[Oz-gifted] Home Ed conferences

[Fly2]

It just occurred to me that there might be some folks here who are  
interested in  investigating home education and the Home education  
association (http://www.hea.asn.au/ )  conferences are currently on  
in several states. Several have already been held but the Sydney,  
Melbourne, Adelaide  and Canberra ones are in the next couple of weeks

It is on this weekend in Sydney--Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

http://www.nhedconference.com/

There will be two speakers from overseas as well as workshops and  
information and a trade fair.

The keynote speakers are:-

  John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto was named New York State Teacher of the Year in  
1990. He used the occasion to resign from teaching, outlining his  
reasons in his acceptance speech. One of his reasons was that,  
“[School] kills the family by monopolizing the best times of  
childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.”

for further info on him and his ideas
http://www.nhedconference.com/index.php? 
option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=36


Alan Thomas 	

Well-known UK researcher, writer and speaker Dr Alan Thomas will be  
travelling to Australia and speaking from his own research into  
alternative learning. Alan taught developmental psychology at Charles  
Darwin University in the Northern Territory until 1997. He is now  
based at London University in the Institute of Education.

Alan's topic for this conference will be Home Education is not School- 
At-Home.

  Eleanor Sparks

Eleanor Sparks is the mother of five children, ranging in age from  
9-16 years of age. Eleanor's four sons have never been to school and  
have been homeschooled using a natural learning (unschooling)  
approach. Her eldest son is now in the workforce and her daughter,  
who attended school for one year in year 7, has since chosen to  
return to homeschooling.

Eleanor is the editor of the national homeschooling magazine  
Education Choices and she speaks regularly at homeschooling  
seminars.  Eleanor also provides legal advocacy support for  
homeschooling families when needed.

Eleanor will present two topics:- An introduction to homeschooling  
and The Parent's Journey: Challenging our own assumptions.