Rethinking Education Conference

Rethinking Education's 2008

"Do What You Love, Love What You Do"

Conference Program for adults.

(Your kids are welcome in all sessions with you, as long as they are not disturbing others with noise. We have lots of nursing moms & toddlers with us. Feel free to bring a blanket, toys, etc. to help occupy them in the adult sessions if you plan on having your child with you.)

See our separate program just for kids and teens

Sessions will continue to be added through July 2008. Check back frequently for updates, or sign up to receive the emailed updates.

5 DAY Adult Program Overview

Thursday, Sept. 4: Full-day, Inspired Immersions of 6-8 hours will take place on the following SIX topics:

#1: Beginning the Unschooling Journey, with Rachel Gathercole

Congratulations! You are about to embark on one of the greatest, most liberating, and radically life-changing experiences of your family's life!

Come be a part of this fun and joyful immersion where we will explore every aspect of what's involved in embarking on the grand adventure of unschooling! Join us as we delve into such issues as:

• common concerns and fears
• what to expect and not to expect
• the parent's role in unschooling, or "what do I do with my child every day?"
• socializiation
• adjusting from schooling to unschooling
• transitioning directly from infancy (or birth) into unschooling
• making the choice and taking the "plunge" into unschooling
• deschooling yourself as a parent
• benefits of unschooling you can look forward to br /> • explaining your choice(s) to others
• and especially whatever is on your mind about the brave new world of unschooling!

Get ready to become prepared and empowered to leap into and enjoy the freedom and rewards of becoming an unschooling family!

#2: Teenage Liberation: The Journey of Unschooling Teens, with Maria Whitworth

What happens when your unschooled child becomes a teenager?

What occurs to some surprises both the unschooling parents and the child. Without understanding in advance what is happening, complex emotions creep in which can abruptly end the unschooling process. The commitment to unschooling becomes compromised for a "safer" way when parents begin to worry "what will happen to my child" and decide "it's time to get SERIOUS about their schooling."

This all-day open forum session will help bring to light these doubts, fears and apprehensions. No topic will be avoided; we will give voice to, explore the validity of, and engage in honest discussions about everything -- from academics to sex, drugs, video games and social behavior. Fixed beliefs and cultural pressures about growing up will be challenged as we visit our own teen years and reframe our feelings. You will FACE YOUR FEARS in this bold and radical Teenage Liberation session.

Through specific exercises and sharing stories, the evidence will bring clarity to your own unschooling process. You will understand that as long as you continue to honor her/him, your teen will not only survive �but will FLOURISH in who they are. You will leave with confidence, knowing that nothing will empower your child to live his authentic life better than continuing the unschooling journey through the teen years.

#3: With Eyes Wide Open: Questioning Everything & Finding Your Own Way, with Jody McLaughlin

Just wait until you meet Jody McLaughlin, a powerhouse of a mother,wise woman, advocate, activist, magazine publisher and free-thinker! �She is the editor and publisher of The Compleat Mother, a magazine devoted to nurturing natural birth and full term breastfeeding. �In her full day with you in this Inspired Immersion, she will share her passion and abundant knowledge on these topics and so much more. �For example:

• the dangers of pharmacological contraception
• fertility awareness charting
• the pandemic of interferences with birth, labor & postpartum care for women
• how to choose a life partner, or just a good friend
• how to know if someone's telling you the truth
• how to raise children to change the world
• developing empathy in your children
• how to live on just $500 a year in discretionary expenses
• SPIN: how to interpret it, understand it, wade through what's true and what's not
• the difference between medical care vs. health care
• how we smell is who we are
• re-mothering yourself�
• how men in our culture are shortchanged
• animal stories you need to hear that science doesn't tell us about
• what's wrong with fairytales
• understanding the male penis - yep, you heard that right
• homeland security, some politics for good measure, and a whole lot more

#4: Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) for the Parent's Soul, with Sunday Cote'
Joyful parenting just got a whole lot easier!

"The most significant thing for a parent to contribute to anyone is their own Connection and their own stability. � An effective parent is a happy parent."
-- Abraham-Hicks

As Unschooling parents, we know that meeting our children's needs with respect and love is imperative.� But who among us hasn't felt scattered, frustrated or even resentful from time to time?� It might be hard to admit, but even the most dedicated Unschooling parents have those moments when parenting wisdom goes out the window and we are tempted to revert back to old patterns or practices.� Consider the following scenarios: You are helping your child get ready for bed when you discover that his favorite pajamas -- the only pair he'll wear -- are missing.� You are searching the house without success when your son suddenly remembers he left them at his friend's house after his sleep-over last night. � Now, extra tired, he is in full meltdown, demanding that you drive across town to get them.� You know in your heart that getting his jammies would be a kind and generous act on your part, but let's face it, you're tired and you'd love it if he'd just put on one of the other 3 pairs he has.� Worry and resentment creep in about his sensitivities and the energy that it takes to support him.

You are engrossed in a work project that has a deadline tomorrow when your child requests you play her favorite game for the umpteenth time today.� You know that the "perfect unschooling mom" would drop everything and jump at the chance to spend this quality time with her, but all you really want is a quiet moment to yourself to finish this project!� Guilt tugs at your heart as you wonder if you've really got what it takes to be a good Unschooling parent.�

You are pulled into an argument that is brewing between your two older kids as you are trying to nurse the baby to sleep.� You begin to feel burdened by everybody else's needs. � Most of the time you are able to muster up the calm and strength it takes to lovingly and gently move through these tense moments together, but tonight your old programming tells you that this would be an ideal time for a swift punishment and banishment to the time-out chair - if you had one.� For a fleeting moment as you entertain that option, you question if your respectful parenting ideals will ever overcome your authoritarian past.�

Your teen has just told you she's thinking about attending a party where it is rumored that there will be drugs and alcohol available.� You are grateful that she trusts you enough to tell you and you want to remain open-minded and supportive as she explores this expanding world of choices.� However, at the moment you wish you could calm the fear that is building in the pit of your stomach.�

Even though you are delighted with your parenting and unschooling choices and all is going wonderfully well, you are always open to learning new ways to support your kids as they go through the emotional ups and downs of life. � Your daughter's fear of dogs has kept you from park day for the last few weeks and just recently your son came home upset because two of his friends excluded him from the game they were playing. � Having a tool at your fingertips to help them move through fears and emotional angst would be very helpful.�

If you can relate to any of these scenarios, this session is for you!� During the course of this Inspired Immersion, developed especially for unschooling families, you will learn a simple form of Energy Psychology called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) that you can apply immediately to release old emotions and beliefs that keep you from being the loving and effective parent you know you can be. � You will also learn how to apply EFT to help bring more clarity and patience to stressful moments as well as help to calm your child and to assist him or her in resolving fears, sensitivities and negative emotions.� And as you resolve your own fears and negative emotions, you'll find less and less difference between your parenting vision and your real life experience.

This may seem like a tall order from where you stand right now, but I've experienced it personally in my own life, and witnessed rapid results in the lives of the families who apply these techniques to their everyday lives.� Whether you are a seasoned Unschooler or are just testing the waters, this session will energize you with personal clarity and emotional freedom, as well as equip you with tools to create a happier home and healthier kids along the way.� No prior EFT experience is required.� And if you are already using EFT in your life, you will gain added insight for specific unschooling family situations.� Bring your questions, challenges and emotional baggage.� We will be actively working on them in a gentle, non-confrontational way.� What a way to begin an amazing conference - with greater emotional freedom!

To learn more about EFT and to get a head start before the conference, visit my website at www.sundaycote.com. Download a basic EFT manual and sign up to receive my free guide, "Downstream Parenting: Be the Change You Wish to See In Your Kids."

#5: Transform Your Family, with Tracy Liebmann

A day of insight, connections and communication with family life coach Tracy Liebmann. This will be a group coaching intensive, we will spend the day connecting to ourselves, so we may better connect to our children.

Imagine a family living connected, communicating and living together in harmony. Just like the human body, family members can work together to benefit the whole system. It is possible when living consensually. Consensual families strive to live in harmony. They honor one another's needs by looking for creative solutions. They follow simple principles that include Trust, Equality and Self-Determination. Through connection and compassionate communication they find mutually agreed upon solutions with respect for everyone involved regardless of age.

Unschooling is just the beginning. After we have thrown out the school curriculum what do we do with the rest of our lives? An unschooled family life is a totally different system than a traditional, schooled family. We can't say OK I trust you with learning, but I know what's best when it comes to sleep, personal hygiene, nutrition, and college. How does our family work without our "parenting curriculum"? If your family has chosen to unschool, then you have made a wonderful choice about how your family will learn together. My question is how will your family LIVE together?

Our day connecting together will look something like this:

Part I ~ Becoming Aware ~ We have to be connected to ourselves. Each parent will connect with themselves by looking at their own family biography. Connect the dots to see what has made them who they are today as a parent.

Part II ~ Living In The Gap ~ After becoming aware of the principles of consensual living and taking a conscious look at our parenting we are bound to have gaps. Gaps exist when where we are today is different from where we would like to be as a family.

Part III ~ Moving Forward ~ We will share our discoveries and each family will have a laser coaching (short) session. We will discuss sticking points and Tracy will coach you through them using questioning techniques that will challenge your conditioning.

#6: Artist Needs Expression: Experimenting with Soul Cards and Pine Needle Baskets, with Quinn Eaker and Shellie Smith

Love art, or just the idea of spending time experimenting with creating it? Well, we're gonna give you a full day to sit and do just that. Meet lots of other unschool parents and get to know each other casually and intimately, or work quietly and introspectively, it's your call. Soul Cards will have you going deep within to create collages with images and words cut from a vast array of magazines to inspire whatever moves you. Or, work with softened pine needles and sturdy threads to weave an organic, beautiful little basket (even a little one can take all day!).

In addition to these full day immersions, Kid Village will be open and there will be other kid activities all day. We have also put together some ideas for local field trips to Dallas, ideal for a child and grandparent or parent. Public transportation is available and inexpensive. We will have maps and directions for you at Registration.

See our Field Trip ideas here.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5, 6 & 7:
multiple choice sessions and keynotes, along with wide-ranging activities each day from approx. 9am - 1am. In addition, we will open our NEW Unschool UnNightclub for music, dance, art, puzzles and movies. On Sunday we will share a buffet dinner and Talent Show.

80's Night
Don't forget your Aqua Net hair spray for this night. Big shirts, shoulder pads, ponytails and skinny leggings is what we look forward to seeing this night because we are gonna Party Like It's 1999. Duran Duran, Madonna, Prince, DEf Leppard, Bon Jovi, Cindy Lauper and WHAM! Get ready to Bang Your Head all night long.

Random Hit's Night
Togas, mohawks and black lipstick...just do your own thang. Wear your freakiest, silliest or most conservative garb and enjoy being whatever you want with total acceptance. Bring your own CDs and submit them for play. It's your night, make it yours. Anything goes.

Vintage Night 20's 30's 40's and 50's
Dust off your best Zoot Suit and let's do the Charlston. Flappers and Poodle skirts tonight. We will Twist and Shout and wake the legends of the past. Get ready to Boogie Woogie to Glen Miller and big band music, The Supremes, Etta James, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra all night.

Hippie Night 60's and 70's
Give peace a chance, Man. You don't need any extra bread for this night. Grab some flowers, bell bottoms, tye dye and your favorite pair of Go-Go boots for a night of Bob Dylan, The Mommas and the Pappas, The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Blondie, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Starship, The Doors and many more. Yeah, Man, it's gonna be groovy. Pet rocks allowed!

Monday, Sept. 8:
This entire day will be devoted to the much softer pace we are calling our "Afterglow Gathering". It will take place in a beautiful setting and be unstructured all day, hosting a variety of movies, music, dance, art, puzzles and of course, conversation and final connections with old and new friends alike. We have this space reserved for our use until midnight.

On with the actual program details:

Bio of each speaker/presenter with their photos, followed by a description of the sessions/activities they will host. Non-alphabetized order.

JOSEPH CHILTON PEARCE (Joe Pearce)
At the ripe young age of 82, Joe can distinguish red from green lights, read stop signs, has managed to keep out of jail and has achieved a wide range of other accomplishments� such as numerous college and university degrees, college humanities professor, an army career, a father of 5 (one he unschooled), grandfather of 12 and great grandfather of one. He's devoted most of his life to thinking, researching, meditating, lecturing(over 2,000 addresses to audiences the world over during the last 35 years) and writing - 8 books to date, and a whole lot of essays.

Joe's passionate intellectual interest concerns the development of intelligence in children, and the spiritual aspects of our species in general. Major focus has been on the biological nature of the mind-heart connection. A few of his authored works include the radical and earth-shattering Magical Child, The Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit: A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart, The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit , The Crack in the Cosmic Egg: New Constructs of Mind and Reality, Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence, among others.

Joe lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Joe will host:

Keynote: "A Short Evolutionary History of The Child: �Biological vs. Cultural Imperatives"
Joe will address nature's 'biological plan' for human development, a genetically inherent design for open-ended creativity and freedom, and its conflict with our dominator cultural-societal demands for conformity. These cultural demands profoundly inhibit a child's natural spiritual-creative development while serving the competitive conflicts on which our dominator culture rests.

This presentation draws on neuroscience, neuro-cardiology (the "brain" in the heart,) the evolutionary nature of our fourfold brain and the sequential or "stage-specific" development of those inherent structures from birth, as outlined by Rudolph Steiner, Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori, and others. We will explore how nature's plan can be preserved and developed in a child in the midst of the mounting hostility, chaos, confusion and danger present in today's dominator-world. Particular attention will be paid to the "model imperative" by which all development unfolds and how, given appropriate models, negative cultural effects, no matter their power and profusion, need not block and thwart an individual child's spiritual-creative unfolding. Here the critical importance of Steiner's Waldorf Education is touched on, as well as its radical opposite, our newly invented electronic virtual realities which wreak havoc on the natural structures of mind. A young person's compulsive attraction to these artificial mind-warps, such as television, computers and computer games, will be discussed, using the Bohm, Sheldrake, and Steiner insights into field effect and its rising role in the dominator models imperative to culture's maintenance.

The keynote unfolds in a logical, well-illustrated and documented sequence, keeping the issues as simple and concrete as possible, free of jargon, vague abstraction or unrealistic hypotheses. Questions will be accepted as time permits.

Sex is Important
Whether we realize it or not, choose to think about it or not, the sexual development of the human from birth to adulthood is critical to one's confidence, self-image, contentment, and yes, even intelligence. Joe's wealth of knowledge will give us much to talk about: sexual need, experimentation, development of responsibility, cross-cultural sexual behaviors and what Western Civilization can learn from "less developed" corners of the world.

Right or Wrong? Moral and Spiritual Development of the Human Animal
Defining, nurturing and living a life with rich moral & spiritual conviction is no small task� or is it? Culture predominately teaches that religious dogma is necessary to achieve goodness and right action, but is it really counterproductive? Cross-cultural, anthropological, and yes, even the studies of Charles Darwin - show that the human is by nature benevolent, altruistic, and kind. Cultural conformity - from birth - is what breeds the opposite, actually changing neural development, swinging us from benevolence to potential hostility, competition etc. Religion is no solution, a natural nurturing of each other is. We are by nature spiritual beings; culture invents religion. This is heart work, and as it turns out, heart is a biological issue. All of the big questions will be raised in this discussion that will invite everyone's input and experience.

BERNIE DEKOVEN, a.k.a. MajorMajorFun
One day, when I was in second grade, I remember thinking to myself: "this could be a lot more fun, Bernard" (I called myself "Bernard" back then). I mean, really. I remember thinking how even workbooks used to be more fun than having to sit here, at my desk, still, silent, with all these kids around me, half-listening, when we could be totally mucking about with some marvelously educational materials, inventing physics. And I'm pretty sure it was then that I began to devote myself to the pursuit of what I have decided to call "the Playful Path." Because the very next thing I remember was me, Bernard, joking. toying. playing, talking pretty much all the time. Even sitting in the hall, waiting to see the principal, I was always on the alert, always looking to make it fun, for me, for anyone I could get to play with.

Since then, I've explored everything and anything I could find that has to do with fun, play, games, toys, joys and happiness. I designed toys, games, computer games, events. I developed a curriculum that was all about playing games for fun. I wrote a book, The Well-Played Game, on that very subject. I worked with the New Games Foundation to create large scale public, playing-for-fun events. I set up my own retreat center for people who wanted to get deep into fun (I called it "The Games Preserve"). Apparently, the idea of playing for fun was something that, for a lot of people, was weird, wacky, kind of irreverent, even - which, naturally, turned out to be the very thing that I did and taught and made my whole life about.�

For me, playing for fun has really been playing for life - not only as a lifetime commitment, but also as a day-to-day focus on life itself. We are currently living in southern California, a block-and-a-half from the beach. We've been married now for 41 years. We've two children and six grands. And we play very well together, in deed.

As for you Unschoolers, I happen to believe that you are the very people who can help make this world more fun, because you are the very people who have experienced the unity of learning and play, the harmonics of life and joy. �Because you know the power of fun, you are the very ones who can become Defenders of the Playful.

Bernie will teach us more about fun than we ever thought we knew before. He will be with us all weekend, hosting all kinds of news ways to think, play and have lots of fun.

Bernie hosts:

Keynote: Rethinking Work - For Fun and Profit
Shouldn't WORK, the activity that we spend 20 - 80 hours a week immersed in, be FUN? Strange but true, there are people who actually do have fun working, and there are more and more of them, all the time. Let's talk about them, and what they're doing, and how they came to make working fun, and what it means about work itself. Let's rethink what we have been taught about work and remake work to be something we love, and yes, even fun.

Junkyard Golf
We will use a big chunk of our hotel meeting room space to create, with Bernie's help, a golf course made with �. Junk. Not only that, but it will be a golf course unlike you've ever seen or imagined, with all new rules too, or maybe no rules at all. The course will be entirely a product of YOUR imagination, so be sure to show up to help create it. We will leave it up all weekend for golfers to play with, rebuild and reinvent.

A Million New Ways to Play Old Games
Bernie will share the millions of ways we can turn well known games into fun, brand new games. Want to learn 10 new ways to play checkers? How about another million or so ways to play crazy eights, or 20 questions, or tic tac toe? You'll learn and invent so many new games that it will take you weeks to show them all to your friends back home!

Searching for the Well-Played Game
Understanding how to play well is a path towards understanding how to live well. Whether you're talking about a game of gin rummy or a game of ultimate frisbee. When your goal is to experience a "well-played game," your goal transcends the game itself. It's no longer about winning or losing, succeeding or failing. It's about the quality of being, the sharing of excellence, the mutuality of delight. With this understanding, every game you play becomes an opportunity to develop your skills at living well. Every game. This is how the search for the Well-Played Game becomes a path to wholeness. A playful path, filled with things like fun and community, spontaneity and creativity, agility and light-heartedness.

VALERIE FITZENREITER
After a Baby Boomer childhood that would make Ward and June Cleaver proud, Valerie jumped off into her teenage years with determined belief that normalcy was not�well, not normal. Whether it was because of the social acceptability of her parents or in spite of it, she knew that her life was going to be a bit different.� As a young adult in the 1970s, she worked as a ditch digger, pipefitter, and warehouse janitor, putting her male coworkers to shame. ��But she knew that motherhood would one day be her ultimate adventure.

In 1979, a copy of Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child-Rearing was given to Valerie for Christmas. She was already pregnant and devoured the book as if it were satisfying a craving. ��Summerhill was the beginning of an odyssey of reading that included John Holt's books, James Herndon's books, The Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce, and Chicken Soup for the Frustrated Antiestablishment Parenting Hippie's Soul.� �

By the time her daughter Laurie was born, Valerie's reading had prepared her for everything she wanted to do�nothing. �So she sat back and watched Laurie grow and learn and embrace life on her own terms. She was there as a loving guide, never wavering in her support for Laurie's learning style, even when it lasted into the wee hours and consisted solely of books and computers. �Laurie is now a successful adult in surprisingly traditional ways�a graduate student who cleans her own apartment, does her own taxes, cooks, and can wake up early any time she needs to do so.� Valerie loves her daughter anyway.

Valerie is the author of The Unprocessed Child: Living without School and is currently editing Unschooling Voices: Inside the Lives of Over Forty Unschooling Families, written by unschooling parents around the world. When she's not editing, she's gardening, renovating, organizing, or cooking while her menagerie of six cats and one dog roam about.� �You can reach Valerie through her website: www.ubpub.com

Valerie's Sessions:

Keynote: Lessons from Summerhill
Our learned men become professors, teachers, clergymen, but seldom creators. Creators learn what they want to learn in order to have the tools that their originality and genius demand, and we do not know how much creation is killed in the classroom with its emphasis on learning. A.S. Neill

Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing changed mine and my unborn daughter's life many years ago by changing my definition of good parenting. Summerhill is a private school in England that was founded by A. S. Neill and his wife in 1921 and is now run by his middle-aged daughter Zoe Redhead. A.S. Neill passionately believed that a school should adapt to the wishes of children instead of the other way around. He believed in freedom, not license, and saw the students of all ages as equals to themselves, the other teachers, and even himself as headmaster.

Neill introduced me to the radical notion that having a well-mannered and obedient child was not what I should strive for; that my goal as a parent should be a happy child. He convinced me that a happy child would use all of her energy on things that she was passionate about, rather than waste her energies on trying to please me or anyone else. I was raised attending church but now questioned the sincerity of the entire structure and demands of religion. I felt that I was a good and moral person, but how could a moral person feel so out of sync with church and Sunday school? I felt confusion and guilt on a daily basis and jokingly referred to myself as immoral.

As a parent, Summerhill gave me a powerful definition of morality and showed me how simply being an honest, kind, compassionate and loving parent would help my child learn right from wrong. I learned that I needed only one commandment: Thou shalt be on the side of the child. The battle is not between believers in theology and nonbelievers in theology; it is between believers in human freedom and believers in the suppression of human freedom.

I've been called a pioneer of unschooling because I began radically unschooling Laurie in 1980, from birth onward. But everything I did was based on what I learned about Summerhill in A.S. Neill's book of the same name. I did nothing exceptional. It's as Neill said, "We have been called brave, but it did not require courage. All it required was what we had � a complete belief in the child as a good, not an evil, being."

Raising a Strong Child
It's a lot easier to raise a strong child using radical unschooling methods than by traditional parenting methods. Yep, you read that right; it's easier. You won't be contriving ways to toughen your child up by using humiliation or condescension. You won't be wasting energy trying to force your child to conform to the expectations of others � not even your own expectations. And you won't be spending lots of money on programs to motivate learning. Forget about enforcing rules and doling out rewards and discipline. All of those things are unnecessary busywork that weakens you, your child, and your child's transformation into adulthood. It's more about what you don't do, than about what you do. Come to the session on raising a strong child and learn how freedom isn't just for the unschooled child; it's for the parents too!

Radical Unschooling � Radically Raising Radicals
Radical Unschooling is embracing freedom and rejecting repression. In botany, radical refers to something as arising or originating from the root or its base. Maybe we should call ourselves gardeners, radically raising radicals from our base of love and empathy. Valerie has found that gardening and parenting have much in common. Give a plant what it needs and you will see healthy growth. But if you over water, over prune or over fertilize, or give it too much shade or sun, the plant will struggle to survive. It might make it, but its chances are slim. With radical unschooling, we give a child what she needs and then we back off. We allow her to grow at her own pace and in her own direction. We don't espalier, trellis or trim back her wild branches. We embrace the person that she is and watch her grow strong.

Discipline
Discipline equals illusion of control. It doesn't work. What is the outcome of making a child sit in timeout? It's certainly not respect between parent and child. He's not thinking about what he did "wrong" and vowing to never do it again. He's thinking about how much he hates the disciplinarian and how he can be a little sneakier next time. The only type of discipline that is conducive to a positive parent-child relationship is self-discipline. Come to the session and learn how to give your child the gift of self-discipline.

KRENIE STOWE
describes herself as "a mother and activist first, a physician and attorney second." Grounded in a lifelong commitment to social justice, she is a tireless advocate of sweeping health care reform. After graduating cum laude from Phillips Academy in 1977, she attended Yale, receiving her BA in 1981. She received her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1985. Following a pediatric internship at New York University Medical Center, she attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1990. She then returned to New York to complete pediatric residency training at Montefiore Medical Center's Residency Program in Social Medicine. Committed to providing medical care to underserved communities, she moved to North Dakota in 1992 to practice on a remote Native American Territory.

Newly aware of the crisis in rural health care, she sought an underserved, demographically complex region in which to implement a unique plan. Texas, ranking near last in the health status of children, fit the profile. She relocated there in 1994 and, with her mother, Dr. Maria Stowe, co-founded the Frontis Project, a non-profit health care facility that provided medical care, emergency assistance, and social support and advocacy services to 11,500 children and their families.

In 2004, she resigned that position to pursue her dual passions of health care and educational reform by writing and consulting. In 2005, she founded HEAL, Health Education, Advocacy & Literacy, and is now working on growing The Real School, an unschooling co-operative. She also practices with a small group, MFC Clinic, in The Woodlands. She published her first book, A Doctor's Story: A Personal Journey & A Call For Reform, in 2006. She has been honored by the Houston Young Lawyers Association and the Center for the Healing of Racism. Her work has been featured in the Houston Chronicle and numerous local newspapers. She has done dozens of radio and television spots, and can be heard frequently on local radio station KPFT. Although she has lived in Texas for over 14 years, she remains a member of the New York Bar. Her 12 year old son, Isaac, a lifelong unschooler, is the center of her universe.

Krenie hosts:

Do kids needs adults and, if so, why?
The discussion will explore freedom, self regulation and the role of 'authority' figures in the lives of young people. Questions like: Are the very young capable of self regulation? What is safety; how do we define it, and is it the job of adults to try to ensure it? Does freedom create unrealistic expectations? If a child grows up in a space with few or no rules, how does s/he learn to abide by rules in 'the real world'? Without adult guidance will kids become cruel? greedy? selfish? If there is interest, we will add another session to continue our discussion on this wide-ranging topic.

Biopsychiatry: don't believe the hype
This workshop will explore the alarming increase in both the diagnosis and the pharmacologic treatment of 'mental illness' in children. The role of the medical profession, mass compulsory schooling and big pharma will be discussed, but we will also hone in on the role of parents and families. Do parents, on some level, want their kids to be sick or afflicted with a 'legitimate disease'? Does it feel less threatening because a disease is not anyone's fault? Does a psychiatric label give folk who are feeling lost a sense of identity; "I'm Catholic"; "I'm an artist", "I'm a feminist", "I'm bipolar"?

Is unschooling insular?
This session will explore questions of diversity in the unschooling community (idealogically, culturally, economically, racially, etc.) We will explore ways to grow the movement to make it more accessible both logistically and philosophically. And we can discuss whether that goal makes sense. The role of the real world is also part of this conversation. Is unschooling a bubble of a kind? Does it give kids an unrealistic view of life?

Your child's health: Unplugging from the profit and disease driven medical model.
I will offer Individual consults with parents/kids/families to discuss any issue related to the health of young people. I am happy to do a physical exam as part of this consult. The consult could be used to address things such as vaccine decision making, long term breast feeding and overcoming pressure to wean; circumcision decisions, the management of specific medical problems, concerns about antibiotic use and misuse. My focus as a practitioner is on information and empowerment. I want to facilitate folk finding answers and solutions that work for them. These sessions will be be 1/2 hour and the fee is $100 payable as cash or check. Longer sessions can be arranged on a case by case basis.

Websites featuring my work:
Health Education, Advocacy & Literacy, Inc.; www.healthedadlit.com
The Real School a.k.a. Dragon Valley; www.therealschoolhouston.org

JODY MCLAUGHLIN, ST**
I grew up on a farm in central North Dakota where I learned most of what I know about healthful pregnancy, spontaneous birth and successful lactation. This was not difficult as I merely observed and paid attention to cause and effect.

Shortly after the birth of our daughter in 1973, I attended the first La Leche League meeting in the state. After our second daughter was born I became a LLL Leader.
As a League Leader I noticed many of the problems mothers were having with breastfeeding were related the style of maternity care they were receiving. When the cesarean section rate at our local hospital reached 10% I went ballistic. I gave myself a PhD in Maternity Care Reform based on the principles I learned while growing up on our farm. �(What farmer could afford cesarean sections for 1 out of 10 cows?)

I became an expert when I was asked to speak 100 miles from home with slides (before PowerPoint) and handouts. Through the years I found support to continue this work from women and men in the community whose own children had been successfully breastfed: librarians, journalists, community leaders and health care workers and occasionally physicians. I have served on many committees and boards as a maternity care reform advocate where I learned many interesting things including... it doesn't matter what a woman eats during her pregnancy as it has no bearing on the outcome, gravity does not affect all women and there us no such thing as 'unnecessary surgery'.

During this time I learned if you want to be appointed to a serve on a board, or jury duty, don't act too smart and pretend to be hard of hearing. On a more helpful note, the best advice I ever received is� always look for people with the Four "I"s� Intelligence, Integrity, Interest and willingness to make an Investment.

I served on my state's Maternal and Child Health Citizens Advisory Committee because of what I knew and was appointed to the Minot Commission on the Status of Women because of who I knew. I served on the North Dakota Insurance Commissioner's Health Care Cost Coalition because I pretended to know very little.

I've published the Compleat Mother Magazine since 1989, started the food coop in my community, co-wrote the first Genital Integrity Legislation to pass into law in the United States (www.BoysToo.com) and was asked to resign from the North Dakota Chapter of the March of Dimes.

My husband Tim and I live in Minot, North Dakota, the Geographical Center of the Universe.

**Self Taught.

Jody will host:

Full-day Inspired Immersion on Thursday, Sept. 4:

Inspired Immersion: �With Eyes Wide Open
Just wait until you meet Jody McLaughlin, a powerhouse of a mother,wise �woman, advocate, activist, magazine publisher and free-thinker! �She is the editor and publisher of The Compleat Mother, a magazine devoted to nurturing natural birth and full term breastfeeding. �In her full day with you in this Inspired Immersion, she will share her passion and abundant knowledge on these topics and so much more. �For example:

• the dangers of pharmacological contraception
• fertility awareness charting
• the pandemic of interferences with birth, labor & postpartum care for women
• how to choose a life partner, or just a good friend
• how to know if someone's telling you the truth
• how to raise children to change the world
• developing empathy in your children
• how to live on just $500 a year in discretionary expenses
• SPIN: how to interpret it, understand it, wade through what's true and what's not
• the difference between medical care vs. health care
• how we smell is who we are
• re-mothering yourself�
• how men in our culture are shortchanged
• animal stories you need to hear that science doesn't tell us about
• what's wrong with fairytales
• understanding the male penis - yep, you heard that right
• homeland security, some politics for good measure, and a whole lot more

What Do Your Children Say About You?
As parents we are our children's primary role models. �Watching your child engage the world, treat other people and animals and solve problems reflects what they have learned from observing you. �Do you like what you see? �Jody will help us dissect our children's behaviors and then offer ways we can effect change in our own lives such that not only we, but our children and entire family benefits. �Be brave! �Challenge yourself! �Jody's no-holds-barred style of sharing her life and engaging in yours will inspire you to tackle just about any mess you'd like to clean up in your life.

Mothering: The Most Important Job on the Planet
Jody is entirely self-taught, but she could probably qualify for at least a few PhDs if such degrees were given for mothering. �She has made the job of mothering and the research of mothering her life's work. �Let's share what we've all learned about mothering so we can learn from each other, and pepper Jody with all questions mothering: �from conception to pregnancy to birth to postpartum to child rearing, moral development, raising powerful children and whatever you have on your list to bring to this wonderful, warm table.

Young Adult Discussion Group
Jody lends herself to our Program within a Program for young adults to talk about�
• how to choose a partner
• birth control methods
• how men in our culture are shortchanged
• sex - yep, you heard that right �

RACHEL GATHERCOLE
is the unschooling, breastfeeding, babywearing, cosleeping, homebirthing, game-playing mother of three fun, creative children who continually amaze her with their delightfulness, insightfulness, and passion. She is also the author of the groundbreaking new book The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling, which finally addresses the question of homeschoolers' socialization in the depth that parents need. Rachel lives a charmed life with her husband and three children in North Carolina, where she spends her days with up-and-coming young poets, comic book artists, Appalaccian cloggers, actors, wilderness survivalists, literature-readers, storytellers, percussionists, star-gazers, trampoline-jumpers, gymnasts, figure-skaters, painters, ecologists, and much more--all of whom she has the good fortune of living with under the same roof. She looks forward to meeting you and learning from you at the Rethinking Education Conference in 2008!

Rachel hosts:

Keynote: The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Unschooling
Rachel has devoted years to researching and interviewing unschoolers and homeschoolers across North America, combined with her personal laboratory, a.k.a. homelife, and has shown conclusively that socialization is unequivocally and supremely, a benefit of unschooling. By re-examining our culture's assumptions about what unschooling is, what socialization is, and even what childhood is, Rachel will bring to light the true nature of unschoolers' socialization, and the many and wide social benefits it offers children. This powerful keynote will leave you feeling reassured, confident, and informed about that peculiar unschooling bugaboo: and what about socialization?

Full-day Inspired Immersion on Thursday, Sept. 4:

Inspired Immersion: New to Unschooling? Getting Started
Note: This Inspired Immersion is one of several full-day sessions offered on Thursday, Sept. 4.

Congratulations! You are about to embark on one of the greatest, most liberating, and radically life-changing experiences of your family's life!

Come be a part of this fun and joyful immersion where we will explore every aspect of what's involved in embarking on the grand adventure of unschooling! Join us as we delve into such issues as:
• common concerns and fears
• what to expect and not to expect
• the parent's role in unschooling, or "what do I do with my child every day?"
• socializiation
• adjusting from schooling to unschooling
• transitioning directly from infancy (or birth) into unschooling
• making the choice and taking the "plunge" into unschooling
• deschooling yourself as a parent
• benefits of unschooling you can look forward to
• explaining your choice(s) to others
• and especially whatever is on your mind about the brave new world of unschooling!

Get ready to become prepared and empowered to leap into and enjoy the freedom and rewards of becoming an unschooling family!

Parenting by Silliness!
Get ready to have some fun and discover your silly side! You can end power struggles, get things done, enjoy your kids, and empower them for future happiness all at the same time! It only takes one simple word: fun! Humor, play, and silliness are among the most effective, and certainly the most enjoyable, ways to engage cooperation, complete household tasks, strengthen your bonds with your children, and enjoy life with your family. Rachel will share her magical insights on make believe and fantasy, using alter egos (e.g., the Clumsy Waitress, Brunhilda,, Jimbo Jellybelly, Spartacus, Dirty McGee), and general comic relief and much more. Learn how you can turn your family life into a magical silly one, and share your own experiences, too.

Unschooling Works for Math, Too
Contrary to popular belief, math is not the mysterious exception to the "rule" that kids can learn things naturally. Learn not only why and how kids can learn math without being taught, but how your kids are already learning math from their everyday lives! Learning about numbers and how they interact is no more or less mysterious than learning to talk. Let's identify our own math fears and prejudices and thus discover how our kids can freely and successfully learn math in their own ways and on their own terms.

The Interconnectedness of Things
Come join us to explore the amazing interconnected, web-like nature of knowledge and skills. Discover for yourself how one thing leads to another, that pursuing one interest or passion in depth can and does lead to learning so many different things, that play is of the utmost importance and is inextricably connected with deepest callings and future work. Rachel and her family are living proof of these facts, and so, as you will see, are you!

DAYNA & JOE MARTIN
Dayna Martin lives�in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her husband Joe and�her four joyfully loud�children, Devin (9), Dakota (7)� Ivy (3) and�Orion (0).�The Martin's enjoy spending all day, everyday together pursuing their passions and creating the lives they desire. Joe helps to support his families'�many interests�by making toys in his workshop while listening to heavy metal music as loud as he can stand it. Their family business is www.WillowToys.com.

Dayna is a Radical Unschooling Advocate who promotes Peace through encouraging kindness and acceptance to everyone she meets.�She is also a passionate public speaker and writer who has been published in�"Life Learning Magazine" and "Live Free, Learn Free Magazine".�Dayna and her husband Joe became "Unschooling Celebrities" when they appeared as the main guests on the Dr. Phil Show, introducing the world to Unschooling and respectful, peaceful parenting. Since appearing on the show they have become spokespeople�for Unschooling and�receive emails daily from folks all over the world interested in learning more about living in Joy and Peace with their own families. Dayna has been interviewed by several radio shows worldwide debating and discussing Unschooling�while holding her own in very�heated discussions. Creating her YouTube video series has been a unique avenue of advocacy�viewed by thousands.� �

Dayna�has been a�La Leche League Leader for 8 years and�is also a�Natural Birth Educator, Attachment Parenting mentor�and Doula. She founded The Babywearing Project featured in Mothering Magazine.�Dayna's website is www.UnschoolingAmerica.com and she�can also be found�leading the�Yahoo�group RadicalUnschooling.

Joe Martin lives in NH with his wife Dayna and four children. He was a chef for 16 years before discovering a hidden talent....making handcrafted toys. Since his discovery, he decided to completely change the course of his life and follow his new passion. He started www.WillowToys.com�in�the year 2000.�Working at home has proven to be rewarding and challenging with 4 children coming in the shop to help him throughout the day. Joe loves to speak about the Law of Attraction and he is a big fan of Tony Robbins and Esther Hicks. Joe is somewhat of a motivational speaker himself empowering everyone who meets him to follow their dreams in life. He even has a�YouTube Channel�he babbles on about whatever comes to his mind. Joe was the main guest on the Dr. Phil Show recently with his wife Dayna discussing Unschooling and respectful parenting. He dropped some knowledge to the good ole' Dr. and just might have convinced him that Unschooling makes perfect sense! Joe is a strong advocate for Unschooling, Natural birth, Co-sleeping, Non-vaxing, extended breastfeeding and the rights and respect of Children everywhere. He is also a big fan of video games and heavy metal music as he knows how much someone can learn from embracing their passions in life.

Dayna will host: �

The Journey From�AP to RU (Atttachment Parenting to Radical Unschooling)
Many parents come to the Unschooling life after having practiced Attachment Parenting in their children's early years. Extending AP philosophy seems to�be more difficult for parents once their children get older and their needs change. Applying the same understanding�that parents practicing AP have for baby-wearing, child-led weaning and the family bed to older children�on topics such as reading, media and foods is an important aspect of Radical Unschooling. Empower yourself and learn�about how�natural the transition to from AP to RU can be�when you�to extend the Trust you had for your children when they were babies through their entire lives. ��

Finding Your Inner Advocate
The Unschooling life is so�inspiring and joyful that many of us quickly become advocates for this unique life. Advocacy comes in many forms and finding the type of advocacy that we enjoy doing best is such an�essential aspect of being able to reach others. Advocacy could be anything from starting an Unschooling blog or online group, to leading support groups and meetings in your area, to writing a book, becoming a parenting coach, to facilitating conferences or�it could mean simply being�kind to your child in public for others to take notice and learn from. We are on the�leading edge�of social change in our culture being pioneers for this amazing life. If you are someone wanting to make a difference in this World and speak for the rights and respect of children, we invite you to join take part in this session to learn how to advocate in a way that is unique to *Who You Are*. �

Growth Through Our Back-Steps
Living this amazing life Unschooling requires Trust and personal growth. For many there is a process coming to this life that is very similar to the process of birth. When a woman is pushing out a baby, her progress is described as "two steps forward, one step back". This is very similar to how many experience putting Unschooling and peaceful parenting philosophy into practice. When we are learning and applying a new mindset with our children we sometimes have "back-steps" and revert back to our old parenting ways. These moments should not be viewed with guilt and frustration, but views as an important part of the�journey. �During our "back-steps" such amazing growth takes place within us. We are able to feel the contrast of emotions and actions from our past parenting practices to how we are living now, striving for Joy and Peace with our children. During this session we will explore how to use and accept these all important�"back-steps" to learn and grow from on our own personal paths of putting philosophy into practice.

Nurturing Passions and Interests
Being connected and involved with our children means seeing the learning that takes place in all of their interests, not just what society deems "educational". Unschooling means breaking down the walls and limits associated with a compartmentalized life which separates life and learning into "subjects". True, authentic learning can only come from the freedom to live a life that our children desire, making choices that are right for them. Dayna shares how to connect with our children through all of their interests and how to see the learning that takes place in all that they do. During this session Dayna will also discuss how�beneficial Unschooling is for not only children, but for�parents, by allowing�them to�heal from an institutionalized childhood and getting in�touch with who�they really are as�individuals.� Learning how to relight our own flames of curiosity�by taking on new interests and�being enthusiastic about learning ourselves will enable our children to see that learning�through life never ends. Learning IS life.�

Trusting the Universe
If Unschooling could be described in one word, that word would be *Trust*. Trusting our children and ourselves is the key element in living a connected, loving life with our families. The Law of Attraction takes that same trust one step further to not only trusting our families, but trusting the Universe. Sharing with our children that they create their own lives through their thoughts and intentions has been enormously empowering for�Unschooling families all over the world. Every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance. During this session Dayna will share how living the Law of Attraction has changed her and her family's life for the better and how you too can empower yourself and your children to create the life you all desire through learning about this scientific law of the Universe.

Joe joins Dayna in hosting:

Respectful�Partnerships
It is common that one parent comes to understand Unschooling before the other. This�can be a challenging aspect�of coming to this life for the entire family.�During this session we will explore how to respectfully honor where each of you are on your journey to understand Unschooling and respectful, peaceful parenting.�It is important to extend�the�same respect we have for our children�to learn things in their own time�to our partners�when they are learning about this new philosophy.�Our children learn so much from how we treat one another, and respecting where each of you are on this path can sometimes be challenging. �During this session Dayna's husband of 13 years, Joe,�joins in the discussion sharing his experience�and personal growth as he has come to understand�Unschooling and peaceful parenting in his own way, in his own time. Learning to respect, and not trying to control each other, has helped them deepen their love and strengthen their connection as a family.

SUNDAY COTE'
This is Sunday's 3rd year in attendance at the RE Conference and she is so grateful for the opportunity to share and learn with this amazing community of Unschoolers. Living an Unschooling life for the past four years has been a powerful personal growth experience and she has gained tremendous insight and spiritual growth as the parent of two beautifully unschooled boys.
Professionally, Sunday is a skilled spiritual counselor, teacher and certified energy practitioner and has been involved in the fields of spirituality and metaphysics for over 15 years. She holds a degree from the Holmes Institute for Consciousness Studies and is an ordained minister with the United Centers for Spiritual Living. Before becoming a mom, she held positions as both Senior Minister of a Spiritual Center in Washington, DC as well as Spiritual Director for Youth and Family Ministries in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is an EFT Practitioner and Certified BodyTalk Practitioner.
As a Spiritual Coach and Energy Practitioner, Sunday melds together the latest discoveries in energy therapies with the teachings of ancient spiritual principles to powerfully energize spiritually-minded parents to stop doubting their parenting vision and start living it! To find out more visit www.sundaycote.com and download your free guide "Downstream Parenting: Be the change you wish to see in your kids."
Sunday lives Her Unschooling life with her husband Robert and two boys along with a gaggle of animals in sunny Chandler, Arizona.

Sunday hosts:

Full-day Inspired Immersion on Thursday, Sept. 4:

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) for the Parent's Soul
Joyful parenting just got a whole lot easier!

"The most significant thing for a parent to contribute to anyone is their own Connection and their own stability. � An effective parent is a happy parent."
-- Abraham-Hicks

As Unschooling parents, we know that meeting our children's needs with respect and love is imperative.� But who among us hasn't felt scattered, frustrated or even resentful from time to time?� It might be hard to admit, but even the most dedicated Unschooling parents have those moments when parenting wisdom goes out the window and we are tempted to revert back to old patterns or practices.� Consider the following scenarios: You are helping your child get ready for bed when you discover that his favorite pajamas -- the only pair he'll wear -- are missing.� You are searching the house without success when your son suddenly remembers he left them at his friend's house after his sleep-over last night. � Now, extra tired, he is in full meltdown, demanding that you drive across town to get them.� You know in your heart that getting his jammies would be a kind and generous act on your part, but let's face it, you're tired and you'd love it if he'd just put on one of the other 3 pairs he has.� Worry and resentment creep in about his sensitivities and the energy that it takes to support him.

You are engrossed in a work project that has a deadline tomorrow when your child requests you play her favorite game for the umpteenth time today.� You know that the "perfect unschooling mom" would drop everything and jump at the chance to spend this quality time with her, but all you really want is a quiet moment to yourself to finish this project!� Guilt tugs at your heart as you wonder if you've really got what it takes to be a good Unschooling parent.�

You are pulled into an argument that is brewing between your two older kids as you are trying to nurse the baby to sleep.� You begin to feel burdened by everybody else's needs. � Most of the time you are able to muster up the calm and strength it takes to lovingly and gently move through these tense moments together, but tonight your old programming tells you that this would be an ideal time for a swift punishment and banishment to the time-out chair - if you had one.� For a fleeting moment as you entertain that option, you question if your respectful parenting ideals will ever overcome your authoritarian past.�

Your teen has just told you she's thinking about attending a party where it is rumored that there will be drugs and alcohol available.� You are grateful that she trusts you enough to tell you and you want to remain open-minded and supportive as she explores this expanding world of choices.� However, at the moment you wish you could calm the fear that is building in the pit of your stomach.�

Even though you are delighted with your parenting and unschooling choices and all is going wonderfully well, you are always open to learning new ways to support your kids as they go through the emotional ups and downs of life. � Your daughter's fear of dogs has kept you from park day for the last few weeks and just recently your son came home upset because two of his friends excluded him from the game they were playing. � Having a tool at your fingertips to help them move through fears and emotional angst would be very helpful.�

If you can relate to any of these scenarios, this session is for you!� During the course of this Inspired Immersion, developed especially for unschooling families, you will learn a simple form of Energy Psychology called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) that you can apply immediately to release old emotions and beliefs that keep you from being the loving and effective parent you know you can be. � You will also learn how to apply EFT to help bring more clarity and patience to stressful moments as well as help to calm your child and to assist him or her in resolving fears, sensitivities and negative emotions.� And as you resolve your own fears and negative emotions, you'll find less and less difference between your parenting vision and your real life experience.

This may seem like a tall order from where you stand right now, but I've experienced it personally in my own life, and witnessed rapid results in the lives of the families who apply these techniques to their everyday lives.� Whether you are a seasoned Unschooler or are just testing the waters, this session will energize you with personal clarity and emotional freedom, as well as equip you with tools to create a happier home and healthier kids along the way.� No prior EFT experience is required.� And if you are already using EFT in your life, you will gain added insight for specific unschooling family situations.� Bring your questions, challenges and emotional baggage.� We will be actively working on them in a gentle, non-confrontational way.� What a way to begin an amazing conference - with greater emotional freedom!

To learn more about EFT and to get a head start before the conference, visit my website at www.sundaycote.com. Download a basic EFT manual and sign up to receive my free guide, "Downstream Parenting: Be the Change You Wish to See In Your Kids."

Keynote: The Ultimate Unschooling Journey:
A Path from Fear and Control to Trust and Freedom

"At every level and every stage of development, there is either love -- and with it, growth -- or fear -- and with it protection and a thwarting of growth."
-- Cell Biologist Bruce Lipton

As parents on the Unschooling journey, we all know the formula for success:� "Just follow your children's passions, respect their choices, and trust that they will learn."� Although simple and profound advice,� it is easy to fall short of those ideals from time to time, sometimes more often than we like to admit.� In fact, there's not an Unschooling parent yet who hasn't been faced with real life issues that can stop trust and freedom in their tracks.� Let's face it, Unschooling takes guts!� �

Just as Unschooling stretches us to embrace trust in our children's abilities and desires to learn, it also challenges parents to look at our own fears and beliefs at a deep level.� Falling off the Unschooling path happens most when we are confronted with fears involving our children's future, in a world that preaches schooling as the only path to brain development, socialization and success. � In addition, our own conditioned beliefs about education, parenting and discipline, combined with the�social pressures and overt judgment from school officials, family members and friends that "just don't get it" can trigger controlling behaviors in us that are so prominent in the consciousness of mainstream society. When under stress, we often revert back to familiar practices�or social pressures to conform, even when they contradict all that we consciously believe in.�

So what can we do when fear and control creep into our Unschooling days? � This is what we will be exploring as we identify common and universal fears that challenge our unschooling resolve.� With inspiration, humor, and real life personal experience, Sunday Cote brings insights and practical tools to help parents center, take a breath and move forward in trust and freedom down the joyful path we have chosen for learning and living.

Raise your Consciousness, Raise your Kids
The Vibrational Power of Parenting

"What would it mean to discover that the power to create joy, to heal suffering and bring peace to nations lives inside of you?� How differently would you live if you knew how to use this power each day of your life?"
-- Gregg Braden,� Author of� "The Divine Matrix"

How differently would you parent if you knew how to use this power in your Unschooling life? �More importantly, how differently would you parent if you knew how powerfully your consciousness affects your children? � Indeed, this is what spiritual wisdom has been telling us for ages and what recent scientific discoveries have confirmed.� To quote Gregg Braden further,�"Between 1993 and 2000, a series of groundbreaking experiments revealed dramatic evidence of a web of energy that connects everything in our lives and our world � the Divine Matrix.� From the healing of our bodies, to the success of our careers, relationships, and the peace between nations, this new evidence demonstrates that we each hold the power to speak directly to the force that links all of creation."

If you've seen the popular movie "The Secret" these ideas will sound familiar, however they go far beyond the basic and sometime simplistic ideas that have been popularized by recent interest in the "Law of Attraction."� As a New Thought minister and spiritual teacher of metaphysical principles for the past 15 years, Sunday Cote has real life experience as to the challenges and joys of incorporating these principles with regard to our children.� Join us for a lively exploration of the spiritual ups and downs of parenting and Unschooling in a vibrational universe.

TRACY LIEBMANN
Picture a husband and a wife, a son and a daughter, living and working at home, day in and day out. You might imagine it like some sort of manic cabin fever: mom and dad, bleary-eyed and ragged, casting suspicious glances in all directions, the children running wild, the cat barking like a dog, the house in total disarray. I might have conjured the same image myself, and in retrospect it almost seems crazy that I practically invited this fate on myself, but????? Years later, here we are, a happy family united by an unconventional lifestyle.

I hold degrees in business and early childhood education, but it was in the crucible of unschooling and consensual living that I've learned the most about life. This less-traveled road is not without its perils, but having walked that road for as long as I have, I feel I'm ready to bring that hard-earned wisdom to bear, educating other parents who are ready for a change. As a life coach with my business, Transforming Family, I believe the deepest learning comes from questioning everything, seeking answers and finding your own authentic truth. It is my goal to help other families in this pursuit, guiding them on their own life-journeys of discovery, whether they are transitioning into the unschooling lifestyle or, in the case of experienced unschoolers, challenging them to take a fresh look at their beliefs. You can learn more about me and read articles I have written on my website www.transformingfamily.com.

Tracy hosts:

Full-day Inspired Immersion on Thursday, Sept. 4:

Transform Your Family
A day of insight, connections and communication with family life coach Tracy Liebmann. This will be a group coaching intensive; we will spend the day connecting to ourselves, so we may better connect to our children.

Imagine a family living connected, communicating and living together in harmony. Just like the human body, family members can work together to benefit the whole system. It is possible when living consensually. Consensual families strive to live in harmony. They honor one another's needs by looking for creative solutions. They follow simple principles that include Trust, Equality and Self-Determination. Through connection and compassionate communication they find mutually agreed upon solutions with respect for everyone involved regardless of age.

Unschooling is just the beginning. After we have thrown out the school curriculum what do we do with the rest of our lives? An unschooled family life is a totally different system than a traditional, schooled family. We can't say OK I trust you with learning, but I know what's best when it comes to sleep, personal hygiene, nutrition, and college. How does our family work without our "parenting curriculum"? If your family has chosen to unschool, then you have made a wonderful choice about how your family will learn together. My question is how will your family LIVE together?

Our day connecting together will look something like this:

Part I ~ Becoming Aware ~ We have to be connected to ourselves. Each parent will connect with themselves by looking at their own family biography. Connect the dots to see what has made them who they are today as a parent.

Part II ~ Living In The Gap ~ After becoming aware of the principles of consensual living and taking a conscious look at our parenting we are bound to have gaps. Gaps exist when where we are today is different from where we would like to be as a family.

Part III ~ Moving Forward ~ We will share our discoveries and each family will have a laser coaching (short) session. We will discuss sticking points and Tracy will coach you through them using questioning techniques that will challenge your conditioning.

Unschooling ~ Life Without Expectations
Having expectations in an unschooling family will only lead to challenges. We can not expect our children to learn to read by a certain age, we can't expect them to want to go to the park, restaurant, dentist or college. We have to stay open and flexible to the flow of life�Now let's talk about how to go about doing that! How do we "go with the flow" when we feel so much responsibility to our children. We hear those voices that have been programmed into our heads, saying "if they don't read by ages 6,8,10 there must be something wrong, if they don't go to the dentist her teeth will fall out". You know the voices I'm talking about, they are fear-based and expectation-driven! Together in a group setting let's talk about our expectations, fears and even our disappointments, to shed some new light on our old dark thinking. Of course we have responsibilities as parents, the main one is to *trust* our children, *trust* ourselves and go with the f~l~o~w.

Pieces Of The Puzzle ~ In this session we will explore together the beautifully complex puzzle that is our family. Each person in our family comes into this life time with his or hers own personality, temperament and learning style, and together theses things create an individual. We will discuss all the different labels and buzz words that fly around to describe our children and our partners. Labels such as introvert, extrovert, shy, autistic spectrum, ADD/ADHD and LD terms, exploring the usefulness (or lack there of) of using these terms in understanding our loved ones, looking at these things as positive instead of negative. Let's talk about how we can put our puzzle together without cramming the pieces into a space they do not fit! Embracing unschooling is all about embracing individuality, so the question becomes how do we live peacefully with so many differences. Each person is a beautiful piece of our family's puzzle, and together we will figure out how to get connected and stay connected.

For our Young Adult Program within a Program:

Creating Yourself ~ Life is not about *finding* yourself it is about *creating* yourself. What do you want to create in your life? This is truly the question, it's not what are you going to do when you "grow" up, it's not about college majors and career choices�it's about creating your life. This is all about YOU! In this session we will connect with our inner most selves, we will excavate our pasts to move boldly into our futures. *Knowing* our true selves is the key to creating the life we want to live! We will come together as a group and share our dreams, aspirations and ideals for our future. After we get connected and share you may choose to create a vision board that will represent the life you want to create for yourselves, I have found vision boards a powerful tool in helping me manifest the things I want to attract into my life. I hope you will join me in this exploration of self and the creation of what you want NOW!

Private Sessions ~ This year I am happy to have the time and space to be able to offer private coaching sessions. One of my favorite things is working with the family as a whole, so if you can get your children, parents or partners to join you that would be awesome! I will be charging a reduced rate of $50/hour during the conference and am willing to work with anyone's special circumstances regarding finances�just ask! You may either contact me to schedule an appointment before the conference by e-mailing me at tracy@transformingfamily.com OR just find me at the conference and we will set up a time then. I look forward to meeting and talking with you in the future. If you would like to learn more about my coaching practice please visit www.transformingfamily.com

MARIA WHITWORTH
Maria Whitworth is a creative collaborator with her 3 unschooled adult daughters (ages 26, 23 and 22). Freedom-loving entrepreneurs, Maria and husband Devin advocate Unschooling as the most liberating and empowering choice a family can make � a choice that not only allows kids to thrive in who they are, but also takes you on a remarkable journey of self-realization. Check out the Whitworth's blog at www.selfreliantlife.blogspot.com.

Check out Maria's 'Top 10 things my children taught me... or how to ensure a LONG and STRONG relationship with your kids

Maria hosts:

Full-day Inspired Immersion on Thursday, Sept. 4:

Teenage Liberation: The Journey of Unschooling Teens, with Maria Whitworth

What happens when your unschooled child becomes a teenager?

What occurs to some surprises both the unschooling parents and the child. Without understanding in advance what is happening, complex emotions creep in which can abruptly end the unschooling process. The commitment to unschooling becomes compromised for a "safer" way when parents begin to worry "what will happen to my child" and decide "it's time to get SERIOUS about their schooling."

This all-day open forum session will help bring to light these doubts, fears and apprehensions. No topic will be avoided; we will give voice to, explore the validity of, and engage in honest discussions about everything -- from academics to sex, drugs, video games and social behavior. Fixed beliefs and cultural pressures about growing up will be challenged as we visit our own teen years and reframe our feelings. You will FACE YOUR FEARS in this bold and radical Teenage Liberation session.

Through specific exercises and sharing stories, the evidence will bring clarity to your own unschooling process. You will understand that as long as you continue to honor her/him, your teen will not only survive �but will FLOURISH in who they are. You will leave with confidence, knowing that nothing will empower your child to live his authentic life better than continuing the unschooling journey through the teen years.

Keynote: Say YES to Your Kids
Maria Whitworth, Author & Marketing Maven*

On the surface, unschooling may seem to be a method of teaching that allows children to follow their own directives on what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. This definition contrasts with other schooling methods and philosophies, and is often the context that creates initial attraction to unschooling.

Yet unschooling has little to do with teaching and more to do with learning a freer way to be. It is a journey taken by everyone in the family, a journey for both parent and child to learn to trust and embrace their individual spirit. And this journey begins with a single word.

That word is YES.

Say YES to Your Kids reveals the most empowering parenting tool that you can access and use immediately for the benefit of the entire family. This tool can set you free from controlling habits and rigid ways of thinking. It will challenge you to be deliberate and aware in every interaction with your child, which consequently allows for immediate evidence of the astonishing power of this tool.

Say YES to Your Kids flies in the face of conventional research that concludes kids become "spoiled" when you give in to their desires. That whining, annoying kid who demands that you give them what they want may seem on the surface to be responding poorly to YES �and the struggling parent can be worn-out and unable to satisfy their kids no matter how much they give or how fast they give it, or how often they say YES.

There is much more to saying YES. YES is an attitude, a commitment to respecting and trusting your child. This mindful respect and caring originates from you, the parent, and with consistency develops into a mutually held respectfulness between child and parent. Yes, your child learns from your actions and attitude how to respect and admire YOU, as well as others they come into contact with and most importantly how to respect and admire himself/ herself.

So what does saying YES to your kids look like in real-life scenarios? Can a child really make safe and beneficial choices on his/her own? And how do you say YES to your kids while not ignoring your own limits, needs or desires?

Say YES to Your Kids will give you insights into developing an amazing relationship with your child that is based on admiration and trust. You will learn how to relax into the YES, and discover creative ways to make a habit of thinking and saying YES. Prepare to cut the umbilical cord to what other people think, be liberated from your past, and become a spirited, unabashed advocate of YES!

*A maven is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. (Definition from Wikipedia)

BOB COLLIER

I'm a 'child of the fifties'. With all that that implies. Or maybe not these days, given that my son is a 'Digital Native'.

I was born in London, England, in 1951, the second of three sons of 'blue collar' parents. My dad left home when I was eight, and my two brothers and I were brought up by our mother in what today would be thought of as a single parent family, but which, in those days, was usually referred to as a 'broken home'. Generally speaking, I had a sad, lonely and painful childhood and that's all I'm going to say about it, but it obviously had a big influence on what I've been doing with my life for most of the past twenty years or so.

I met my wife Mary in a place called Shetland (where the ponies come from), a group of islands a long way off the coast of Scotland. My wife is from Belfast, Northern Ireland. We were married in Sydney, Australia, in 1976. We have two wonderful children - Bronwyn, who was born in Sydney in 1985 (she's not such a child now, of course), and Patrick, who was born in 1995 while we were living in London prior to migrating to Australia for the second time. We've been living in Canberra, Australia's beautiful capital city, since 1999 and became Australian citizens in 2004. And, yes, I do talk a lot like Paul Hogan these days.

Bronnie is now living in Sydney and has just completed a Law degree and a third degree in Forensic Science (she already has a Bachelor of Arts); Pat is self-educated at home with me and his major interest at the moment is World of Warcraft. Quite a fascinating contrast. ?

For all but three of my now almost twenty-three years of parenthood, my primary occupation has been 'stay-at-home dad'. For about twelve years of that time, in total, it's been my full-time 24/7 occupation.

My wife is just as much an untypical parent as I am, in her own way, and, between us, we've created a lifestyle for ourselves and our children over the years that we can all enjoy.

Our children have never had any limits placed on anything they want to do. They've never had a timeout or been grounded. They've never been 'disciplined' in any way, shape or form. They've simply been allowed to live their lives.

After my family and I came back to Australia in 1999, and Pat started school, I decided to take a distance learning course in 'home publishing' and that led eventually to the creation of the Parental Intelligence Newsletter. That was in August 2002.

My special interest in education (and the future of education) has developed since my son quit school only four months after I started publishing my newsletter.

That time was one of great 'discontinuity' for me. Around the same day that Pat left school at the end of his second year with no intention of returning, his ten years older sister graduated from high school. It was a life changing coincidence. After thirteen years of being intimately involved with 'school culture' - from washing and ironing uniforms to attending prize-givings and parent-teacher meetings, and a whole host of other activities in between - it vanished from my life, just like that.

I didn't have much choice then but to look at the world a little differently! It was most enlightening.

Five years on, I know from experience what can be achieved when you combine a desire for learning with the power of 21st century information and communications technology. It's my view that the ability of the internet to deliver staggeringly huge amounts of information in multi-media from all over the world directly into our homes has created an unprecedented opportunity for all parents � not just those who are interested in 'alternative' education - to make our own decisions about what our children learn, without deference to any outside 'authority'.

Though most parents don't seem to fully appreciate it yet, we've entered a Golden Age of self-education, unknown in human history. I, for one, find that very, very exciting. It opens the door to all sorts of adventurous possibilities.

I hope to be bringing the readers of the Parental Intelligence Newsletter good ideas, expert opinions and cutting edge news about all the exciting changes in the world of education as events unfold! To learn more about my work and interests, see my website: www.parental-intelligence.com.

Bob will host: �

Full-Time Fatherhood
I've been told this isn't a�'real job' for a man. Is that true? �

What does it mean to be a 'man' these days anyway? �

How does being a full-time dad affect�relationships with men who aren't? �

Are mothers generally supportive of the idea of full-time fatherhood or is it regarded as an�encroachment into 'women's�territory'? What problems or otherwise have full-time dads had in that respect? �

Secrets of a Happy Family
�I live in a�'standard' nuclear family, but families come in all shapes and�sizes these days. Are some configurations intrinsically more useful than others to begin with or does the success of a family unit depend on the individuals involved regardless of its composition? �

For me,�the starting point�to a happy family�is what I call 'ambience'.�By�that I mean the atmosphere or 'vibes' in which relationships are developed.�What are other good places to start? �

The customary depiction of family life in the media is not something any sensible parent would wish to emulate, in my view. How easy or difficult is it to maintain positive family values (whatever they might be)�in a world of high density information that may not support those values�and may even oppose them?�Is it�more useful�to have no�TV in the house, for example,�than to�show our children how to analyze program content?� �

The family gathering at meal times and other such rituals of inclusion�seem to have become a thing of the past for most families today. Now that the internet is inside our homes, will the�advent of online social networking�be beneficial or detrimental to the future of the family?

Unschooling and the Digital Revolution
It's my view that the Digital Revolution has ushered in a Golden Age of self-education that�gives *everybody* the power to make�their own decisions about what�they learn and what�they don't. I've read of schools�refusing to�use in their classrooms digital technology�that most�children and adults (probably including the school's teachers)�are already using for�educational purposes in�their�life outside of school (cell phones, for example), and�of other�schools being very, very slow to implement digital technology; whereas, home educators and home educated children are free to use�all known forms of technology if they choose to and can just go ahead and take advantage of them.�Does this�mean that the Digital Revolution has put the home education movement in the driver's seat? Is it changing the balance of power between the home education movement and the keepers of the school system?�As 'Digital Natives' grow up and have children, will they be less likely�than any previous generation to assume that sending their children�to school will give them�the best chance of a good education? Will school become the new 'alternative' education?�If it does, what will that mean to unschoolers?

LAURENCE BECKER

"From Supreme Prince to Ph.D. a beauty pageant at 2 years to a Ph. D. in Creative Learning Environments) and from A to Y (could not think of a Z) Autism to Yurts

Dr. Laurence A. Becker has worked for the last 30 years with a number of the world's most well known autistic savant artists . He has also been closely involved with the study and practice of nutrition since 1974 when he almost died after a tennis tournament (he put a penny in a fuse box and almost burned his house down). He has been a tennis player and coach for over 60 years. Prior to 1976 he was head of the English Department at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin. While there he founded and directed the Texas Student Film Festival for six years. He had become involved in film when in 1969 his senior English class asked, "Mr. Becker, we've studied poetry every year we've been at St. Stephens. Can't we do something else?" His answer was, "Why Not? What would you like to do?" The students had no idea because no teacher had ever answered them that way before. The film the students made was titled "How to Try in School Without Really Trying" and was a profound examination of their own education at the school. The other results were a senior elective "Introduction to Film" and several student film festivals run by the students that attracted participants from across the country.

In 1983 Dr. Becker produced and directed WITH EYES WIDE OPEN, an international award-winning documentary film about Richard Wawro, an autistic savant artist from Edinburgh, Scotland. (Dustin Hoffman viewed his film as preparation for Rain Man) While at St. Stephen's he also brought the first "craftsman in residence," Bill Coperthwaite of The Yurt Foundation, and students, faculty, and parents built the first yurt in Texas on campus.

He has served on the boards of the Austin Waldorf School and the American YouthWorks (one of the original charter schools in Texas for high school dropouts and kids from the criminal justice system.) Currently he serves on the advisory board of the Down Home Ranch, a residential center for Down syndrome children and adults in Elgin, Texas. Recently a friend in Scotland after a visit with Dr. Becker exclaimed, "Laurence, you are a wonderful example of.....I don't know what!" Laurence took that as a supreme compliment for he believes that any diagnosis or description should be a ladder, not a lid. He is constantly going where he has not gone before, off on a new adventure of learning into the unknown. He plans to continue - "The Lord willing and the creeks don't rise" for many years to come.

Laurence will host:

Synchronicity: Living on the Edge of All Possibility from A to Y (from Autism to Yurts)
This session will present how Learning Environments, (as opposed to curriculum approaches), developed by parents, can nurture creativity and intelligence in the home for everyone and specifically those with autism and aspergers.

Many stories of specific people will be shared with references to films and books. Many resources will be available to explore. Participants in the session will have many opportunities to share their experiences.

A Candid Conversation about Autism and Nutrition and the State of the Environment
This session will be focused on the assumptions about Autism & Learning & Nutrition & the Environment. While many resources will be available to examine, the basic assumption of the session will be that "more resources exist in any group of people (K-80) than there is time to explore in any given amount of time." Therefore, every attempt will be made to enable a reciprocity of information and experience to take place.

S. COURTNEY WALTON

discovered the Internet in 1997 and was immediately hooked.� She spent so much time at her desktop that first week, her eyes became blood-shot from the strain.� Embarrassed to admit the truth about her late hours online, she let people believe she had pinkeye. In 2003, Courtney founded African-American Unschooling, (See her site: www.afamunschool.com) a network providing resources and support for African-American families, and began publishing FUNgasa: Free Oneself! The Magazine for African-American Home Educators. Since then, she has granted numerous interviews about unschooling and homeschooling with journalists and educators, including The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Christian Post, The Arizona Republic, the Anthropology Department at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Georgia. Believing it is best to lead by example, Courtney unschools alongside her children and has successfully parlayed her interests and studies into a Magazine Publishers of America Foundation Fellowship to Stanford and admission to graduate school at the University of Southern California, were she is enrolled in the Annenberg Program on Online Communities.� Courtney still spends more time online than she can admit to in decent company, but now that she is getting a "Masters in MySpace" she at least has a reasonable excuse.�

Courtney will host:

How to Start a Local Unschool Group and Make Your Own Global Village.
Do you have more online unschool friends than "real life" unschool friends?� Do you cringe at the thought of one more field trip w/the "school-at-home" crowd?� Are your children asking for homework, just because their peers are doing it?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this session is for you!�The grass isn't necessarily greener somewhere else, maybe you just haven't sown enough seeds and watered your own backyard. Join Courtney for a brainstorming session on how to create a global village wherever you live and hear why Courtney thinks that school-at-homer's are one of the best sources for building a local network of unschooling support.

Knitting: An Unschooling Mom's Best Friend
"Knit on, with hope and confidence, through all crises," is a favorite quote from the Godmother of American knitting, Elizabeth Zimmerman.� Having taken it to heart, Courtney shares how knitting saved her sanity as she adjusted to some of life's major transitions -- new babies, new homes, losing a parent, losing a child, losing a marriage.� Over the years, Courtney has learned the value of "minding her knitting" and shares how knitting can bring strength, clarity and inspiration to everyday living.
Courtney believes, "if you want it, you can knit it," so if a project has been calling you, bring it along and she'll help you get started.� Otherwise, bring a pair of US #8 bamboo needles and 200 yards of worsted weight, machine washable wool (e.g. Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride) or machine washable wool-blend yarn (Plymouth Encore works up nicely) and learn to knit by making a 7" x 9" square for Warm Up America!� A limited number of ' learn to knit' kits will be available for purchase.
Experienced knitters are encouraged to attend -- bring your favorite projects for "show and tell" and share how knitting has touched and shaped your life.

CHARLIE MORRIS

and his unschooling family live in Chapel Hill, NC. At home, he juggles the roles of home-based business owner, writer and stay-at-home dad for two fantastic children. He loves sharing his passion for perspectives that may lead to open minds and open hearts, especially when it comes to children. Through being at home, he has had the opportunity to ponder the less obvious aspects and impacts of unschooling on life and society at large. He has been published in Life Learning Magazine and is the author of the self published book Voyage Home: One Family's Experience of Unschooling available at www.lulu.com/skymeetingtheground
His other interests besides unschooling are: Chi Lel, Tai Chi, healing work, every outdoor sport you can imagine and daydreaming about what a date with his wife would be like.

Charlie hosts:

Living in the NOW and its Implications for Health and Well Being
Being present, putting our energy into THIS moment in time, is the most critical aspect of health and vitality for one's spirit, whether adult or child. Let's talk about what happens when a child is continually under pressure to "learn", or to meet another's expectations, whether it is one's choice of bedtimes, food preferences, future plans or the wide range of activities and thoughtful pursuits undertaken in any given day, week, or... moment.

As adults well-conditioned in western thought, we believe we have a right to impose our demands on our children: after all, if we teach them all the right things, they will be prepared for the future, able to support themselves financially, be responsible citizens, etc. etc., ad nauseum. Unfortunately, the real implications for our children of this approach to child rearing results in states of depression, anxiety and wide ranging health issues that are simply staggering.

Unschooling gives us the freedom as parents to nurture the moment. Unschooling challenges us to rethink the nature of education, let go of control, and learn to allow the magic of each moment to inspire and guide us. We have alot to talk about - please join us!

My Dream Job: Lover of Life and Unschooling Dad
How lucky can a guy get? He has great kids he loves, every day is different and filled with fresh ideas, he's got a complex business to run (aka house and home) and he has a wife who loves to work and bring home the bacon. This is my life and I love it. This session is for both Dads and Moms, young adults and teens who envision a world of equality between the sexes. I dream of a world where full- time fatherhood is as common as full-time motherhood. "There are no rules to follow; you must follow your heart and you must be brave." Let's explore the new frontiers of Unschooling, Full-Time Fathers.

Chi Lel
Chi Lel gives you the ability to restore the bodies natural Chi flow, thus restoring health and vitality. Chi Lel is very gentle and very easy to learn. Literally anyone, no matter how well or how ill they may be, can learn this powerful self healing technique. Within hours you can have enough information to begin your own practice. Chi Lel has helped me personally through many illnesses and injuries. I know people that have cured themselves of cancer through this practice. I sincerely look forward to working with anyone who wants to learn Chi Lel.There are some great web sites than explain exactly what it is. Two of them are: www.medicinebeginswithme.com and www.chilel.com

ANTHONY AND NINA JONES

have been great friends for 20 years. Within their 11 year marriage they have created a business that they love and given birth to 3 incredible, exploring children. Our entire family has grown together, exploring our magnificent world with excitement and wonder.

In our early twenties, we decided to go on a great adventure and officially enter the world of natural health and wellness. We headed to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Life University, a Chiropractic college. At Life we were privileged to be surrounded by a community of free thinkers. We had found their heart-felt home. Our minds were expanded beyond what we already thought we knew about innately living naturally and free. Since then we have been on a journey