| Alison McKee discovered unschooling back in the late 70's and was fortunate to be able to spend an evening with John Holt before his death. She and her husband unschooled both of their children, now adults, throughout their "school years." During that time and on into the present she has written many pieces about unschooling which can be found at her website, and includes two books published on the subject. From Homeschool to College and Work continues to be the only book dedicated to the unschooler who wants to enter college without having to develop a GPA or take college prep classes. Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves has been well received by unschoolers across the country and internationally. Alison enjoys speaking with unschoolers about the joys of unschooling and those who doubt the whole concept. She's yet to find more than ten individuals who don't eventually agree that unschooling makes more sense than any curriculum ever did, especially when those individuals have kids who have come to hate homeschooling and are getting argumentative when it comes time to sit down to boring lessons and tests.
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| Linda Hessel
appears by day to be a mild-mannered
stay-at-home-mom, but in the dark hours of the morning
when the world is quiet and still, she emerges from
her alpha-half-dream state as a disgruntled malcontent
with a keyboard and a mission: to make the case for a
self-determined authentic life. Her current focus is
in birth reform, but she also wants everyone to know
that children naturally know exactly what, how, and
when their own learning happens best. She lives in a
purple bungalow with five other people she adores
utterly, and she likes folk-dancing, folk-music,
science fiction, and sugar. You can read more about
her sweet, school-free life at her blog, Four Little Birds. |
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Scott Noelle has marched to his own drummer since he was old enough to march! But he didn't realize he was an unschooler until he had kids and read John Holt's, How Children Fail. In 1997, Scott worked with Jean Liedloff to create an online support organization for readers of her classic book, The Continuum Concept, which Holt considered one of the most important books ever written. Formerly a professional singer and voice coach, now Scott works as a parenting coach, offering support (by telephone) for the unique challenges of continuum/attachment parenting, unschooling, and more. He also writes and publishes The Daily Groove, designed to help parents internalize the new paradigm of creative partnership with children. Scott is married to Beth Noelle, and they have two lovely girls who will be age 11 and 7 at the time of the conference. They live in Port Townsend, WA. www.EnjoyParenting.com |
| Diana Jenner, celebrating her 40th birthday at the conference, is Living THE Life in Corvallis, OR. She shares her space with Hayden, 9, always unschooled, and Scotty, Super Cool Boyfriend, a new autodidact, and Patches D. Cat, their 15 year old, incredibly wise, Calico. They spend lots of time laughing, rolling round the floor (when there actually is some!), playing games & sorting out how it is this world can work! Diana's escape from the fray is her job at Sunnyside Up, where she gets to be the Baking Goddess of Incredible Homemade Baked Goods. Their adventures are primarily documented at their blog Bodhicitta. Diana's voice can be *seen* at UnschoolingDiscussion, AlwaysLearning, UnschoolingBasics, RadicalUnschooling, LIFEisGoodConference and LiveandLearnConference online lists. |
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Beth Fuller prioritizes staying connected with her family: her adorable partner, Kevin, luminous daughter, Emma, and magnificent mother, Nina. Beth tries to approach life with creativity and goofiness and is always on the lookout for ways to think and interact with the world. She does not aspire to be the busiest, wealthiest, prettiest, or most successful, but simply wants to relish the delight of being alive and enjoying life with her loved ones. Beth pursues happiness and has stopped expecting it to knock on her door uninvited. Now, she spends time opening those doors and inviting it in. Beth can sometimes be found moderating the Peaceful Partnerships Yahoo! Group and on her blog, A Fuller Life. |
| For the last five years, Mike Biskup has been using and teaching
people about a wonderful tool for learning about themselves and
feeling better; "The Work" is a simple questioning process that can
help you easily and effectively reduce your stress and enjoy your life
more. At this year's Life is Good Conference Mike will demonstrate how
"The Work" can be a practical tool for staying positive during your
family's unschooling journey. He'll also show you how your biggest
problems contain within them the seeds of profound freedom and joy.
Mike facilitates individuals in private sessions using "The Work," and
can teach you how to use this process effectively for yourself. He is
an approved volunteer on "The Work of Byron Katie Hotline" at www.thework.com
, and offers workshops on stress relief and joy accumulation for
artists, fathers, couples, and cohousing communities. He lives with
his lovely wife, Lisa, and their three unschooling kids at RoseWind
Cohousing in Port Townsend, WA. Visit him at www.mikebiskup.com
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| Jon Gold is a high school dropout (technically, they asked him to leave). He has spent the subsequent years autodidacting himself into careers as a typographer, programmer, and most recently a cafe owner. His screenplay Life(TM) won Honorable Mention at the Best of the West Film Festival, Durango, 1999. His unschooled children Conor and Qacei, are 18 and 14. His one unfulfilled ambition is an uninterrupted nap. |
| Mary Lewis, the official Math Goddess of the 2007 LIFE is Good Conference, lives with her sweet husband and four beautiful children in Oregon. Her oldest will be 20 and her youngest will be 2 at conference time. The family has been loving the unschooling life for over 10 years now. Mary's biggest thrill is being a Mom. She likes photography, singing, researching just about anything, puzzles, and cooking. Mary finds joy in tutoring adults with math phobia and helping unschooling parents to see the math surrounding their children's lives. |  |
Funshop & Chat Presenters
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The Burnett Browne Clan
We are Hamish (5) and Fenna (3), Memet and Murray. We live the good life in beautiful Metchosin, outside of Victoria, BC. Hamish is interested in snakes, shells, inventions, cooking, beach-combing, gardening, cycling, and building things. He gives great back scratches. His best friend is a conch shell at present. Fenna is interested in dancing, piano, drawing spirals and maps, painting, rhyming, and puzzles. Her best friend is Momo the Monkey. Memet is a painter and sculpture artist working with acrylic, clay and mixed media. In particular she captures animals and figures in colourful splendour. She also loves to read, blog, take pictures, bake, eat chocolate, do woodworking and carpenty, and cuddle with the kids in the morning. Murray works with First Nations around BC when he is not building treehouses and cabins, cooking waffles, eating watermelon, shooting off rockets, flying paper airplanes, or hottubbing. See us at Up Up and Away on Thursday and Roll on Anything with the Mayers on Saturday!
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Craig Mayer is a guitar hero... to four and a half year olds.
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Robyn Talman lives an unschooled life with her husband Mike Boss,
daughter Jesse (12) and son Isaac (8) in San Francisco,
California. She enjoys playing with her family, learning and
practicing NVC, and creating community with other unschoolers. She
is the co-founder, with Pam Tellew, of the San Francisco Bay
Unschooling Network (the SF BUNnies). She has been known to dabble
in art-making with the Imagination Tribe, and can often be found
on-line playing World of Warcraft.
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Pam Tellew, from Albany California, is a wanna-be urban farmer who
loves chasing connections with her two sons, Nicky (9) and Sam (13)
and her husband Eric. She's followed an unschooling path with her
music, art, and many other things. She loves organizing community
events and is the co-founder, with Robyn Talman, of the San Francisco
Bay Unschooling Network (the SF BUNnies). Her new year's resolution
was to get chickens but now she's considering ducks.
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Barbara Chase plays, creates, laughs, cries and dreams while living
in Northern California with her daughter Nicole. She is passionate
about relationships and deep conversations, and lovingly shares her
life with her boyfriend Mark, her ex Dave, and her Mom who lives
nearby. She is part of two wonderful unschooling communities (SFBUN:
San Francisco Bay Unschooling Network and TheSUNN: The Sonoma
UNschooler's Network), she co-moderates the AlwaysUnschooled Yahoo!
Group, and can be found online as mahalo_spirit. In addition to
living an unschooling life and exploring the world with her daughter,
she has an energetic healing practice using craniosacral therapy,
does website design, and has many years of experience as a computer
consultant.
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Joanna Murphy lives in Santa Rosa, CA unschooling with her two
children, Joshua (12) and Caroline (9), husband David and a host of
furry friends. She enjoys family time, making fairy dolls and art,
participating in Always Learning and Always Unschooled, watching
action movies, horseback riding, and spending time with furry and
human friends. She has recently, along with Barbara Chase, started
TheSUNN--The Sonoma UNschooling Network.
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Nicole Martin, 9, has always unschooled and lives in Northern
California with her Mom and her cat Gaisha. She is passionate about
art, American Girl dolls, video games, listening to stories, and
enjoys camping and swimming - especially in the Summer. She is just
learning to ride a bike and play the piano.
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Jesse Boss, age 12, lives an unschooled life in San Francisco, California with
her mom, dad, brother, and three cats. She enjoys playing with her friends,
doing gymnastics, making art, being in nature, listening to stories, playing
video games, swimming, and doing volunteer work. She has always unschooled.
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Joshua Murphy, 12, computer geek, also enjoys tasteful humor and comedy, gaming,
World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Roblox, hamburgers, Seinfeld, Hawaii, going to the
beach, clothes that fit ('cause I keep growing out of them), my pets, my
friends, camping (as long as it involves a hotel), fine dining, movies and
Pokemon. I live in Santa Rosa with my parents, my sister and lots of pets.
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Caroline Murphy, 9, loves Pokemon, Pokemon and more Pokemon. p.s. ...horses as
well.
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Lebron and Jinger Burton aka Arthur and Molly Weasley, winners of last years local HP dress up contest for the 7th book, live and learn in Southern Idaho alongside Patrick (17), Ellie (14.90), Jinger's parents and sister, three dogs, one cat, one sheep and one horse...
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Hi, I'm Karen Canfield. I'm 11 years old and I love to garden and read books. I love to write stories and I want to be an author when I grow up. I also love mermaids, fairies and all the fantasy stuff like that. I love animals and trees and plants. I believe in magic and I love adventure. And I can't wait to see everyone at LIFE is Good!!
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Miss Crafty herself, Gioia Cerullo will host two crafty funshops!
Gioia enjoys hours and hours immersed in her paper-folding and other
crafty adventures! She can't wait to do it in some great company!
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Michelle Bentley has never been to school. She’s currently passionate about
World of Warcraft (duh!) where she has a Level 63 Troll Huntress on
the server Windrunner; Inu-yasha (the tv series, movies, and manga);
creating all manner of creatures from clay; Pokemon (cards, figures,
DS and Wii games, plushies); reading books that feature animals;
playing games on her DS; and pretending to be a cat, dog or wolf with
requisite tail attached!
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Andy and Savanna McGrew have enjoyed unschooling their two boys, Addision (8) and Ansel (3), from birth. Their favorite pastime is conversing about all aspects of life, culture and the universe over coffee or margaritas, depending on the time of day and/or the weather! Savanna is a full-time mom and part-time College French instructor. Andy is a former art teacher and current laser technician. Andy also runs a "micro" business out of the garage helping creative parents and kids build fantastic cardboard creations.
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Donna Jensen is an artist, a dreamer, a dancer, a baby whisperer and a safe haven for teens in need.
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Hi! I'm Serena Tucker. I Love Girl Scouts.....And I Also Like Neopets, ToonTown, Webkinz, And Well, :-\ Those Are My Main Web Sites...As You May Have Guessed...I Love Computer Games....And I Loooove To Draw Things...And I Like To Make Cootie Catchers As Well, Sooooooo, And OH!!! I LOOOOOOOOOOVE TO MAKE HUG BUTTONS!!!
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Saren Whalen is ten years old and loves to read, draw, role-play, and play video games. She also likes nature and learning about herbs. Saren has always been an unschooler. She attended school for part of third grade by her own choice.
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Harper Whalen is seven and she likes drawing, reading Cam Jansen books, listening to her mom read Warriors books to her, and writing. And she likes April Fool's and nature. Harper has always been an unschooler.
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Brenna McBroom is 18 and an unschooler from Jacksonville, Florida. Her first introduction to unschooling came when she attended the Live and Learn Unschooling conference in Colombia, South Carolina in 2003. The case of strep throat she contracted there (and the accompanying vacation from her home school co-op) was the catalyst that liberated her from school once and for all. She plans on traveling some after Life is Good and then going to New College of Florida this coming fall. She enjoys singing, baking pies, and planning big projects.
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Jeff Sabo is the lucky dad of Annie (18), Kai (9), and Kade (6), and is still amazed and grateful to be the husband of Ginger (29 and 36/4). The Sabos make their home by the beach in Carlsbad, CA, but have also laid their heads in Monterey, Nashville, Austin, and State College. When he's not making puppets, he works in biotech, plunks the bass, and plays in the ocean with the family.
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Brenda & Jazmin Wilson (9) live and learn at beautiful Lake Tahoe. Brenda loves being an RU mom, helping run the home business, and watching the beautiful nature all around our home! Jazmin loves Unicorn and animals, and playing on the computer. We were playing a round of telephone and thought a BIG round at the conference would be fun.
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Mandy Sicard, unschooling mama to Violet (9) and Olivia (5) from San Diego, CA. They enjoy going to the park with other unschoolers, doing crafts, camping, playing Nintendo & Wii. Mandy enjoys photography, blogging, reading, making new friends and learning about new ideas. Violet enjoys Pokemon, AG, drawing, Anime and singing & dancing to Hannah Montana! Olivia enjoys jumping, playing ninjas, drawing, SpongeBob, and playing games on the computer. They are very much looking forward to their 2nd LIG, and Olivia's 1st, especially the Barefoot Boogie and Talent shows!!!!
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Ronnie Maier is an unschooling mom and writer. She has no drumming experience whatsoever, but she's looking forward to grooving and learning!
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Ginger Sabo. I am the peaceful Mama to Kai and Kade and a soul-mate to Jeff. I seem to be on a slower path to discovering all there is to discover and explore in the world…taking time to truly enjoy our children and our surroundings. You can usually find me watching our kids, knitting, reading or joining in a great game or two.
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Victoria King has always been an unschooler, even before she was
pulled out of school 4 years ago. Her love of learning naturally has lead to
new interests. She loves neopets, youtube videos, deviantART, video games,
anime, beading, and countless other interests. At home, she enjoys hanging
with Mom and Dad, her two bros and her little baby sis. (P.S, I'm gonna be
fourteen when I go to Life is Good.)
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Kristin and Chloe (15) Shields are a mother-daughter artist team living in
beautiful Central Oregon. We love to make stuff and, between the two of us,
have experience with knitting, quilting, sewing, ceramics, photography,
computer graphic design, drawing, painting, collage, printmaking and
papercraft of all types. Chloe, who has unschooled her whole life, is also
a writer, dog lover, Neopets fanatic and snow play enthusiast. In addition
to crafting, Kristin loves to read, travel and study wildlife. In our home,
creating art is an everyday experience!
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Gillian Mayer lives for the unschooling conference (and non conference) circuit! Together with hunk partner Craig, and babies Effie (8) and Fergus (4), she travels the continent finding friends and perfecting her joyous lifestyle. She can be found on lists under the pseudonym "balloonatikmama" and if you are very unlucky she will find you and force you to wear one of her balloon hat creations! (Effie says I am 21. She is only 20 years off).
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Fergus Mayer:
I love to run and I love trains and easter and xmas and I love to play "tendo" (translation: Nintendo) with daddy. I am four.
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My name is Effie Mayer. I love dolls, and movies and books. I am eight years old.
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Sean Brown
That guy from Live and Learn with the Big camera. Hmm wonder where that film is?
22 years old. Teaches video production to anyone that wants to learn in the
community of Portland, Oregon. I am in two improv groups and love to direct
films. Unschooling life is a great way to live and learn and when and if I have
kids, this is the life I will choose. I look forward to meeting all of you and please don't be shy to say Hi.
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Carolyn Winkler has been singing since she was born (according to her parents!). Before becoming wife to Bret (9/97) and mama to Sabine (4/02) and Vivian (10/05), Carolyn was a counselor for 5 summers at Green Cove, in beautiful Western North Carolina, where she learned to play guitar and harmonica.
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Emily Troper is a huge Pippi Longstocking fan, lives in Portland Oregon and is the unschooling mama of four wonderful (and spirited!) children. She's a fierce advocate in her community for natural birth, breastfeeding, and children's rights, and she teaches "Connected Parenting" classes at the local wellness center. Emily was a preschool teacher for many years and developed a great love for bubble play and other joyous fun with children.
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