Mathematics and Beyond
Mary Lewis
Do you find yourself thinking:
What if my child never figures out how to leave a 15% tip?
What if my child could have been a great and happy engineer, but never had the
math??
Or:
Sure, I get the idea of strewing, but how do I strew math when I don't even like
it myself???
For many, mathematics is the unsightly blemish blocking their beautiful view of
the unschooling landscape. Some folks are scared of math in general. Using
insights gained through years of tutoring adults with math anxiety, unschooling
my own age-spanning array of children, and just being plain old opinionated, I will be addressing these concerns.
Hopefully, you will not only feel better about unschooling and mathematics but
will also have some new perspectives on unschooling and the world.
How to use your Problems as Stepping Stones to Happiness
Mike Biskup
We all know how powerful a positive attitude toward life can be, but
many of us have a hard time maintaining one. We often think, "How can
I be positive when I have such a steady supply of difficulties coming
my way? My kids never clean up their messes, my partner is never
satisfied, the government is entirely corrupt and my car is costing me
a small fortune!"
Believe it or not, thoughts like these can be your ticket to feeling
good and maintaining a positive outlook on life. "The Work of Byron
Katie" is a practical, transformational tool which can help you use
your problems to feel better. During my presentation I will outline
and demonstrate how to use "The Work" to help you restore your
positive attitude about any area of your life - whether it's
unschooling your kids, finding harmony in your marriage, paying your
bills, or painting pictures.
Doing "The Work" is a wonderful way to find a path from frustration
to feeling good! I look forward to meeting you at the conference!
NEED is a 4-Letter Word
Scott Noelle
The decision to unschool one's children usually arises from a commitment to honoring and meeting their needs. Despite such good intentions, orienting one's life around identifying and meeting needs has some considerable pitfalls. In this presentation, I will describe how the conventional view of needs subtly promotes scarcity consciousness, competitiveness, conditionality, and disempowerment (i.e., neediness). I will then present alternative concepts and strategies for reframing needs to promote abundance, creativity, unconditional love, and empowerment for both children and parents. My presentation will include outrageous features sure to make you pause and wonder, "Did he really NEED to do that?"
Unschooling and the "Late" Reader
Linda Hessel
Many of us love the idea of unschooling with its
flexibility and freedom, but still worry about how our
children will learn to read, given that it's such an
important skill to have in our society. Perhaps it
doesn't matter if a child doesn't want to learn
chemistry, but what if they never want to learn to
read, or show interest too late and miss some
developmental window of opportunity? Is it possible
that learning to read is the one area in which
unschooling just doesn't work for everyone? I'll
examine these concerns, as well as our culture's
reading standards, and how they came into being and
the effects they have on literacy when applied
indiscriminately to the general population. And best
of all, why learning to read at an advanced age is not
only okay, but good!
Running from Safety
Beth Fuller
For most of my life I have been searching for a safe place in this world. In search of safety, however, I ended up living in fear. Then one day, I accidentally bumped into radical unschooling. It became clear to me that in order to explore these new and strange ideas, I had to consciously run away from all that felt safe. I put my face to the wind, and stepped out over the abyss. My journey has taken me many places, and along the way I have found a few things better than safety. Join me for a while and we will run away from safety with wild abandon!
Change Your Perspective, Change Your Life
Diana Jenner
On my Life's Journey, I've found the biggest obstacle to Living Fully is my very own perspective. I will share the tools I use to get myself to a new place, a new view, without changing a thing except my own stuckedness. Though this is the same skeleton of the talk I gave at Live and Learn, as with anything diana-related, there have been changes, updates, new stories and new perspectives. I hope you'll join me and come away with something new to implement in your own thinking. We'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll take over the world. :D
Make Room For Daddy
Jon Gold
Some working dads are stuck in The Office all day long while mom and the kids flit from one wonderful unschooling thing to another. By the time dad gets home from work the living room looks like Malcolm in the Middle, the sink looks like The Bachelor, and some days the prospects for dinner make Survivor seem like an all-you-can-eat buffet. What makes dad so cranky? How can we help ease dad back into the rhythm of our unschooling lives? How do we Make Room for Daddy unschooling style? (Comes with companion PowerPoint presentation.)
Learning to Unschool Ourselves
Alison McKee
Unschooling isn’t really about what we do to our kids, it’s about what we do to ourselves. As the author of Homeschooling Our Children Unschooling Ourselves, I firmly believe that overcoming my own conventional education and learning to trust in my children was the heart and soul of our unschooling success. It wasn’t an easy process and it didn’t always go smoothly but I developed a few skills that helped me get through the rough spots. This session will give me the opportunity to share those skills with you, so that you too can get through the rough spots and enjoy the gift unschooling offers: happy kids and families.
Teen Panel
Moderated by Ronnie Maier
The teen panel is back for more questions and lots of thought provoking and reassuring answers! Ever wonder what it's like to unschool through the teenage years? Do they go on to college? Do they have friends? What about prom? What are their dreams, hopes and aspirations? Are they happy? Here is your chance to ask these questions and more. Our teen panel will talk candidly about what it's like to be a teen who doesn't go to school. If you don't know many older unschoolers, you won't want to miss this talk. Question and answer format.
