CM West :: Conference in the Redwoods {Recap}

When Amber came to me last year asking about a CM West conference in Northern California, I was thrilled to join her in planning the event.  We booked a spot for February 2017, a year out, and in the meantime, hosted a Retreat at the Beach last spring, which was a blessing in itself and hinted at what was possible for CM community here in the West.

photo by stephanie douma -- we didn't quite get everyone, but almost

A few weeks ago, our Conference in the Redwoods finally took place!  I so enjoyed myself that weekend, and I hope our fellow conference attendees did also.  What is amazing to me is that Amber and I planned it all pretty much online -- we have only met in person a handful of times.  This event was the work of many Skype sessions, Evernote chats, and Voxer messages.  I am so grateful for the chance to work with her in this way even though we live hours apart!

photo by my friend Sarah

The conference began on a Thursday afternoon.  I'm not gonna lie: getting there was a challenge.  As most of you have probably heard, we have had record rainfall here in the Bay Area.  That has especially been true of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which experience difficult driving conditions even during mild winters but which have taken an absolute beating these past few months.  Mudslides, sink holes, road closures, hours in traffic...it has been messy.  Our conference site was at the base of the mountains, just a few minutes out of Los Gatos proper, and not directly affected by the conditions, but it doesn't make getting around easy for those unfamiliar.

The staff assured us they hadn't had any access issues (and they hadn't) but they neglected to mention that there were "road closed" signs and cones blocking the road right off the freeway, which you had to ignore and drive around to reach the site.  Ha!  The road honestly was completely fine, but it's not easy to be calling attendees to assure them, "Yep, just go right around the cones, ignore the Road Closed signs, and head on up!" ;)  But we all made it eventually -- and almost everyone got there early, actually!  Unpacking in absolutely pouring rain, parking and re-parking cars.  And then we settled in for two days of learning and living.

Note: I can happily say the conference site was worth it.  Beautiful grounds, lovely meeting rooms, great food, charming cottages.  We would happily go back in future years, but VERY unfortunately, we found out last week that Presentation Center is closing in just a few months.  So we are back to reviewing potential meeting spots for next year's event.  If you have leads on a conference/retreat center (or large rental home) in Northern California, please let me know.

Thursday evening was registration, a used book sale hosted by my friend Sarah Kim, and then dinner and our first plenary.  Brandy opened the conference talks with her "Start Here: Charlotte Mason in One Hour," which you can purchase from her site.  I had heard the talk before but it is one I could listen to annually because it's such a great reminder to focus back on the Twenty Principles.  And hearing it in person was, of course, a treat!

On Friday morning, we began with breakfast and then launched into our first workshop slot: attendees could opt to join Amber for a talk on music study or Brandy for some tips on planning and implementing Circle Time. I listened in to Amber's because we have a pretty stable Morning Basket going on here already, but the attendance was almost exactly split.  It was for the other workshop slot and the main discussion as well, which we really could not have planned but was a very convenient surprise.

I hope Amber will post more about her music study research because I came away inspired and with a broader grasp of the scope of music study, from teasing out the layers of sound during a nature walk to inciting my students' interest in the composers, to considering what role music practice has to play in the overall scheme of appreciation.  Really good stuff.

Late morning through the afternoon was spent mostly with John Muir Laws. He gave a dynamic talk on leading nature study groups, and then we broke for lunch.  The day was lovely, so we headed outdoors for the last part of his visit, in which he led us on an immersion experience of an activity.  He played the parent/teacher and we played the students, and we spent an hour observing, journaling, and discussing.  It was several ladies' first time attempting a journal entry, but I think they would all agree that he makes the process seem very accessible.

Afterward we headed back indoors for our second workshop slot: I spoke on foreign language and Jenny Elias shared about science using living books and notebooks.  I had a ton of information I could have covered in this session.  I spent the week prior cutting and cutting and condensing and then cutting some more -- and I still was cutting on the fly!  I wish I could have worked in a lecture slot and then an immersion slot, but I don't think anyone would want to dedicate quite that amount of their conference time to foreign language. ;)

Before dinner, we offered two round table options: CM in the Upper Years or CM with Littles.  Amber, Brandy, and a local friend of mine managed the high school discussion -- I wish I could have listened in because I felt like there was really a wealth of knowledge in that room and I'm always looking ahead to the years to come.  But my friend Jenny joined me to chat about implementing Charlotte Mason's vision for education with young ones underfoot, which is a favorite topic of mine.

After dinner, we had two casual discussions to choose from.  We tried to model these sessions on the kinds of assignments Charlotte Mason gave to the mothers enrolled in her Mother's Education Course, so we called them the MEC Chats.  You can read a description of both the overall theme and the individual sessions here.

On Saturday we had breakfast, a panel on Learning in Community, and our last plenary, in which Brandy talked about using Atmosphere, Discipline, and Life to troubleshoot problems in the homeschool.  I am going to carry what Brandy shared in the latter with me all year -- lots of wisdom and practical tips for assessing trouble spots and searching out solutions.

For the former, we invited a few friends to join us in talking about the many ways learning in community might look for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, including nature groups, Shakespeare sessions, full-fledged co-ops, and more.

We also handed out a set of questions the ladies could use to evaluate community opportunities. We wrote these up before the beach retreat last year, and I'm glad we were able to share it with a larger group because I personally have found them very helpful.

Some of my favorite parts of the weekend were the moms I met...

...and their babies...
  

...a nature walk with just Amber one morning (we got absolutely completely stuck in the mud but it was still a highlight!)...

...and staying up each night chatting with cottage-mates until 2am.  (No pictures of that, and I paid for it with complete exhaustion and bloodshot eyes on Saturday.  But really, it was much-needed fellowship and fun after a long first half of pregnancy and all the work that went into planning this event.

I spent a restful hour the evening I got home reviewing notes, looking over handouts, and brainstorming.  I had some action items I really wanted to take note of, and I also had some favorite bits to add to my commonplace.  I have reviewed that page in my conference notebook a couple times since then, and I'll definitely be pulling it out as we finish up our school year here in a few weeks.

This page is not a spread of ideas completely fleshed out -- it is a spread to remind me of themes that I want to revisit in my more thorough notes.  But in case you're curious, a few main take-aways for me, straight from my notebook:

Amber and I are already in planning mode for next year's event. (Which as I mentioned above, is giving us additional hurdles, so your prayers are appreciated!)  I'm excited for this tradition to take root in our region and feel grateful to be a part of it.

(Read more about the conference: Amber's take on her opening remarks, and the official Charlotte Mason West recap.  And registration for CM West :: Conference in Puget Sound will be opening soon!  I am not involved with that event, but the wonderful Nancy Kelly will be the main speaker and they have a great team heading it up in Seattle, so I'm sure it will be time well spent for all those that attend.)