We are very excited to announce that veteran Unschooler Sue Patterson will be sharing her experience and wisdom with us at the Radiant Living & Learning Retreat!

Sue has a knack for gently helping parents who are encountering bumps along the road to Unschooling.  Her years of experience along with her compassionate nature makes her a valuable mentor for those of us working toward more JOYFUL living and learning.

The working titles for her sessions are:

• What is Unschooling?
• Unschooling Teens
• Curriculum as a Crutch
• When Your Unschooler Chooses School
• Balancing Parental Guidance and Child-Led Learning

She will also be a panel member in the Veteran Unschoolers Q&A session.

Sue began homeschooling her children in the mid-1990′s. It wasn’t long before they shed their schoolish ways and embraced the unschooling lifestyle. The Pattersons were a military family and unschooled in Alaska, California, and Texas. Her family dove into a variety of homeschooling communities along the way, working on conferences, creating support groups, participating in local activities. Each of her 3 unschooled “kids” are grown now, 20, 23 and 25, off pursuing their own adventures.

Sue blogs at Lifelong Learning (www.suepatterson.wordpress.com) and has a new website coming! Lifelong Learning also houses all of her unschooling articles in an area called Unschooling Mom2Mom.

She is currently the editor of The Homeschooler Magazine, available quarterly in hard copy (and pdf by mid-June!) The magazine encourages parents to focus on learning, helping us look deeper at rationales for our educational choices. While it’s not an unschooling magazine, many unschoolers are writing and sharing their insights in The Homeschooler.

Sue is finishing her book, Homeschooled Teens. She surveyed 75 teens and grown homeschoolers asking them questions about their lives as homeschooled teenagers.

She is also in training with Martha Beck’s life coach program. She hopes to combine her unschooling experience with the tools she’s learning through the program to help parents out of ruts, and into joyful happier lives. She specifically works with families who need one-on-one help with moving from the school system to homeschooling, from homeschooling to unschooling as well as families experiences difficulties navigating the teen years and women/mothers who are ready for a change!