On Saturday, I had the honor of stepping out of my comfort zone and into the world of Homeschooling in Oregon, at the OHEN Conference.I have to admit, the draw of being in this woman‘s presence, was Big incentive for me!
100 years ago (give or take 93), someone heard me pondering about the lack of “school learning” my kids were doing, in favor of “life learning,” and they commented, “You should look into unschooling.” Who’da thunk this little book, on the public library shelf & cleverly entitled, The Unschooling Handbook would change my universe forever? Mary Griffith, that’s who! ♥ From her, the connection to Sandra Dodd & Joyce Fetteroll and the amazing fonts of wisdom they spend time with, is an easy one. Or so it seemed to me, oh so long ago ♥
The other driving force, so near and dear to my heart, is the Unschooled Teen. They make, acutely, the desire to have a do-over for the teen age years a reality. I accept mentoring and friendship as a “second take” replacement. Living vicariously through these free beings creates a whole new song in my soul. Matthew is my newest friend, I can’t wait to see him (& Dianna & Annie) at Life is Good. There is something magical about “Life not outside the box, completely without the box is so different than Life defined by The Box.” To witness the dance of fear and courage in our offspring is such an intimate gift, one I rate up there with witnessing birth and death.I got to share my crazy stories with a whole new audience, who may have never otherwise been exposed to me and my pants-peeing technique of delivering the message 🙂 Yes, I had them laughing more often than crying!! 😀
Thank you to those who provided this opportunity in the first place and thanks to all my new friends for listening to my rambling! Hope to see you all again, really soon — more peaceful, more gentle and more kind ♥
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Here’s a list of the resources I mentioned (at least the ones I remember ::bg::)
Our Family Prayer:
It is a blessing to be,
It is a blessing to be here,
It is a blessing to be here now,
It is a blessing to be here now, together.
Sandra Dodd
Parenting Peacefully (the last straw story, bottom of the page)
Joyfully Rejoycing (Joyce Fetteroll’s collection)
The Four Agreements
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take it personally.
3. Never assume.
4. Always do your best
Unschooling Conferences:
Toronto Unschooling Conference May 9-11, 2008, Toronto, Canada
LifeisGoodConference.com May 22-25, 2008, Vancouver, WA (near Portland, OR)
NortheastUnschoolingConference.com May 22-25, 2008, Peabody, MA (Near Boston)
LiveandLearnConference.org September 3-7 2008, Near Asheville, NC
RethinkingEducation.com September 4-8, 2008, Dallas, TX
Other talks by moi are available at:
LiveandLearnShop –
Unschooling Life and Death (ABQ 2006)
Change your perspective, change your life (NC 2007)
LifeisGoodStore –
When Mama ain’t Happy… (2007)
Bodhicitta 
You forgot the Toronto Unschooling conference May 9 – 11. Here’s a link: http://livingjoyfully.ca/conference
I’ll be at the conference in Vancouver as well… and I’m so looking forward to it. Looks like there will be a whole bunch of people I love and value. How exciting is that?
Have you heard of a conference in Las Vegas in June? My new friend goes to one in Vegas every June, she says she loves it. Plus you could see some old friends and Scotty could get his King fix.
Glad your talk went well, I’m sorry I missed it. I wanna laugh too!
I am sooooooo wishing to be at Life is Good in WA…thinking good and positive thoughts.Just wanted to say <><> Thank You, Diana<><> for the awesome birthday wish. I was quite touched by the fact that my cyber friends took the time to note my birthday and send me birthday wishes.We are heading out to Eugene later today then to Portland and Newberg over the weekend. I may even convince hubby to stop off Corvalis for a special bakery treat :0)I am so looking forward to meeting you in person someday soon. You’re my inspiration, <><>Diana. THANK YOU.<><>Have a great day!