmensch.org/Other/2011-Unschooling-Conference/20825720_wXsSWB

Logo Art

Heather Booth, white paper painted and mounted on black paper:

Holly's t-shirt:

Jenn Beasley and Jerick

Jerick (13) and Jenn (41) Beasley will be leaving Monday afternoon (today!) to make our way via Amtrak to Albuquerque from San Clemente, CA (halfway between LA and SD). We are arriving noonish on Tuesday. Jeff (41) and Julia (11) have opted to stay home with the dog (Trekker). J (aka Jerick) and Jenn will be departing early (Friday) to return home in time for Julia's 3rd Annual New Years Eve Party!

We were first introduced to unschooling via the Unschooling Handbook for a bookclub presentation in around 2000/2001. Unschooling sounded wonderful but :) I couldn't trust the process for reading. Oh, how that backfired. We've come a long way from school at homeish to where we are today. If I had to claim a time frame I'd say we've been consciously unschooling for 5 years.

I, Jenn, work at the library a couple days a week as a library page (putting away books). The exposure to resources I wouldn't not have considered looking for along with not having to pay hold or late fees makes this job a thrill for me. I love to quilt, garden, and run but they generally have to take turns in my priorities. One thing I really enjoy is what I call Jacuzzi Morning. Whenever I can, I take a cup of coffee, a pair of sunglasses, and my Kindle and I start my morning by soaking in a jacuzzi. Ahhhh, life is good.

Jerick (13), plays xbox360 live (with an emphasis on single person shooters), Minecraft and enjoys scootering and boogie boarding. There is a new to him game that he's been into lately but he is sleeping so we'll have to ask him later. You may, or may not meet Jerick at ALL, he may be in the room. The train ride and hanging out in the hotel were his motivations for joining me on this trip.

2011 has been the year of conferences for us. Jenn, Jerick and Julia attended Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering (Sandusky, OH) and Life is Good (Vancouver, WA) in May during a 3 week long train trip. Jerick and I attended California Homeschool Network (Ontario, CA) and MineCon (Las Vegas, NV). Julia and I attended Home School California's Adventures in Homeschooling Conference (Sacramento, CA) and Good Vibrations (Del Mar, CA) We're burnt out on the conference experience after all that.

I'm attending Always Learning Live because my favorite event that I've attended to date was Sandra's Unschooling Symposium in Santa Fe. The smaller group format is much more my speed. We'll see how it goes for Jerick.

Travel provided my favorite memories and life experiences from childhood. My goal in 2012 is to offer more travel opportunities for Jerick and Julia without the crutch of a conference destination to push me in that direction.

I'm looking forward to reading all the introductions you all spent time sending in. I have them printed out to read on the train.

See you soon!

~Jenn Beasley aka Jennifer Vaughters Beasley on Facebook


Photo of Jerick taken in November 2011 in Las Vegas, NV. His first time meeting our friends baby girl.

Photo of Jenn taken in November 2011 in Las Vegas, NV drinking coffee by the fountains in Mandalay Bay.

Holly's boyfriend's CD release show

Holly sent the art and photo and I forgot to mention this. She thought of James Daniel and Renee Cabatic, and isn't sure whether anyone else might be interested.

It's downtown, Friday the 30th, $8, several local bands, mostly punk and ska. If you stay until after Emergency Ahead (Will's band) performs at the end, you get a free CD. Holly figures it will be done by 11:00; Emergency Ahead might not play until near 10:00.
12/27 NOTE: Emergency Ahead is planning/hoping to be performing by 9:30.It's an all-ages show in a nice venue, not a wild party.

Holly won't be able to take anyone with her, because she has a rehearsal of the acapella groups she's in (OnQ; Holly isn't in those photos) for two hours before the show, but directions are easy for anyone with access to a car who's interested in going. Holly will have my van, or I would offer to shuttle.

It won't hurt her feelings if no one goes, but she did want to put it out as an option. Some people might be tired of the hotel by then.

If you do go, plan on getting back and being up by 9:00 to hear Adam Daniel and his mum Saturday morning.

Cara Barlow, Anna and Molly

My name is Cara Barlow and I'm mother to Anna (15yo) and Molly (13yo). My husband's name is Jeff Barlow and we live in Southern New Hampshire. Jeff won't be in Albuquerque with us—he's staying home to take care of the animals and house and other commitments.

We've been homeschooling for seven years and unschooling for about five, maybe a little longer. Our move to unschooling was gradual and I don't remember exactly when it happened. I do remember finding and subscribing to the AlwaysLearning and the Unschooling Basics lists when we'd been homeschooling for about a year. I was initially freaked out by AlwaysLearning—I left for a while, then came back.

We started out with our children attending public school. By the time Anna was entering third grade administrators were telling me she had attention issues and probably some learning disabilities. I disagreed, thinking that she was overwhelmed by the school environment (too loud, too smelly), the instruction was confusing and she wasn't developmentally ready to do many of the things expected of her. She was a stressed-out little kid. We took both girls out of school in December 2004 and were unschooling by sometime in 2006.

Today Anna and Molly enjoy World of Warcraft, writing together, Doctor Who, Firefly, Harry Potter, reading, a theater company they're in that does a Shakespeare play each summer, movie-going and hanging out with friends. Anna's an accomplished knitter, works on costumes for a nearby theater, crochets and makes jewelry and pysanky. Molly plays violin, is learning mandolin, and was the "mistress of the drums" for a production of MacBeth last summer. She's also interested in architecture and is pretty expert at creating buildings and artwork on Google SketchUp. There are lots of other things they do, but these are the biggies right now.

I work about 15 hours a week as a reference librarian and spend the rest of my time being an unschooling parent. I help a group of teens run a free community supper twice a month and organize other get-togethers and activities to keep our lives fun and interesting. While we're in Albuquerque we'll also be visiting my sister-in-law, Carla Kay Barlow and her partner, Karen Milling. And if there's time I'm hoping to connect with some of my unschooling FB friends that live in the area. We'll be returning to New Hampshire on January 4.

Here's a picture of Anna and a friend - she was in a production of A Christmas Carol a couple of weeks ago. She's the one with the top hat.

This is a picture of Molly - she has long hair and glasses.

And this is me.

Chris Sanders, and Zoe, and family

Zoe (14) and I (Chris 47) will be taking the Amtrak along with our friends Theresa and Megan, to attend the ALL Unschooling Symposium. We're both excited to try this new (to us) mode of transportation! We'll sadly be leaving behind Rick (47) and Zach (20) at home in West Des Moines, Iowa to tend to their many other commitments.

Old Photo
Our family has always homeschooled and we gradually moved from using an eclectic approach to full-on radical unschooling by the time Zach was 12 years old. Now, Zach is a junior in college, a history major, and he will begin attending the University of Iowa next month. He enjoys reading, writing, history, listening to classical music, spending time with his girlfriend and world travel. Over Thanksgiving 2010 Zach and his girlfriend visited Florence, Italy and then during the Spring 2011 semester, Zach studied abroad in London, UK. He is the first, and so far only member of our immediate family to travel to Europe!

Seeing Zach off to London
Zoe loves playing World of Warcraft (WoW), drawing Manga, singing, dancing and reading fantasy novels. She's busy most weeks with art class, several dance classes, skypeing and playing WoW with her friends scattered across the continent. She also provides much entertainment for her dad and I with her wit and perceptive observations about the world. She's looking forward to getting her driving learner's permit soon and she hopes someday to travel to Thailand and Japan!

I have many irons in the fire at any given time. I work part-time for Pearson VUE as a test administrator. I also have provided freelance bookkeeping services to small corporations for the last 20 years. In addition, as a licensed teacher, I help other homeschoolers in Iowa by serving as their supervising teacher. I enjoy reading and doing all things on the internet—keeping up with technology, current events, politics and social networking.

We are fortunate that Rick's commercial photography business can be operated out of our home so that between the two of us, there is almost always a parent home and available to play, talk, drive, prepare food and host social events. We're a stay-at-home team! Rick also enjoys bicycle touring (his goal is to ride border-to-border across each state—Montana is next!) playing volleyball, watching football and spending time with his large family of origin.

We have attended two Live and Learn Conferences (St. Louis & Albuquerque) Sandra's 2009 Santa Fe Symposium as well as the 2010 Life is Good Conference in Vancouver, WA. We enjoy these gatherings for stoking our unschooling fires and for the comradeship of unschoolers. Zoe and I are looking forward to introducing our good friends to the great voices of unschooling and to meeting new friends while on our great 2011 Train Ride Adventure to Albuquerque!

Head count, I think, six days before:

I think there are 80 people coming:

29 moms (which is a count of how many families are represented by at least one person)
15 dads
1 grandmother
10 younger children (three are babies)
19 children of compulsory-attendance age
3 young adults who were unschooled
3 young adults who went to school (one older brother of an unschooler, two are the boyfriend of Holly and girlfriend of Marty and will be there some of the time, I hope)

I don't expect that ages will be as important as interests or abilities; we're not strictly segregating anything by age, but the ages of those under the age of 20 (while I'm counting anyway):

If no number follows the age, there's only one person of that age registered.

17
15
14
13 (4)
12 (2)
11
10 (4)
8
7 (3)
6
4 (3)
2 (2)
younger than a year: (3)

Introducing the Mensches

We are Deborah (41), Tim (43), Petra (7), and Theo (3). Tim and I (Deborah) first heard of unschooling around 2000, when Tim was guardian for his 12-year-old sister Julie, who really wanted to be homeschooled. We read The Teenage Liberation Handbook, but our work schedules wouldn't support unschooling then, so Julie opted to work with an Internet-based school and mentor teacher.

Fast forward to January 2011. Petra was in first grade, and though she was mostly doing well, she and I were both starting to chafe at the daily homework grind (!), the super-early mornings, and the lack of family time. I was also volunteering in Petra's class once a week, and while there was learning going on, I was reminded how much school time is not about learning, and especially not about learning things you're actually interested in at the time. I happened to reconnect with a high-school friend who, I learned, had two daughters in their late teens, both of whom she'd unschooled all the way through. We talked about it, and I started checking out the unschooling group in Boulder and the Always Learning list. It sounded like what we needed—more time to spend together, pursuing our interests and learning in the real world, without the strictures of the school routine and schedule. Our unschooling life is getting better bit by bit as we all deschool, and as I re-pace myself and grow gradually more mindful in my parenting.

I grew up very devoted to school and academics. I had some very good friends, but high grades were the main focus of my world through college. I became a science and math teacher and found that while I was good at explaining things to people who wanted to learn them, I couldn't manage a classroom very well and still feel like a good human being at the end of the day. (I've met a few teachers who manage this, but I was not one of them!) Tim, then my fiance, convinced me to quit because the job stressed me out so much. Looking back on my school career, I see a lot of opportunities that I missed in pursuit of top grades. I appreciate what I did learn, but it's easy to see that that path wasn't for everyone, and that it probably wasn't the best path for me, either. When I went to grad school in education, having worked two years as a teacher and four as a science writer, I was more able to focus on what kinds of learning and connections I wanted to get out of the experience, rather than just what grade and degree I wanted. I'm glad I had that experience before encountering unschooling -- it made the ideas of unschooling a lot easier for me to understand. Now, with both kids out of school, I'm enjoying learning alongside them. My own interests include fiber arts (knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing, etc.), running, science fiction, gardening, interface design, technical writing, and figuring out how to become more the kind of person and parent I want to be.

Tim was never much invested in school. He did what interested him and mostly ignored the rest. He became interested in computers and programming as a young teen (back when 16K of RAM was the norm), and though he went to college in cognitive science, he's been mostly self-taught as a programmer, with most of his career spent in making video games, as well as the software tools game programmers use. Last year he went independent as a game developer for Android and iOS devices, which is its own roller-coaster ride. The good part about it, besides being his own boss, is that his schedule is more his own, which makes more family activities and trips possible than when he was on salary at a game company. He has a casual game, Hamster: Attack!, on the Android market. His other interests include photography, woodworking, maker stuff in general, competitive badminton, and playing the piano.

I asked Petra what she'd like to say by way of introduction. She says that she is a good reader, but doesn't feel like reading much these days. She likes playing with Theo and seeing her friends for playdates. She is devoted to our elderly cats. She likes birdwatching, being out in nature, and watching videos, her most recent favorite being Phineas and Ferb, and she likes several casual video games. I would add that she loves imagining vivid, elaborate situations for herself and Theo or for her dolls and stuffed animals, and that she really enjoys hearing fantasy novels, folk stories, and fairy stories read aloud. She likes to draw, paint, make things with clay, and write stories. She's starting to learn to sew and is looking forward to helping me make warm robes for her and Theo. She goes to beginning gymnastics classes and sings in a local children's choir.

Theo loves playing with, having books read to him about, and watching videos about cars, trucks, construction toys, and trains; he also loves pretend and/or dress-up play as an animal, dinosaur, prince or princess, character from a favorite show (Go, Diego, Go and Wild Kratts) or fairy. He loves going to playgrounds and swimming pools, exploring new places, staying in hotels, petting the cats, and asking lots of questions about all kinds of things. Many of his questions these days are about words and how to spell them; this is fascinating for me to watch and participate in from the perspective that beginning to unschool has brought. Theo also likes videos and video games; he and Petra are digital natives. Theo takes gymnastics classes, too, and both he and Petra like going to open gym times.

Mairi Sasaki, Neil, Cameron and Isobel

Here is a bit about us and how we came to unschooling:

Neil (38 in January) and I (Mairi - 37) have two children, Cameron (5 in January) and Isobel (2). We live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

A combination of attachment parenting and who our son is eventually brought us to unschooling. Cameron constantly challenges us and requires us to stretch and improve as parents. If not for attachment parenting, we probably wouldn't see the situation, or our son this way. We would be busy now trying to fix him to fit in instead of realizing that Cameron is whole and unbroken, and we had better instead get busy trying to figure out how to meet his particular needs.

When he was 3, it hit me that school was not going to work for Cameron. I brought him to playgroups and he was agitated by too many other kids around him, consistently refused to participate in any structured activities like circle or snack time, and raged at any other adult who tried to correct him.

So if not school, then what? I joined our local homeschooling group and spent a year looking into the options. Unschooling seemed like the most likely fit for us, since I felt awkward and phoney trying to act like a teacher, and Cameron would clam up when anyone tried to create a teaching moment, like asking him "what's that letter?" while reading him a book.

When I dug deeper into unschooling information, I was thrilled. It felt like coming home, like I'd found something I'd been searching for for a long time. Here was a whole treasure trove of parenting wisdom and experience underpinned by a foundational belief in the validity of children's perspectives and feelings. Neil soon shared my excitement that in unschooling we'd found an amazing direction for our family.

We are still quite new to unschooling and have a lot to learn and to "get." We are grateful to have guidance from the resources that Sandra, Joyce and other experienced unschoolers generously offer as we try to grow into better parents for our individual children. We look forward to continuing our journey towards unschooling at the symposium and beyond.

Rebecca Allen

We're Rebecca (39 by ALL), Matthew (39) and Quinn (6) Allen. We live in Englewood, Colorado in the South Denver Metro area. Matthew is a Citrix systems engineer who refurbishes, builds, and rides old and new BMX bikes too. I dabble in growing food for my family and bees. Lately, I'm having fun fermenting all sorts of edibles. Quinn keeps us all very busy designing and creating ways to decorate herself, her plushies, and our space.

When Quinn was around 12 months old, we took a baby sign language class. I was astounded by the comparisons between infants' abilities, the expectation to practice often—even to have babies sign "milk" before breast feeding(!), and the senselessness of the topics. (Wasn't it enough for the babies to know "ball" without knowing 12 different kinds of balls?!) I might have had a different impression if Quinn was a star baby sign student, but it was clear that she had no interest in sitting in circle time or staying on topic and switching stations on cue. I had no desire to try to make her do those things, but it was great fun to see what did catch her interest and how she expressed herself. She was very clear at communicating without "signs"! When I mentioned my dismay at the class and what school pressures might be like if this was already the case for infants, Matthew suggested that we home school. I hadn't considered it and was a bit leery. As I investigated, I quickly found unschooling amongst the home schooling options and AlwaysLearning amongst the unschooling information and fell in love with the possibilities. Matthew was a bit leery of unschooling at first, but we all have embraced the lifestyle at this point and have grown so connected as a result.

I was at Sandra's SUSS, so I look forward to seeing some familiar faces and to meeting new folks too! I'm going to ALL alone this time. This will be my first time away from Quinn overnight, so if I look a little teary at some point that might be why. We will miss each other, but she is super excited about having a "three night slumber party" with Matthew. She has already started planning and decorating. They will have a great time at home as they love their "daddy-daughter time" and neither likes to travel much. I'm excited about having a fun time too. I'm counting down the days to ALL!

Rebecca

The Cabatics

The how, why and how long of our unschooling:

Xander and XuMei (pronounced Zoo May) have never gone to school. Chris wanted his children homeschooled. XuMei knew school at home wasn’t for her. It was at the first Life Is Good Conference we found unschooling. It was there that I found Sandra Dodd’s writings and the Always Learning Yahoo group. I’ve been reading it since Nov 2007. I also like to cook and hula hoop.

XuMei rides horses. She is on the Flower Power Drill Team. She hopes to get up close with elephants and giraffes someday.

Chris is an engineer, marimba musician, massage therapist and do-it-yourself guy.

Xander will blow your mind with his redstone creations in Minecraft. He wants to learn code.

We love to game! We recently learned Euchre. We play Little Big Planet, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo and more. Minecraft is our current favorite. We attended Minecon in Las Vegas in November. We got Notch’s autograph and met Simon and Lewis of Yogscast. If you’re interested, ask us, we’ll tell you all about it.

We also love to swim, do parkour, dance, hula hoop, boffer fight and walk our dog, Lola, who is coming with us to Albuquerque!

Food for New Year's Eve

I have made the posole, packed it up in flat freezer bags easy to thaw and re-heat in a crock pot, and I have made two kinds of cookies and some rum balls. That's my formal contribution to the New Year's Eve Party.

The known vegans will be gone by then.

Perhaps, as people leave the hotel, if there is leftover food you don't want to take home with you, that could be donated to the New Year's Eve food too. We can have a randomly donated feast, with posole as a main course.

Posole (poe SOH lay) doesn't sound as good as it is. It's a thick soup of hominy ("posole" in Spanish—oddly preserved corn), pork cooked to pieces, and red chile. It's winter party food in New Mexico, though, and particularly it is New Year's Day food. I didn't make it very spicy, but will have honey and sour cream for people to put in theirs if they want to taste it but are afraid of chile.

We'll bring a bottle of champagne, and if there are lots of people there maybe we can send out for another one.

If you're staying over, bring drinks or food if that's simple to do; if not, go to dinner, come to the party, and we'll just play games and goof around.

Another registration came this evening

Deborah and Tim Mensch (parents), Petra Mensch (age 7), and Theo Mensch (age 3)
Boulder, Colorado

Deborah said it was fine for me to list their names here and that she'll send info about the family and photos in a few days.

Still 16 17 states, but 29 moms, 14 dads.

Michelle Godfrey, Ben, Izzy and Clara

Hi! We are the Godfreys from Omaha, Nebraska, where we have lived for the past three years. There’s Ben – 43, Michelle (myself) – 42, Izzy – 4 and Clara – 3. The Symposium is part of our first road trip as a family. We are pretty excited about the whole deal. We have been reading about and experimenting with unschooling concepts in our lives for the past year. I would certainly say I am in the midst of the process called deschooling. It is a rewarding and challenging journey thus far. The unschooling concepts ring true within my heart. The challenge comes with changing the habits/thoughts that were taught to me by my “mother, father, church and state.”

Ben is a nuclear power plant operator and I stay at home with the girls. Ben practices the martial art of aikido and I practice Bikram yoga. We spend a lot of time with our girls. They are at that age where having us near and involved with what they are doing is most pleasing to them. Izzy is a self proclaimed artist and currently loves to work with pastels and water colors. Clara loves to pretend she is a cat and cracks a mean egg for scrambled egg prep. Both of the girls’ spontaneity and creativity are inspiring. We are all on the cusp of embarking on a new life journey as we move to a nearby small town in the country to a home on 11 acres of land. We intend to raise goats, chickens and own a horse. Maybe even have a cow join us and who knows what other animals. We will eat most of our foods from the gardens we grow and just plain old get more connected to nature and learn from it too! These are all things we have very little or no experience with.

Can’t wait to hang out with everyone!

Here are two family pictures. The first is obviously the four Godfreys. The other also includes our adopted Grandma Sissy and her boyfriend, Miguel. We were painting rocks for our Thanksgiving centerpieces and someone decided to paint someone else and the rest is history, captured in this photo.