Are you ready?

Coming to San Diego September 10th - 13th

LIFE is Good 2009 Unschooling Conference

I've been trying to figure out how to write about this experience. Words don't do it justice. And the pictures we took were few. So, with permission from others, I compiled a slide show. It gives the feel of the conference, at least a touch of it. The LIFE is Good Conference is far more - and more fun than should be allowed. The Vibrations and Amy Steinberg actually gave a concert...so having their music a part of the video is a must. Here we are:

LIFE is Good Unschooling Conference 2009 from Beachbum on Vimeo.

Here is one that is more personal to our family and friends from home...it's a bit shorter, too... I've included some pictures from our stay with friends in Corvallis, OR. We were able to stay at the Gold's house for 5 days! We saw the Hessels, Cabatics, Golds, Lugos, Waynsforths (before they headed home to England!), Diana and Hayden and Scott, and the Holcombs (at the park before they went home to CO). Anyway, good times.

LIFE and our days in Corvallis from Beachbum on Vimeo.

Unschooling Conference here in San Diego!!!

Conference Diva, Flo, let us share this with any who wish to read. I honestly am thrilled and can't wait to see our friends here and share our slice of heaven.

***

Have you heard? There's an UNSCHOOLING Conference this Sept in San Diego!!

Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference
Sept 10-13, 2009
Doubletree Hotel near Del Mar

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ENDS IN LESS THAN 6 WEEKS!!

Start a new tradition--Be here for our inauguration--Start making memories! Be a founding family of the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference.

This is your opportunity to mix it up with other unschoolers in a swirl of trust, support and celebration! Our fabulous speakers are ready to inspire with radical thoughts, ideas to end resistance and wisdom to make your unschooling life the best that it can be. I can feel the energy and excitement already as I picture the day at the beach, the wildly entertaining talent show, the dancing, the funshops, round-table discussions, unschoolers happy and free, kids trusted and loved! It will be amazing! Did I mention the beach, lounging by the pool? And surfing lessons? Yeah, those, too.

All the exciting details are here: http://GoodVibrationsConference.com

I'm especially excited about Roya Sorooshian. She's a grown unschooler who will be one of our main presenters- an absolute delightful person who is living a joyful, productive and busy life! Come see what unschooling looks like when it's all grown up. :) And her mom, Pam Sorooshian will be speaking, too, sharing the wisdom she's gleaned through her many years of unschooling. Other speakers include Jeff Sabo, Miranda Demarest, Rain Fordyce, Beth Fuller, Erika B Perkins and Sandra Dodd, all ready to deliver positive, inspiring unschooling messages. You will be refreshed and renewed!

My favorite funshop? Hard to choose. Team Twilight? HSM Dance Party? Knitting? Oh, I know- International Candy Tasting!

This conference is where you'll pick up lots of good vibrations and lots of unschooling friends. We can never have enough, right?

So head on over today to join us in the sun and sand at the discounted rate: http://goodvibrationsconference.com/store.php

Oh, and don't forget to reserve your hotel room, too. And join the discussion group to get in on the chatter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goodvibrationsconference


Feel free to pass this message on to your lists and friends.



See you in September!

Where to start?

Well, I think I will start with today and work backwards...



Mardi Gras. Well, for us, it hasn't been a part of our lives so far. However, we have friends who enjoy this celebration. So, off to the internet to do some researching about it and talking about what we are going to dress up as. Well, to the boys, they just love being what they love to be. Kai was a ninja and Kade was Luke Skywalker ***correction: BlackOut Skywalker***. I was, well, me - but a bit on the 'out there' side of me. I did enlist Annie's help. She had a nice couple of shirts that I wore. I had some striped tights (blue and green) (don't ask why) that worked for the funk factor. I also used Kade's face paints to set myself up with a painted design. As an aside: when at park day someone says the pink does stain the face, not only believe them, but remember! So, this is what we looked like on our way to the party.







We had a wonderful time! The boys love playing with their friends. I didn't realize it until we got home and I was taking our things out of the car that Kade had made his own mask. I was happily surprised by this. He is so creative, but when there are friends to play with it can be tough to stay still long enough to design things. What made this one even more special for me is he says I can keep it! ****Kade has now decided Jeff can have the mask. At least I know it's going to a good home!****

Forgot to mention. The party had several homeschoolers there. One woman asked me questions about what we do, how we do it, and how we make it work. I answered the best I could. It's a tough thing to describe to someone who doesn't really want to trust themselves or their kids *that* much. She mentioned she has a hard time getting her and her daughter enough physical activity. I don't know what to say to people when this comes up. First, I haven't been physically active for a long time, but hope to get back to that now that my foot is again pain free. Second, I couldn't force my kids to be still if I tried. Now, they don't really do anything that I can always categorize...except for Kai's karate. Sometimes we go swimming or something like that. However, I find we just end up doing things. For example, today Kade found the flashlight and started playing with it. There are so many options for these. The other day we played flashlight tag (note: it's better outside than in...and probably better for the neighbors if you start playing before 9:30pm). Today, however, he brought it to me and asked that I move it around and not let him 'catch' it. We used to play with our puppy this way. Cats love to do it. It's been seen on Family Guy. Chasing a light can, at least to Kade, be incredibly fun. So fun that you spend thirty minutes playing it. Yes. 30. How can I explain this to someone who thinks things need to be planned, coordinated and or committed (P, C and C) to? Granted, there may be times when my kids will want things that are P, C and or C'd, but they seem to be creative enough to find ways to be active, without me having to ever pressure them.

It was pretty funny watching Kade.

=====
Food. Well, you may know I have been trying to celebrate food. For many this is an easy task. I have one friend in particular of whom I just love to watch interact with what she eats. I normally don't enjoy watching people eat. And, I really don't like watching her, either. What I do like is how much she expresses her joy of the food. You can see it in her eyes. She dabbles in everything individually first. Then starts mixing an matching. She savors the tastes and simply enjoys food.

This is such a paradox to me. My body needs food just like every other being. Yet I do struggle to enjoy it. So, watching my friend really helps me. It proves that I can love food and the flavors it brings. I can enjoy the smell, texture and flavors. It is possible. Yet, I don't always. I am sensitive to textures. I love flavor, but it has to be a certain flavor at a certain time. I have no delusion that I'll ever enjoy food the way she does. I do hope I can at least gain an appreciation for the sustenance I do intake. See? I even write about it clinically! What I truly want is to appreciate food so that I get full nourishment from it and actually get to the point where I remember to eat and look forward to it. To help get me there, I have been taking pictures of food that I like. My tastes are crazy, but I'm willing to work from where I am!


Kai picked up a sweet potato and asked for us to buy it so he could taste it. OK, no problem. We brought it home and I cooked it. He didn't like the taste, but I do. I worked at a restaurant a long time ago that had a sweet potato pancake that was so tasty. I looked on the internet and found a recipe that I thought would make something similar to what I remember. It did! Yum is what it is! Here is a picture (just to be true to my word).


=====

Cool creations is what I think of when I see this:





Now, they boys immediately thought of getting the fan out and seeing if it would actually move...so there is a video coming.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to go dye some clothes and play with my family.

I lied, I have more to post. Just not this second.

From Jeff's Blog : Conference Fears?

I lifted this directly from Jeff's blog...

"Well, I am beginning to get amazingly excited about the first of our two unschooling conferences this year, Life is Good, held in Vancouver, WA on May 21-24. I absolutely LOVE conferences; they are ways to connect with old friends, meet new ones, relax, and celebrate all that is good and wonderful in our lives.


Have you ever been to a conference? Are you uncertain about going? Is your husband or partner resistant? I know what that's like, and it can be scary as hell - but so incredibly rewarding. Read on.


Every time another conference approaches, it reminds me of how I felt in the months leading up to my first one, Live and Learn in Albuquerque in 2006. When Ginger told me she wanted to go, I was pretty unsure - a conference? I mean REALLY? I've been to a ton of conferences in my professional life, and they are so - - well - - boring and formal. I mean, Conferences are places where we all wear name badges, and sit around at tables forcing conversation with people we don't know. Conferences are where we pick up 37 pounds of printed flyers and brochures that we'll never read again. They're places where we fight to stay awake all day so we can earn the right to go back to our rooms and watch TV. I mean, unschooling sounded okay - - I was even kinda enjoying it. Why the hell did I need to fly across the country to bore myself?


As the conference got closer, my concerns took a new turn. No longer was I worried abbout being bored; I was worried about being overwhelmed and unaccepted. What if everyone there already knew each other? What if I wasn't cool enough, or funny enough, or smart enough, or - - God forbid - - unschooly enough? I had serious visions that someone would approach Ginger a few days into the conference, point at me, and say "He doesn't belong here - - I think you should reconsider this unschooling thing."


When we were flying there, I began to feel better, but still had one nagging concern; all of these Dads were probably so cool, and they probably had neat non-traditional careers that allowed them to stay home and be with their kids all of the time, and how could I possibly compete with that? Did I even deserve to be here? What the hell would I do when I got to the hotel and the whole thing started?


And then we got there, and the rest of my life began. The entire weekend was a dream: I learned, I laughed, I cried, I relaxed, I played, I created, I asked, I answered, I dug deep, I slept, I stayed up all night, I followed my kids around everywhere they wanted me to and left them alone when they wanted that, I was challenged, I challenged, I made amazing friends from 6 months old to 70, and I came to one essential understanding of my life: happiness is king and rules all. My happiness, Ginger's Kai's, Kade's, and everyone else that we had a chance to interact with.


So here's what I did at my first conference, and why I think you should go:

I went to main presentations: the ones from Ren Allen and Ben Lovejoy stood out, primarily because they made me think about the love I have for my children and how much it can still deepen.

I went to circle chats and smaller meetings. My first circle chat was with Barbara Chase, and while way too many brain cells have left the building to remember the exact topic, I do recall feeling energized and excited by one critical thing: not everyone there was an "expert" or "radical", and they were all learning and growing, just like me - even the folks who have been doing it for years.

I went to SSUDS meetings. The Secret Society of Unschooling Dads is really just a cool acronym; there's nothing secret about it. My first SSUDS meeting was just dads and grandads and such, with lots of no-holds barred Q&A about being a Dad and unschooling. I asked tons of questions, and was challenged all along the way. It was rough for me, because many of the answers I got were strange and new - but the people who answered me did it from the heart, with no other goal than to make me a better unschooling dad. And then after the meeting and all through the weekend, they each sought me out to talk one-on-one.

I ran a fun shop. What a great way to meet people! Fun shops are just that; fun, fun, fun. We decided to make tissue paper kites ,and brought tissue paper, string, decorations, markers, glue sticks, etc. Kids and their parents just flowed in for the whole hour, and we found ourselves scrambling just to catch up and keep them all supplied! But we met so many cool people and cool kids, and that helped us make connections that led to deeper conversations over that weekend - and over the years since.

I participated in the raffle and instant gratification table. I got a chance to buy raffle tickets and bid on all sorts of exciting gift baskets and other cool stuff. The kids got to participate, too. Another fantastic way to meet people and experience new things.

I actually got on stage during the talent show. A bunch of the younger set got on stage and sang "Another Brick in the Wall", and I just couldn't resist! Subsequent years have seen me up dancing to "The Time Warp" and "Thriller", among other silly stuff.

I walked to a coffee shop every day; just to escape for a little while and get some "me" time.

I watched Cartoon Network for the first time. Before the conference, we didn't have cable at all; never had! But since that very first episode of "Courage the Cowardly Dog" I realized that TV is not an instrument of the Devil; it is another wonderful way to connect with my kids.

I let go. I let go of almost everything: bed times, TV control, the need to be right, the need to be on-time, the need to know where my kids were and with whom, the need to be in control - and most of all, my precon ceived notions that had defined unschooling ina rigid, formulaic fashion.

And most importantly, I learned. Without even trying, or wanting to, or planning to, or even knowing it was happening. While I learned things about unschooling, to be sure, I mostly learned about myself, my life, my family, my goals, my fears, and my passions.

A conference can be all of this, and more. All it takes for you to have a similar, wonderful, life-changing experience is to come and let it happen. Look for the people who look peaceful and are smiling; they're the ones who know and are there to help you make the same journey.

Hope to see you in May!"

****I want to add that if we don't see you in May, maybe we will see you in September at the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference in San Diego!

The longest post ever, continued.

I can't say enough how much I truly appreciate Prana. He has helped me so much along this healing journey. If you are looking for someone who can use essential oils, massage and cranio sacral work, he's truly amazing. Shazia is a wonderful woman, as well. I am grateful to have them in my life!

As an aside, they are looking for someone to buy their storefront. They are still going to provide the healing services (both restorative yoga and Prana's list of healing arts) and wish to sell the store part of their business to allow them to focus more on the afore mentioned healing arts.



****

There is a discussion about love and understanding going around with a few friends of mine. It brings up an interesting point. Are we ever truly understood? We were talking about this statement someone made :

"No one will ever understand you. Realizing this is freedom. No one will ever understand you—not once, not ever. Even at our most understanding, we can only understand our story of who you are. There's no understanding here except your own. If you don't love another person, it hurts, because love is your very self."

We progressed and a friend said :

"I was thinking that so many people's ideas of marriage includes feeling "understood." However, what if this idea is an illusion? What if we are working with a false dynamic?....What about love? Love, for me, goes beyond pheromones, lust, parental attachment, shared interests or even mutual respect. I have always believed that love was a choice, actually a series of choices made each and every day. As each day is filled with more gratitude, awe and joy-- I find it more and more difficult not to love. Love no longer feels like a decision, more than it is a daily certainty."

Heavy stuff. But important to think on once in a while. I wanted to put here what I wrote. More to explain how I operate and to show where I am on this journey through life. Here is what I responded :

"Two things on this.
First, I don't think we understand anything. For me it is about accepting and allowing a fluid-ness to that accepting. Understanding isn't a part of what I do, I guess. I can see progressions of things and see how someone got from point A to point B, but I don't understand it. Does that make sense?
Secondly, for me, love is just a part of me. It doesn't come from loving myself. It doesn't even come from my choices (for I can and do sometimes hurt those I love without even knowing/intending it). Sometimes my acts of 'love' are not good for other people. I don't feel like I choose to love. I do choose to follow it, or not.
Loving people has always been an amazing phenomenon to me. As I said, I can't control *if* I love, I can only control how I respond to it. How much I allow my thoughts to concentrate on it. How I interact with it. I have always loved everyone I see, first thing. I don't *understand* why. I just have accepted that it is. Sometimes I see that someone is unhealthy for me to be with, or who's choices I can't accept. My love is still there - it just is in a holding pattern, so to speak.
Maybe this is connected with my 'cup is half full' - usually more than half full personality? Don't know.
What it has meant in my interactions with others is varied. Many disbelieve I actually love them, that I am truly this happy a person, and sometimes they react in fear. Some have said they see it as a 'glow' or as just happiness showing through. I'm sure some see me as the 'princess' of insufficient light.
Thankfully, Jeff sees it as a good thing!

No matter how you see love, it is real. Understanding can be varied in so many ways. We all see things from our own perspectives. This allows for so many versions of the same thing. Emotions are real. How we describe emotions will be as varied as those who are asked to describe them.



****

Jeff and I were talking about my blog a bit back. I have been meaning to write down here how I feel about our discussion. Jeff was saying he expected this blog to be more about unschooling.

I have purposely left out the 'definition' of unschooling simply because I feel there are many others out there who have defined it. For more in-depth information one can look through Joyce's page or Sandra's page. They have spent years collecting unschooling information.

I haven't felt the need to define it here on my blog. But I consider my blog to be about unschooling. I talk about our passions, our pastimes and about how we live or lives. I show how involved we are in each other, how happily we support each other in our pursuit of what we love to do and I feel as if I have shown how following my own passions help my family members see that it is an important thing to do. I read in front of my kids, I knit in front of my kids, I blog in front of my kids, I henna in front of my kids. My kids follow their passions in front of me. Annie even dyed my hair! We are all a fluid part of each others' lives and we get involved in the excitement and joy of each other. Is that not what unschooling is truly about? For me it is. I can see the world get bigger for my kids every day. I see more of the world through their eyes. We each learn something everyday. Our life brings never ending possibilities.

So, in essence, this (to me) is very much an unschooling blog.



****

We need to see Auntie Mary. It has been far too long. Kai was saying this week how it just is not good for us to go this long without a visit. We miss her so much! So...the calendar will just have to clear enough so we can go!



****

Jeff has to go out of town on business every once in a while. We miss him much when he goes, but also know it's just part of the corporate game we play right now. Jeff and I are different in so many ways. I have a love/hate relationship for how he prepares/packs for things. He is a last minute packer. I am not. So I have a tough time when we pack as a family to go places. When he is traveling alone, I truly love to watch him buzz around packing at the last minute. I find it quite precious that he has me clean his glasses for him and how he needs to get the tiny screwdriver out to tighten the glasses hinges before he leaves for the trip. These are endearing things.

Mainly I love counting down, with the kids, the hours until we get to see him again. Kai started the hour count when we had 9 hours left. The minute count started 3 hours before. I'm sure he would have included seconds if there was a clock that showed those readily!

It's nice to have everyone under our roof now.

I have been known to say that even if Jeff was home 24/7 it still wouldn't be enough time for me. Crazy in love still after all this time.



****

Kai went to a karate seminar this week. I love his passion for this. He came home saying it was the best seminar he has *ever* been to. How cool is that?! I didn't take the camera, but saw Sensei Michelle with one. As soon as they post pictures on their site, I'll see about getting some for here, too.

These seminars are a great way for Kai to learn more about his art. He is loving every moment of his learning. So cool.

There will be another seminar in March. I'll be sure to take the camera to that one!



****

I have started knitting again...watch out!



****

Annie has now passed all her tests for completing core! She is a happy girl. I was able to go down and sit and be her 'test subject'. We were both worried that my hair (although nice) is very thin. However, she has played with it before, so seemed to have no trouble dealing with it during the test. She started out with the dying testing. They were given shaving cream to demonstrate the application of dye. She did great on the parting and the actual application. After showing she knew how to do four types of tinting/dying, she went on to rolling for perms. She mentioned afterwards that she was glad I had a straight cut, because there were only the wispy parts of my hair to deal with and not layers, too. Plus, since I don't have a ton of hair, she ended up not needing all the rollers! How cool is that?! Anyway, after the "perming" I was treated to a hair washing/massaging and then, was gifted to a blow dry and curling session. All in all, it went from 9:30 to 1:50. It was a long time to test, and it was only the hands on testing that she had to do. Yesterday they tested the written stuff. So far, she seems to be happy with the results. And I'm proud of how well she did.



****

I wanted to post a follow-up mehndi picture. Here is the last design I did a full week after application. I am so pleased with how well the stain stayed. I am getting comfortable with how I like to mix it and what I like to add. Hopefully it wont change a lot when I get another bag of henna powder. I am liking how well the sifted henna applies. No lumps!