If I may, I’d like to borrow something that I wrote with some friends. We created this a few years ago for our small, private Shine Gathering.
It is our Creed…our Guiding Principle.
The word Creed comes from credere: to Believe, Trust, Entrust…
We like that. A lot.
I’d like to adapt our writing now for this, our We Shine in 2009 Unschooling Conference...
This Sacred Gathering of Shining friends exists so that we can be gloriously immersed in a real-life unschooling community in order to form a deeper connection with our families, with each other, and within ourSelves.
We gather with those who understand the depth and breadth of what unschooling means, and also with those who are newer to this glorious path, but are drawn to walking in its direction. We also Trust that those who gather together truly understand what it means to allow our children to Shine by celebrating them for being exactly Who They Are.
While it is True that unschooling is a gift for the entire family, it begins, in our hearts and minds, as a gift for our children. Therefore, this is the first and most important guideline of this Shine Conference:
We Gather For *and* WITH the Children.
We joyfully gather to deepen our connections with our children, even as we, ourselves, expand our own circle of friends in our unschooling community.
Our gathering presents opportunities for us to grow, learn, inspire and be inspired, question, examine and have our worlds expanded in numerous and various ways. While many or most of these opportunities will be gloriously rewarding, joyful and fulfilling, some will be challenging. In our *We Shine* community, we will remember to rise to challenges, stay mindful of and Present for our children and support each other. We focus on and honor our parental responsibility and connection with our children, as well as active involvement in the cultivation of a positive, enriching, supportive and loving unschooling community.
For this is how we ALL Shine.
*****
What does this mean, in simpler terms?
First of all, many of us have been to conferences where there are attendees who live as if unschooling means unparenting.
Well…quite frankly, it does not.
Unschooling means incredibly INVOLVED parenting! Unschooling means that we parents have the glorious job of being students of our children…deeply knowing them, and knowing best how to allow them to Shine. We are here to assist them through life, navigating the waters with them. We are blessed that our children get to live in and be a part of the real world, and so it is our job and our privilege to help them navigate that real world.
We have a feeling that we are going to want to Shine Again in 2010...therefore, we would like to ask you (and thank you in advance for doing so) to be aware of what your children are doing. We trust that you will share the information with them that will help them to decide what is appropriate and what may not be acceptable in a public place.
There is SO much to do around this amazing, vacation area and right within our own Shining Community that there will always be a more positive direction in which to invite your children than what may be perceived as not appropriate.
Second, if the children aren’t happy, then what’s the point, really?? As much of our life's energy that we are investing into doing what we can to ensure that this community is Joyful and Shining, not everyone may find it to be so. If one of those *someone’s* is your child, thank you for listening to, respecting and honoring that…and doing what you can to help him/her FIND that safe place within him/herself so that he/she can Shine.
We have a feeling that we are going to want to Shine Again in 2010...therefore, we would like to ask you (and thank you in advance for doing so) to be aware of what your children are doing. We trust that you will share the information with them that will help them to decide what is appropriate and what may not be acceptable in a public place.
There is SO much to do around this amazing, vacation area and right within our own Shining Community that there will always be a more positive direction in which to invite your children than what may be perceived as not appropriate.
Second, if the children aren’t happy, then what’s the point, really?? As much of our life's energy that we are investing into doing what we can to ensure that this community is Joyful and Shining, not everyone may find it to be so. If one of those *someone’s* is your child, thank you for listening to, respecting and honoring that…and doing what you can to help him/her FIND that safe place within him/herself so that he/she can Shine.
All is well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
