Unschooling in Alice Springs

As many of you know, I have over the past many years either helped with or outright ran support groups for unschoolers and homeschoolers in the various places we have lived. My speciality is the park day. This time-honored tradition of homeschooling folks has been the backbone of our unschooling experience. It is more than just a chance for the kids to get out and play.

Park day is the day of the week we most look forward to, when we have good friends to be with and time to develop those relationships. The kids have fun and learn from one another and the other adults, as well. We establish a true community of people, who are there for each other for homeschooling help and help with life in general. Some of my best friends are the people I have met at our park days. The kids can say the same!

As we get settled into our new lives here in Alice, I have found a local homeschooling group (alas little to no unschoolers to be found) that has been open to my help getting a park day going. The Downunderhomeschoolers have a small group of people so far and I would like to see that increase. Since when you google "unschooling in Alice Springs" or "homeschooling in Alice Springs" my blog is one of the first that pops up in the search, I thought I would put out a post that would set me on top and give all the folks looking to find a support group the info they need. I am planning to get some flyers up at the library and even on the newsletter for the facility C works at to attract the American homeschoolers here. Hopefully, we can nurture and grow us a great group here to support us in our unschooling and have a lot of fun with as well!

A few years ago I wrote this on the email list of one of the groups that was just getting a park day going: "I wanted to say something about these park days. In my experience, as a group gets up and running, you will have lots of people interested, but not able to attend. Classes, other plans, etc. get in the way. Ideally, what will begin to happen is that everyone will set the day aside as “sacred” for our Park Days. You will come to see the time spent together forming relationships and playing will trump anything else you could possibly plan for that day! Well, that is my vision, anyway. ;-) No pressure, btw. This will happen naturally and I am prepared to be patient as it does. If you all wonder why Miranda and her girls are ALWAYS at park day, now you know what we are committed and waiting for."

Now, that said, where are all the unschoolers!? In such a hippy alternative lifestyle place like Alice, there has got to be some natural learners around! Come on out and play. Click that link above and join us!

Reset

I feel like someone pushed the reset button on my life. Lately, I have been in a bit of a funk. I know most would say it was the winter, but I really don't think so. I try very hard to find the good in every season and to relish that good. So, I can't say what has kept me feeling stuck, but I know what has gotten me out of it. UWWG. I have come back re-energized. Yesterday, I got up at 5am, got on the road by 6 to head home from Ohio, got home, unpacked the car, unpacked the suitcases, went out to snow blow the driveway, decided to shovel the snow to build back up the luge run, then I started clearing the 6 inches of snow off the ice on the pond until it got dark, came inside and sent an email out inviting people to come skate and sled here today! I needed, and took, a nice long bath after that! But I felt good. So, today, three families came to play with us and we had a great time. Disastrous dinning rooms be damned! I have my life back.

I started the conference off feeling like I wasn't too sure how things were going to go. The place was great, but HUGE, and with over 1000 people (estimated, 300 families x 4 people per family) attending, I was missing the intimacy of the Good Vibrations conference. I also knew that a lot of the families were not even unschoolers, so I was reluctant to get excited about hanging with the tribe if it was going to end up not quite my tribe. So, I had a quick freak out moment when I did not know what I was doing there and then C calmed me down, got me back on track and it was smooth sailing from there. It was good to see old friends, and it was great to spend time with the local families we roomed with and get to know them better. I let the conference type stuff go mostly, and just spent time with people, my family, our roomies and I only went to talks by people I consider friends already. Except for John Taylor Gatto, but he came before freak out moment! And he rocked! Got to read his new book...

My dear husband made a comment on the drive home that really stuck with me. He said being there for the week reaffirmed his faith in humanity. I agree. It is just so wonderful to be with people who enjoy life so much. And who enjoy their kids so fully. And the kids. What can I say? Free range children are the most amazing, life affirming, awesome bunch out there. Ooooo, take a look at this! I wish I was an unschooled teenager so I could go! The video premiered at UWWG and is an example of what a free kid can accomplish. I'm so glad my kids are going to be old enough to go soon.

So, now that I have had my life reset, I'm excited to see what comes next! Stay tuned!

Success!!

So, Studio Saturday was a success! Several of my friends mentioned that once a month might not be enough. I'm thinking they enjoyed themselves... We had a little snow that kept some people away, but four ladies, with one daughter, braved the roads and brought their projects. That made eight of us crafting in the studio and that was nice and cozy. We had room for many more, but this number kept us all at one table. I brought out a bunch of art supplies and cut some Artist Trading Cards. The girls jumped right in with the ATCs:



One brought her beading:

Another started knitting a hat:

And this gal even choose to use her time to string cranberries for their tree, since it was easier without the little ones at home under foot:
I even managed to make a few ATCs. Here is one of them, along with some of E's, to the left:

C even got into the mix by greeting people at the door and leading them to the studio, bringing hot water for tea and making himself generally helpful.

All in all, it was a good night. Can't wait for January!