Stuff Worth Sharing with Unschoolers: a Gathering, a Group, and a Mailing List

This post came about when I was realizing just how many things, events and online groups and other things, that I wanted to let my readers know about. And, well, once you have more than one or two, it seems pretty silly to give each one it's very own post! So here are some things I really think you should check out.

Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering (SMUG) 2012 This event, organized primarily by my wonderful mother Debbie, is now in it's third year, and I'm sure will be every bit as fun as it was the last two years! For unschoolers (and friends of unschoolers), unlike many overnight (SMUG is a six day event) unschooling events, this is not a conference, but instead a gathering of like minded people with the express purpose of hanging out and having fun (not that unschooling conferences aren't also a ton of fun)! It also tends to have a very large percentage of young adults in attendance, so if you're a grown unschooler this might be an especially good event to look into (the first year there were also lots of young families, last year less, and this year I'm hoping there will be a nice mix of ages). So yeah, it's cool. You should come. Join the Yahoo! group, and list yourself as "going" on the Facebook event! It's been a little slow in the organizing stage because of a lot of things going on for my mother, but as long as we get enough people wanting to stay in the lodge (we know we have enough people combined camping and lodge to make a good gathering, it's just that we need a certain number in the lodge to get it all to ourselves), it's going ahead and it's gonna be great!

SMUG 2011, photo credit Patrick Morris.

Stuff Worth Sharing Network My sister Emilie just launched a Facebook group yesterday, aimed especially at the unschooling community! As the description says: "This group is about giving, trading, recycling, and generally providing for and receiving from your community! You can offer and ask for items, a place to stay on your travels, help with learning a skill, etc. I hope that this can be a tool to help unschoolers get things, be it help with a project or that rare book they've been searching for, that they can't find locally." Check it out here.

Freedom-Based Education Events Montreal I started this mailing list (for "sharing freedom-based, radical, and alternative education events happening in and around Montreal"), and then haven't really done anything with it. Yet I really want to change that, because I really think it's important! From the description:  "for several years I've been as involved as I can be with the freedom-based education community in Montreal.  During that time I've often been frustrated at how far-flung and disconnected the various people and groups interested and involved in freedom-based education are, and how hard it often is for people wanting to get involved to know where to start.  So I've started this list in an attempt to remedy those issues, to help people get involved and stay involved in the various events and projects going on, to connect with each other, and to help build momentum in this growing movement." Join the mailing list here!


Anything else you think other readers of this blog might want to know about? Events, groups, etc.? Share them in the comments!

The Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering (SMUG) is coming up!

When: Friday June 24 to Thursday June 30, 2011

Where: Camp Tamaracouta, in Mille Isles, Quebec (a bit over an hour from Montreal)

What: This is a gathering of unschoolers (kids, teens, young adults, adults: aka, this is an event for all ages!), where we can laugh and play and have long discussions and take hikes and hang out in the beautiful city of Montreal! This is not a conference. There will not be speakers. There will, however, be as many planned activities as the attendees want to organize, which can be anything from round table discussions, to crafts, games, and potluck dinners.

This is the second annual Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering (SMUG). Last year was a huge success, with around 70 people, all of whom seemed to have a great time! I know that my family is really looking forward to having as wonderful a gathering this year, and I hope you can join us in helping to make that happen!

To find out more about this summer's gathering, get updates, and connect with other potential attendees, join the SMUG Yahoo! Group, check out the SMUG website (to be updated shortly), and RSVP to the Facebook event.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Debbie Smart and Idzie Desmarais

Co-organizers

Open.eyed.slave@gmail.com

The Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering 2010

Firstly, I have to say that if this post is mildly incoherent, I'm sorry.  That pesky cold seems to be intent on hanging around for at least a little while longer, and I still haven't fully caught up on sleep.  But I want to get a post written about the gathering, so that's what I'm doing!

I feel like starting with the negatives first, because the positives outweighed them and I don't want to end this post on a sour note.  I have to say that I found it far more stressful than I'd expected.  I expected the stress beforehand, in the planning stages, but what I didn't expect was the stress while there!  There were problems with the building/facilities (it was not nearly as clean as it should have been for the price we were paying for rooms; the electrical circuits were easily overloaded, meaning we regularly had to take a drive out to the main building to get them to fix it; the basement ceiling leaked; park workers were working on the building while we were there, including using power drills in the morning one day, and turning the water and power off while they fixed something...), issues with around 70 people living in close proximity for nearly a week (trying to make sure both late night and early morning people were happy, and that everyone had the opportunity to sleep without being woken up by noise too early or late; issues with respecting others property; the bit of tension and disagreement that's virtually impossible to avoid after a group gets over a certain size...), and I felt like I had some sort of responsibility, as one of the two organizers, to make sure everyone had a good time.  Which is silly, because, as I often need to remind myself, I am not responsible for other peoples happiness!

HOWEVER, lest it seem like things didn't go well, it was truly amazing having so many awesome people in the same place.  I loved, so much, getting to spend time with friends I see far too infrequently.  I loved the music that was played and the songs that were sung.

I loved all the art that was created and shared.

 

I loved all the laughter, chatter, and sleepy silences.  I loved the bustle of mealtimes, the camaraderie of eating together, and the late night hanging out. 

I loved all the wandering around the campsite in bare feet, and the exploring of the city.  

 

I loved all the interesting discussion and sharing of stories.  I even loved the ridiculously crazy moments (can anyone say insane car ride?).  It was good.  I'm so glad we held this gathering!  And it seems other people really enjoyed it too.  All the feedback I've gotten so far has been positive, and multiple people at the gathering asked if we were going to do it again next year!  At the time, I said that I still had a lot of processing to do, and really wasn't sure.  But at this point, both my mother (who is also the co-organizer) and I have decided that we will do it again next year.  I don't think I could bear to pass up on a chance to bring so many wonderful people together here again next year!!

This may not be a terribly in-depth look at SMUG, but it's what I can do right now. 

And I miss all my friends from far away already... *Sighs*

Peace,
Idzie

Come join us for the first ever Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering!

Time is running short... Less than THREE WEEKS until the start of the first ever Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering!

We'd love if you would join us, and help make this event a real success!

SMUG website: http://smugunschoolersgathering.blogspot.com/

SMUG Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SMUG_unschoolersgathering/

Come share your skills and passions, meet others following a similar path,
laugh, love, explore, and just hang out!

Any questions can be sent to open.eyed.slave@gmail.com

Hope to see you there! :-)

Idzie

P.S. Feel free to pass the message!

A lovely outing and more info on SMUG

My mother and I drove out to check out a campground today, Oka national park, that we thought might be good for the Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering (we figure since we came up with the idea so late, only a few months before we want it to happen, we should get everything done as soon as possible!).  And I'm very happy to say that I think we've found the perfect place!!  It's only about 45 minutes from downtown Montreal, and it's also a really lovely place.  It's lovely in the Winter, and looking around, we think it'll be even more beautiful in the Summertime!

There's even a (swim-able) beach on a large lake...

Why we were especially interested in this campground/park was because they have a building with twelve rooms to rent, but you can rent as little as five rooms and get the whole place to yourself!  Here are the pictures I took on our tour of the Gîte Sous Les Pins:

Here it is from a couple of angles...

Inside, there's a lot of lovely wood...

A dining room...

A downstairs hangout room (my mom thinks those tables are perfect for playing Bananagrams! ;-))...

 

 

The upstairs hallway, which is entirely comprised of bedrooms...

Each bedroom sleeps three people, with the option to add a fourth bed (which would make it wall to wall beds).

 

Each bedroom also has a sink and closet space.

 

For those who would prefer to camp, either for money reasons or because it's more fun, there are campsites RIGHT by the gîte, as in a two second walk, so that really wouldn't affect your ability to hang out in the main building at all.

Also, the park includes several historical chapels and oratories (see the little white building on the hill?  That's one of them!).

The staff there were even super nice, and very knowledgeable, so we were just pretty impressed with the place in general. 

Nearby Oka village is lovely, and my mother and I decided to drive through it and make a list of important local stores (I found it funny that, by chance, the grocery store and the liquor commission where at the top of our list.  Really, what else do you need. ;-)).  While we were there, I hopped out and took a couple of pictures, including of this old church, that I've always thought was gorgeous.  Quebec has an abundance of lovely old churches!  All the old buildings are one of my favorite things about Montreal and surrounding area. :-)

Right by the church is where the ferry is in the Summer.  The ferry goes right across the water, to another scenic little town called Hudson. 

On our way home, but still only minutes from Oka national park, we pulled over to take a closer look at an old, yet still operational, monastery.

Having now looked the place up online, I know that it's not only operational, but open to visitors!  Next time I'm out that way, I TOTALLY want to see inside that building.

So, it was a really nice day out.  The weather was beautiful, and we were both so pleased to have found such a pretty place for the gathering, that's also so close to the city!!

Now we just need to find a good date (we're thinking maybe July 2nd to 6th or 7th?  We're not sure how attached the Americans who want to come are to July 4th celebrations though, so that might not work...).  The jazz fest would be on then, with TONS of free music, so it would be a great time to hang out in the city (if that date doesn't work, there are plenty of other music festivals with lots of free shows.  It's just that the jazz fest is both the biggest and bet known!).

I'll be setting up a website for the gathering soon (both because I love playing around with Wordpress, and because it's practical to have all the info in one place!).

If you're interested, don't forget to join the yahoo group:  Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering

Really excited about this, and hope to see you in Montreal this Summer! :-)

Peace,
Idzie