Presenters

Click here to see the full 2012 conference schedule.

Sandra Dodd

For twenty years now, Sandra Dodd has been involved in learning more about the potential of unschooling to improve lives.  With two books, weekly chats, a daily-inspiration blog and a blog, the ideas are shared in all directions. Sandra is a former English teacher whose other jobs have all involved words, ideas and learning, and whose avocation is helping other parents find ways to live more richly and peacefully with their children. Sandra maintains an online collection of writings, notes, examples, and great quotes collected from over 15 years of online discussions.

Sandra Dodd has lived in Albuquerque with Keith Dodd since the late 1970′s, and they’ve been married for most of those years. There are offspring, who grew up unschooled. Kirby is 25 and has lived in Austin since he was 21.  Marty (23) and Holly (20) still live at home.

Daily happy thoughts are here:   Just Add Light and Stir
The Big Museum of Unschooling Stuff starts here:  Sandra Dodd.com

Sandra will be presenting the talks Connections, Balance, and Food at an Unschooling Table as well as the funshop Vocal Music of Eight Centuries. She will also be participating as a panelist in the Unschooling Moms Q&A Show.

___________________________________________


Erika Davis-Pitre

Erika Davis-Pitre and her husband Michael have 4 children – one daughter (33) and three sons (29, 27 & 19). They also have a son-in-law and an almost 5 year old grandson. They live in Central Connecticut with their 19yr old (when did that happen!) son. They have been unschooling for many years and love it, so Erika is always looking for opportunities to share their unschooling joy with others.

Erika has spoken at many un/homeschooling conferences, led quite a few funshops/workshops and has hosted and participated in many round table discussions about unschooling all over the US and Canada. She especially enjoys talking about unschooling teens, sharing the joy of unschooling and celebrating diversity through unschooling. And she is an Artist Trading Card (ATC) fanatic-if you don’t know about ATCs please ask!

Erika and her family are all so looking forward to this conference! They are hoping to see many old friends and to make many new friends too!

Erika will be presenting the talk Sharing the Joy of Unschooling! and moderating the Unschooling Moms Q&A Show as well as hosting the Unschooling Diversity and Unschooling Your Teens Circle Chats, and the Artist Trading Cards funshop.

___________________________________________

Jeff Sabo

My name is Jeff Sabo, and I live in Corvallis, OR with my significant other and three significant children and several significant friends. I was raised in the traditional “Doctor Spock” way, was a victim of Connecticut public schools, got a couple of college degrees, and spent 8 years in the Army. Like many parents, I just knew what kind of parent I would be – that is, until I actually became one. Since then, our family has been exploring ways to treat each other with respect, with dignity, with freedom, with joy, with patience, with love, and with a spirit of saying “yes” to our dreams, goals, and passions. We’ve spent the past 14 years following our hearts and exploring various parts of the US, including Monterey, State College, Nashville, Austin, San Diego, and Corvallis. About seven years ago, we discovered unschooling through the readings of John Holt and Rue Kream, and have been growing ever since.

Jeff will be presenting the talk In Defense of Unschooling.

___________________________________________

Carolyn Groves Winkler

Carolyn Groves Winkler has worn many hats in her life:  camp counselor, teacher of English as a foreign language, ski bum, high school speech and debate coach, executive assistant, DJ, school library media specialist, pizza delivery gal, librarian, musician and lifeguard among them.  She is a third generation bookworm – her mom introduced her to the works of John Holt, John Taylor Gatto and other education pioneers.

While living in Jackson, WY the Winklers found out about and (thankfully!) attended first LIFE is Good conference, the spring before their oldest child would have started kindergarten.  Seeing families who hadn’t stopped attachment parenting their kids once they left toddlerhood, watching how always unschooled tweens and teens interacted with the younger children and adults at the conference, and feeling the support of the families at the conference affirmed that unschooling was the right choice for their family.

Carolyn and Bret now live in Portland, OR with their always unschooled daughters Sabine (4/2002) and Vivian (10/2005).   They recently convinced Carolyn’s parents to move to Portland as well.

Carolyn will be presenting the talk Lessons Learned …, the Meet and Greet for Newbies Circle Chat, and the Find a Family Match-Up funshop. She will also be participating as a panelist in the Unschooling Moms Q&A Show.

___________________________________________

Lyla Wolfenstein

Lyla lives in Portland with her husband and 2 kids, ages 16 and 13.  She came late to unschooling, despite being best friends with a lifelong unschooler since her oldest was 2 years old.  She’s a slow learner  :)

Although Lyla’s family has experienced almost every type of school that exists (with the exception of a neighborhood public school), and she wishes she’d come around to unschooling much earlier, the experiences with school have been formative to her understanding of, and commitment to unschooling. Over the course of her children’s school experiences, Lyla’s family has faced many significant challenges, and she is convinced that they’ve come out the other side in much better shape than if her children had remained in school.  Lyla is passionate about advocating for the parent-child relationship being the absolute top priority for families in any circumstance.

Lyla’s kids came home after 7th and part way through 4th grade, and the transformation within each of them, as well as the tremendous improvement in all the family relationships, is nothing short of astounding.   She believes that subtle changes in parenting can have extraordinary results, and cares tremendously about the lives of children, wishing to help other parents find peace and connection in their families – hopefully much sooner and more easily than she did!

Lyla’s blog about parenting and unschooling is here: The adventure continues

Lyla will be presenting the talk The Only Parenting Mistake Anyone Ever Makes , participating as a panelist in the Unschooling Moms Q&A Show and hosting the Unhelpful Inner Dialogue Circle Chat , All Things Pokemon funshop and The Passion Trading Post funshop.

___________________________________________

Ronnie Maier

Ronnie Maier and her family have been unschooling for 9 years. She enjoys sharing the joys of radical unschooling with anybody she can get to listen, and she strongly encourages people (even unsuspecting strangers) to honor their children’s perspective, choices, and freedom. In her other life, she is a Program Manager in the software industry, and in her real life she likes nothing better than spending time with her daughters Chloe (18) and MJ (19), son-out-law Sean (19), and partner in crime Frank (many). She enjoys writing, traveling, making music, reading, and borrowing babies at unschooling conferences (she always gives them back).

Ronnie will be presenting the talk Leveling Up: Advancing your unschooling (and having fun doing it).

___________________________________________

Christine Yablonski

Christine Yablonski has been interested in child and adolescent education and development since she herself was a teen. She received her BA from Clark University after majoring in Psychology, with minors in Education and Philosophy; then earned her MA in Counseling Psychology, with a focus on children and adolescents, from Boston College. After becoming a stay-at-home mom she focused her energies in numerous volunteer activities that involved families and children, including being a regular volunteer in the public schools. Her observations of what was happening in the classrooms and her two children’s direct experiences in school led her to explore alternatives to public school education. Her discovery of unschooling changed her family profoundly.

In 2010 Christine’s family was profiled on Good Morning, America, which created a huge online response and led to an additional interview on GMA as well as interviews on The Joy Behar Show, Boston Channel 5 WCVB, and numerous local and syndicated radio programs. Since then Christine created the website Living the Unschooling Life, as well as a Facebook page of the same name. Through these online media she writes and shares information about unschooling, both as an educational alternative to public schools and as a parenting philosophy.

Christine also has been featured as a speaker at numerous unschooling conferences and gatherings. Her latest project is as a contributing writer for the e-zine Education Revolution, published by AERO – Alternative Education Resource Organization.

Christine will be presenting the talk Love Lessons Learned: Unschooling my Marriage as well as the talk Gilmore Girls in Real Life: the Mother-Daughter Relationship as Unschoolers with her daughter, Kimi Biegler. She will also be participating as a panelist in the Unschooling Moms Q&A Show.

___________________________________________

Kimi Biegler

Kimi Biegler has been an unschooler since leaving school in 2004. She spent part of that first year out of school preparing to be a People to People Young Ambassador, traveling to France and England for two weeks at the age of 10. Since then she’s traveled all over the country, including a two-month RV tour of the US in 2006. Thanks to all of the unschooling conferences, camps and gatherings she has attended through the years (and Facebook!) Kimi has friends from all over the country.

When Kimi’s family joined a homeschooling co-op in 2004, Kimi and another mom co-founded The Coop Cafe, an organic, vegetarian cafe offering freshly prepared lunch food for sale to the families at the co-op. This involved monitoring inventory, menu planning, staff assignments, gathering pre-orders, food prep & hygiene, serving and clean up.

For the past two years, Kimi worked as a camper representative at numerous camp fairs on behalf of Guard Up’s Wizards & Warriors Camp. Kimi also worked as a representative at a kiosk advertising Guard Up’s Zombie Adventures, as well as being a zombie during these adventures, where she learned to apply special effect makeup, acting, and group safety. After years of attending Not Back to School Camp (NBTSC), East Tennessee Unschool Summer Camp (ETUSC) and Wizards & Warriors Camp, Kimi was accepted into the Wizard & Warriors Counselor-in-Training Program, where she continued her training in theatrical makeup, costuming, acting, improv and group safety.

Kimi and her family recently moved from Massachusetts to Asheville, NC, which has brought new and exciting opportunities. Some of Kimi’s hobbies are swing and blues dancing, vegetarian/vegan food, baking, reading, and traveling.

Kimi will be presenting the talk Gilmore Girls in Real Life: the Mother-Daughter Relationship as Unschoolers with her mom, Christine Yablonski.

___________________________________________

Amy Steinberg

Amy Steinberg, nationally touring performer has been the unschooling musical mascot for a few years now. She has performed at numerous unschooling conferences and many unschooler house concerts. She is writing this bio. She feels weird about that. One of the things hanging out with unschoolers has done for her is helped her become overly aware of how she is feeling and behaving. Is she free? Does she REALLY want to write this bio in THIRD person? No. She doesn’t. I don’t. I want to tell you that I am THRILLED to be speaking at LiG this year because it is a VERY special space for me. I want to share my experience being a fly on the wall in your magnificent world of exploration, discovery, freedom and joy. YES!

Amy will be presenting the talk The F Words:  Fun, Freedom and Faith and the Acting Out with Amy! funshop.


Circle Chat and Funshop Presenters

Anna Soderberg

Anna Soderberg is a Portland, OR-based theater director and producer and the founder of Radiant Theatre Productions.  She performed in The Portland Revels as the MoonFool in 2000 and has directed many plays in Portland since then, including at ComedySportz.  Trained at  the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, CA and The University of Maryland, Anna just can’t get theater out of her!

Anna will be hosting the TheaterSportz funshop.

Phoenix Fire Hogaboom

I am ten years old with green-brown eyes. I love cartoons and anime. I’m a gymnast, artist, and I love macaroni and cheese.

Phoenix Fire will be hosting the Drawing Dragons funshop.

Jessica Bulger and Senna Bentley

Jessica Bulger and Senna Bentley are Pokemon cosplay compatriots who want to bring their love of costuming to the world! Well, LIFE is Good, anyway.

Jessica and Senna will be leading the Masquerade Parade.

Judy O’Neill

Judy is a stay at home mom to three boys, all newly unschooling. Originally from California, where she happily gardened year round, even professionally for a while, Judy is still learning the ins and outs of gardening in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to gardening, she also plays recorder, keeps chickens, enjoys food (both cooking and eating), plays Pokemon and lots of other card and board games, and will gladly give you a semi educated opinion about any number of topics.

Judy will be hosting the Seed Swap funshop.

Leif Werner and Katie Wascisin

Leif Werner and Katie Wascisin (son/mom) are residents of Vancouver, WA. They spend their days exploring life and enjoying many things along the way—Yu-Gi-Oh! is definitely on that long list!

Leif and Katie will be hosting the Yu-Gi-Oh! funshop.

Kelly Hogaboom

I am a 35 year old lady writer, mother, partner, stitcher, and human being. Our current household consists of my spouse Ralph and me, our two children Phoenix (10), and Nels (almost-8), four kitties, and a leopard gecko. I’m in Recovery, a practicing Buddhist, a yoga student, a B-movie fan, and a taquería aficionado.

Kelly will be hosting the Sewing A Button funshop.

Autumn Isocki and Skye Wylie

Autumn is an always unschooled 11 year old from Canada!  This is her 4th LIFE is Good – she was only 6 years old at the first one in Corvallis!  She loves her cats, Minecraft and crafting!  Skye is her mom, who also loves crafting, cats and her kids!  She is learning to love Minecraft too!

Autumn and Skye will be hosting the Hair Wraps! funshop.

Silas Jackson

I’m 10 years old and super into dubstep, Minecraft, Garry’s Mod and obviously, My Little Pony.

Silas will be hosting the My Little Pony (FIM) Brony Mixer funshop.

Andrew Huck

I live in Vancouver WA, and I am 12 years old. I love to play Minecraft and play on the computer. When I am not playing Minecraft, I like to annoy my family with my burping skills.

Andrew will be hosting the Burping! funshop.

Katie Reid

I Am 9. I like to play ROBLOX! I used to play Minecraft…..but got bored with it XD. I LOVE CATS more than most EVERYTHING.  If you are wondering why I want to do this funshop, here is the answer: soooo one night I was watching Jeopardy and said I WANNA DO THAT! So I did! :)

Katie will be hosting the Kidz Trivia Game funshop.

Gillian Mayer

Gillian Mayer lives a radically unschooled life on 10 acres of forest in that odd foreign country Canada with her indie husband Craig and her babies Effie (12) and Fergus (8). Everyday she wakes to the promise of infinite love, laughter, joy, and beauty, but is aware that even those moments that seem less than perfect need not bring her down – it is all about perspective baby! Gillian was reincarnated somewhat in the crucible of her firstborn’s unabashedly spirited explosion into this life, and she is forever grateful to both her children for the tenacious way they continue to pull her (sometimes kicking and screaming) to new heights of growth, insight and ultimately, happiness!

Lisa Prague
Lisa lives in Portland with her husband, Ron, 2 kids, Orion (7) and Akasha (3), Kona the dog, Charlie the degu, and 4 chickens.  Yes, life is a zoo around here!  She has a passion for collecting resources and networking.

Lisa will be hosting The Passion Trading Post funshop.

Nathan Agin

Nathan Agin practices and believes in a life of Nonstop Awesomeness, that life is always awesome when we bring our best to each moment. He spent many years in Los Angeles as an actor (he did get paid!) until he decided to get rid of everything and travel full-time. He writes for his own site, consults on how to travel for free (omg! travel deals), lives life to the fullest, and loves connecting with amazing people. He’s currently traveling to and living in different cities around the United States, as he explores how to be ridiculously healthy everywhere we go!

Nathan will be hosting the Travel Hacking… and Nonstop Awesomeness… funshops.

Miriam Mason

Miriam is a weird person, who happens to be a mom, whose two kids happen to live with autism, who happens to relish, support and celebrate unschooling and the rich gifts it provides, especially for her unique boys.  She lives in Vancouver, Washington, pretending to be a Portlander, yet enjoying the greenery of living in a semi-rural ‘pretend’ farm.  Her children are Owen, who is 13, an incredible gamer (World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, Halo and more), a master of weapons and animal activist; and Ethan, 10, serious cuddlebug and train (Lego, wooden, Trackmaster, Tomy, HO scale, ERTL, Take-Along, and Bachmann, depending on the mood) aficionado.  Miriam lives with her amazing husband, Bill, who tends to be on the quieter side.  She also lives with 4 therapy cats, 1 therapy dog and a red-eared turtle.  Miriam came to unschooling from a world system where everyone told her what she was supposed to do with her special boys; and with the support of an amazing community, moved into the world where her boys tell her exactly what she is supposed to do with them instead.  It’s been a beautiful journey.  She also advocates for those with autism because it took several years before her children found their own voices, and an ever-growing number of children still need to be heard.

Miriam will be co-hosting the Unhelpful Inner Dialogue Circle Chat.

Nina Andres-Berrelleza

Nina and her family are unschoolers living on a small farm in Northern California.  She enjoys sports, games, cooking, hiking, reading and, most of all, spending time with her husband and two children (Joel 13, Julia 8).

Nina will be hosting the All Ages Soccer Game funshop.

The Knight Family

We are Canadian eh? Living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Having Nerf battles is only one of the things we like to do. Playing Xbox, Minecraft, knitting, hiking, playing poker, watching movies and playing WoW are just a few more.

The Knight Family will be hosting the Nerf Gun Battle in the Park funshop.

Jess and Jenna Robertson

Jess and Jenna Robertson live with their three daughters, ages 11, 12 and 15, right here in Vancouver, Washington. We reclaimed our children from the school system the fall of 2009, having attended our first LIFE is Good Conference that May. We read the word unschooling for the fist time while searching the internet for home schooling options only a month prior to that conference. For our family discovering unschooling was like being given permission to be who we were meant to be all along, and being a part of the unschooling community means we are no longer the only radical freaks in the room. Jess has been working with children and families professionally for 18 years. He encourages parenting with compassion, honesty, respect and unconditional love. His first book on parenting is under way. Jenna has been learning about parenting for over 25 years, having started reading Mothering Magazine when she was a nanny in her teens. She blogs about parenting and unschooling at With The Family.

Jess and Jenna will be panelists on the Q&A Sessions. Jenna will be hosting the Introverts Unite! and How to Say Yes When Your Funds are Low Circle Chats.

Kristen McKee

I am mother of three and an artist in residence at the Insideout Schoolhouse, my practice of becoming more human, and growing more connected to the people and the world around me.

Kristen is hosting the Cooperative Games and Stories funshop.

Heather Burditt

I am a Puget Sound island dweller, former Vermonter. Wife to TJ Phillips. Mom to Skylar (13), Milo (7), and Phoenix (3). Driver of a fantastic pickup truck. Unschooling since February 2006 and still learning, growing and sharing our fantastic journey!

I love: baking cupcakes, making jewelry, taking pictures, talking about unschooling to groups of people, advocating for personal freedom, getting really into UFC, doing lots of art projects, writing my blog and hula hooping as much as humanly possible. Find me at www.eclecticreality.net (formerly SwissArmyWife).

Heather will be hosting the Little Big Video Gaming Chat and the Unschooling Hula Hoop Party funshop.

Misty Murphy

We have been homeschooling our kids since birth and unschooling since the time we realized they didn’t need school lessons to learn. I’m mom to Liam (13), Paige (10) and Fiona (5) and partner to Skeeter. We live here in Vancouver. I love scrapbooking, card making and other papery crafts. I love being crafty and enjoy helping others. When I can combine those two activities, I’m a happy camper! I hope I can set an example for my kids that helping others doesn’t have to be hard and can even be fun. I garden and raise chickens. And I too am shy and have to really work to talk to people I don’t know.

Misty will be hosting the Don’t Be Shy! and Cards for a Cause funshops.

Brianna Fricke

Brianna is a blogging, chocolate eating, stay-at-home-mom by day and a hoopdance circus performer by night. She loves music, photography, crafting, nature, and adventuring. She lives it up in Tucson, AZ with her incredible husband Bo, and their Unschooling cohorts Nic (11) and Ella (7).

Brianna will be co-hosting the Unschooling Hula Hoop Party funshop.

Alexander Cole

I am 9 years old, live in Vancouver, WA and am a life long unschooler. I love Power Rangers, Legos, anime and more. I am a fun person and am great to hang out with. I hope you’ll say hi to me at the conference.

Alexander will be hosting the Power Rangers Meet-Up funshop.

Jay Bazuzi

Jay Bazuzi is a stay-at-home unschooling dad of 3 boys, endangered language revitalization activist (aka language geek) and board member of the Portland non-profit Language Hunters.

Jay will be hosting the Language Play for Unschoolers funshop.

Renee Cooper

Renee is a software engineer living and working on the Eastside (Bellevue/Redmond, WA) alongside her dashing stay at home husband Ryan and adorable kids Lian (8) and Jamie (6).  She loves reading, board and card games, word games, and knitting of course, plus sock monkeys and goofy dachshunds.  She wishes she could hug all the cats in the world, but apparently this is not physically possible.

Renee will be hosting the Stitch & Cheerfully Converse funshop.

Tamra Orr

Tamra Orr is an unschooling mom, full time writer/author, attachment parent, dedicated correspondent, long time wife, avid reader and non-recovering paper addict. She has written more than 300 books, including a dozen on homeschooling (those are her personal favorites), sends out more than 50 letters every month (doing her best to keep the postal system afloat) and still manages to slave drive her three young adult kids (Nicole, Caspian and Coryn). She has been unschooling since long before anyone had ever heard of it (her oldest is 27) and does her utmost best to ignore the inner teacher voice that keeps inviting her to fondle and explore textbooks. She loves spending time watching shows and then discussing them ad nauseum with her kids (particularly “Leverage”, “Supernatural” and “How I Met Your Mother”), plus searching for thrift store bargains, trying out new fountain pens and wishing that chocolate chip cookie dough was somehow nutritious. Tamra is a huge live theatre fan and tries to get to one show every month, even if it means paying the mortgage a little late. She and Joseph attend LIFE is Good because it reminds them of the values that mean the most to their family and gives them hope for the planet’s future.

Tamra will be hosting the Television 101: Using TV to Spark Imagination and Discussion Circle Chat and the Letter Writing for Children and Adults funshop.

Ryan Cooper

Ryan is a stay at home unschooling dad to Lian (8) and Jamie (6) in Bellevue, WA.  He’s a big fan of Everquest as well as board gaming, geocaching, and fast cars.

Ryan will be hosting the Legos Legos Legos funshop.

Dara Freed and Amy Bay

Former Brooklyn comrades find themselves in two different cities on the west coast, re-connecting annually at LIG conference!  Dara now lives with her two kids Haakon (7) and Zuzu (4), and dog Oona (who also attends the conference each year!) and husband Niels in Berkeley.  Amy and her husband Wade live in Portland with their kids, Leo (8) and Irma (4), and cat Sasha and guinea pigs Comet and Orangey (who are not at all into attending the conference).

Dara and Amy will be co-hosting the Wings, Wings, Wings and Ollivander’s Wand Shop funshops.

Colleen Paeff

Colleen lives in Los Angeles with her son, Jerry, an avid gamer, her husband Warren, a fervent music lover, her dog Suki, a master hole digger, and her cat Ravenpaw, a ninja bird killer. She is a former bellydancer and preschool teacher, a library school drop out and part-time journalist, and a passionate advocate for children. You can read more than you ever wanted to know about her rocky road to unschooling on her long neglected blog, “The New Unschooler.”

Colleen will be hosting the Beyond Google: Super Hero Search Strategies and Awesome 80′s Dance Party funshops.

Mary King

I am an unschooling mama of four humans, two doggies, and a partner to Charles. I am a chef, dog lover, balloon twister, and gamer. I am not shy at all, so come up and say hi!

Mary will be co-hosting the Balloon Twisting Jam funshop.

Renita Keatley

Renita Keatley is a SAHM, planner, dinner maker, gardener, reader, tv and movie watcher, dreamer, game player and expert hanger-outer.

Renita will be co-hosting the Balloon Twisting Jam funshop.

Oden Schmit

Oden lives in Portland, OR with his mom, dad and three brothers. He is a self-described technophile. Besides spending his day Minecrafting, he enjoys keeping up on the latest tech news and consumer gadgets.

Oden will be hosting the Minecraft funshop.

Kim Railey

I live in Vancouver, WA with my husband Travis and kids, Danie, who is 10 and Cody, who is 19. We have unschooled since Cody was around 8. I have a business organizing events for all people who school at home.

Kim will be hosting the Bunco Meet & Greet funshop.

Frank Maier
What can I say about me that hasn’t already been said in FBI files, various district attorneys’ charging documents, or court records? I’m the happiest husband in the world, being married to my sweet Ronnie. I’m the happiest dad in the world to 19yo MJ, 19yo son-out-law Sean, and 18yo Chloe, not to mention a few “loaner” sons and daughters from among our unschooling community. In June 2011 I participated with Jon Gold and Ben Lovejoy in the first-ever SSUDs sailing and SCUBA adventure to the Virgin Islands — VirginSSUDs2011, a SSUDs which may never be equaled. Then again, 2012, and the whole of the twenty-first century, is still young, even though I’m not.


I have a blog, Singularity, which is mostly my stream-of-consciousness psychiatrist. I do occasionally have something to say about unschooling and if you search for that term at my blog you’ll find a few posts. Most of our unschooling family life is documented at Ronnie’s Blog of the Zombie Princess . For anyone who might be interested but especially for you SSUDsers, I blogged about the VirginSSUDs2011 trip in a series of 13 lucky posts starting with this one: Virgin SSUDs 2011Trip Report.

Frank will be moderating the Dads’ Panel and SSUDs meeting.

Bret Winkler

Bret Winkler is the dad of two always unschooled daughters (10 & 6.5) and husband of 14.5 years to Carolyn.  He is currently a Civil Engineer with the city of Portland, OR, but has worked as a science teacher (7th, 8th, & high school), ski instructor, Wendy’s drive-thru guy, pizza deliverer and springboard diving coach.His first “aha” moment about how humans learn came after high school while training to be a lifeguard.  Although 99% of the class was about lifeguarding, lifeguards were also expected to teach swim lessons.  The 1% of instructional training came from a gruff old dude who simply said, “During swim lessons, don’t try to trick those kids into doing more than they’re comfortable with, and don’t lie to them…because they’ll remember.”  Surprisingly effective, that advice has served him well in the classroom, as a coach, and as a parent.

Bret will be hosting the Outside Activities and Your Unschooling Life Circle Chat and participating in the Dads’ Panel .

Shannon Loucks

Shannon is an unschooling momma of two boys with a pure passion for stories of all sorts. Shannon currently lives in sunny California, but she is a pure bred Canadian through and through.  :)

Shannon will be hosting the Playing With Stories and Unschooling Hula Hoop Party funshops.





More Presenters will be added soon.

http://lifeisgoodconference.com/about/funshops/