So much more than just a conference - it’s a celebration, a party, a statewide gathering of homeschoolers and their families for learning, friendship, support, and fun!
Featuring some of the best known speakers in the homeschooling and parenting community, HSC’s annual conference is a place to explore, relax, learn and find time to meet with new friends. It’s a place where everything you need to know about homeschooling is under one roof for an entire weekend!
VICKI ZAKRZEWSKI (zahk-shef-skee), Ph.D., is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center.
During her 20 years of experience in education, Vicki has worked as a private school director, classroom teacher at California’s first public charter school (which served as the model for Aspire charter schools), administrator at Kaiser Permanente’s award-winning Educational Theatre Programs, children’s playwright for a worldwide humanitarian non-profit, curriculum developer, educational evaluator, grant writer, and researcher.
Vicki co-led the Ball Foundation’s story project for personal transformation as part of the organization’s strategy for bringing systemic change to school districts. Recently, she spent two months in India at a school awarded the Peace Education Prize by UNESCO and the Hope of Humanity Award by the Dalai Lama in order to research their methods for teaching students how to become caring citizens of the world. Vicki has a B.A. from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Education and Positive Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, where she studied under the guidance of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
QUINN CUMMINGS, is the author of "The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling."
Amazon says: In an honest and wry memoir, popular blogger, author, and former child actor Quinn Cummings recounts her family’s decision to wade into the unfamiliar waters of homeschooling – the fastest-growing educational trend of our time -- despite a chronic lack of discipline, some major gaps in academic knowledge, and a serious case of math aversion. (And that’s just Quinn.)
Quinn’s fearless quest includes some self-homeschooling – reading up on education reform, debating the need for “socialization,” and infiltrating conferences filled with Radical Unschoolers as well as Christian fundamentalists (and even chaperoning a homeschool prom). The "Year of Living Dangerously" is part personal narrative, part social commentary, and part how-not-to guide.
PAM LARICCHIA loves, learns, and lives joyfully with her family in Ontario, Canada. After working ten years as a nuclear engineerand professed data geek, she chose to leave her career and happily began homeschooling her three children.
Unschooling since 2002, she particularly enjoys seeing her now teenaged children live with such incredible intention. She hasbeen writing about unschooling for years and has been published in magazines, books, and online. When moments appear in the flow of her family's lives, she also enjoys puzzles, word games, and baking, on her own, or with anyone who happens by.
Learning freely, living joyfully!
Pam is the author of two wonderful books, "Free to Learn: Five Ideas for a Joyful Unschooling Life" and
"Free to Live: Create a Thriving Unschooling Home." She also offers the twice monthly "Living Joyfully" newsletter and a fantastic "Exploring Unschooling" email series.
ACT!VATED STORY THEATRE, Goza and Kimberly Goza, have been performing together professionally since 1992. In addition to performing, the Gozas also do all of the “behind the scenes” work: props, costumes, writing, directing, and everything else that goes along with running a business including Web design. The Act!vated Storytellers are in perpetual motion both on stage and off. They have performed in 45 states coast-to-coast, Washington D.C. and Japan. On stage the Act!vated Storytellers are a whirlwind of action, incorporating a wide variety of performance art skills to entertain, dazzle and educate with entertaining theatrical productions, based on multicultural folktales poetry and literary classics. The shows promote reading, theatre arts, imagination, respect and self-esteem, problem solving, and families learning and playing together.
In 2003 Blake was studying astrophysics at UC Berkeley when he stumbled upon a treasure trove of books by authors John Taylor Gatto, Grace Llewellyn, John Holt, and other pioneers in the realm of alternative education. Deeply inspired by the philosophies of unschooling and free schooling, Blake custom-designed his final two years of college to study these subjects full-time. After graduating he joined the Not Back to School Camp community and began writing and speaking widely on the subject of self-directed learning.
Blake delivers presentations and workshops for conferences, camps, parent groups, bookstores, and radio audiences. He has appeared on NPR, The Huffington Post, TEDx, and Ignite. He spends much of his time working directly with young adults through his company Unschool Adventures.
In Blake’s previous lives, he has worked as a high-volume cook, Aurora Borealis physics research assistant, delivery truck driver, math tutor, outdoor science teacher, EMT medic, summer camp director, market researcher, web designer, and windsurfing and tree climbing instructor. He keeps a running goal (and failure) list. His biggest passion is sharing his enthusiasm and experience with young adults who are blazing their own trails through life. He is 30 years old.
ELANA K. ARNOLD writes curled up in a corner of his couch with a cup of coffee--heavy on the cream and sugar--nearby. She finds the words flow more freely if the house isn't too quiet and if there is the promise of chocolate in the near future. She lives in Long Beach, California, with her husband, two children, and a dozen pets. Literally a dozen of them. Her debut novel, "Sacred," is published by Random House Books and her second novel, "Burning," will be released in June 2013. Elana teaches creative writing at UC Davis. Visit her at elanakarnold.com.
LAURA FLYNN ENDRES is a former public school teacher turned radical unschooler. She and her family have been unschooling for 15 years now, and Laura has spoken at several unschooling conferences including Life is Good in Vancouver, WA, Wide Sky Days in San Diego, CA, Northeast Unschooling Conference in Wakefield, MA, and the Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering in Ohio. She is a certified personal trainer and pilates and group fitness instructor, and she sometimes moonlights as a henna artist. Laura shares this delightful unschooling life with her husband Rob, a Financial Investment Advisor, and their two sons, Brady (20), who lives in LA and works at Warner Brothers, and Jonathan (16), who travels so much his parents are on the fast track to being empty nesters. They live on 10 acres of family land in the cornfields of northern IL.
WES BEACH worked in public schools for 31 years, mostly in high schools, and in a private school for one year. He taught science, math, and English, and directed programs for gifted and “at-risk” kids. He wised up in 1993, left the system, and has since then directed Beach High School, which consists of a home office and an attitude–the attitude expressed in his newest book, "Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling." He is at present the Teen Adviser for both the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (GHF) and the HomeSchool Association of California (HSC); he served on HSC’s board for two years. He has spoken at many conferences (especially at HSC’s in Sacramento each year), written a number of articles, and authored another book, "Opportunities After High School: Thoughts, Documents, Resources." He is an outside consultant for the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, and in 2005 received a Distinguished Service Award from the California Association for the Gifted.
Please note that you must be a current HSC member now and at the time of the conference to get the member rate. If you get an error trying to register, check your membership expiration date - if it is before Aug 4, 2013, you will need to renew before registering.
Is the HSC Adventures in Homeschooling Conference right for you?
Are you new to homeschooling? Do you want to learn more about getting started, legal options, and homeschooling methods and styles? You will find speakers, discussions, extensive information and lots of opportunity to get all of your questions answered. You'll be especially interested in our special "Adventure Series."
Do you have young children? The conference has many ongoing activities and workshops for families with young children to enjoy. We even offer a "Caregiver Pass" and parents can trade off attending adult sessions and having fun with the kids. You'll be especially interested in activities like the water play area, the art deck, and the extensive playroom. The venue has lots of grassy space for your youngsters to play and, of course, there is swimming and dancing and all kinds of family fun.
Are you a continuing homeschooler? If you've been homeschooling a while and you are looking for ways to enhance your homeschooling experience, you'll find all kinds of information and inspiration at the conference. With over 150 workshops and speakers, you will especially enjoy the specialized speakers, in-depth discussions, and extensive information as well as the exhibit hall and recycled resource room.
Do you want to enjoy a fantastic family vacation? The conference is one of the few whole-family activities available that really satisfies family members of all ages. Attendees range from little babies to grandparents! There are special funshops designed for younger and older children, teens, and adults, and many activities for families to do together.
Are you looking for networking, support, and community? Join over a thousand children, teens, and adults as we learn, play, and dance together. You will love being surrounded by close-knit happy families and will have plenty of opportunity to make connections.
Are you a teen looking for peers who are interesting, creative, and a whole lot of fun? The conference teen program is planned by and for teens, themselves, and is legendary throughout the homeschooling community. There are workshops, games, discussions, dances, and so much more. Many teens come back year after year and look forward to it as one of the highlights of their year.
Check our General Info page to find out everything going on at the conference!
