NEUC 2022
We are thrilled to announce our return to an in-person conference! This year's programming is geared towards middle to late childhood (ages 10-18) children and parents, but of course all ages are welcome and encouraged to attend.
From July 14th-17th, our keynote speaker and variety of hands-on programming will bring you together with other unschoolers to experience panels, funshops, support spaces, hands-on workshops, games, and more! Get ready to experience the in-person extravaganza of NEUC 2022!
The conference will be held in Franklin Patterson Hall (FPH), please park in the Dakin/Merrill Parking Lot.
ABOUT US
The Northeast Unschooling Conference is more than just an annual gathering! We are a community of unschooling families who support, empower, and encourage each other year-round! Our annual conference provides a dynamic mix of speakers, presentations, hands-on arts workshops, opportunities for reflection, connection with a broader unschooling community, and conference activities geared towards engaging, entertaining, inspiring, and empowering each member of your family on their personal unschooling journeys.
COVID-19 Policy
We do not require proof of vaccination for this event. However, the following policies must be followed:
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Everyone over the age of 5 must wear a mask of a medical grade at all times in conference spaces including: funshops, presentations, discussion groups, game room, and all other conference spaces. If you fail to follow this policy the conference organizers reserve the right to ban you from conference spaces. Within dormitory housing, outside of the "COVID-19 Conscious Hall", you are not required to wear your mask.
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You may be required to take a rapid COVID-19 test upon arrival to the conference which will be provided by conference organizers
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You must perform a daily wellness check and if you have any symptoms of illness: fever, vomiting, sore throat, etc. Inform the conference organizers IMMEDIATELY, and refrain from entering the conference spaces.
These policies are non-negotiable. You will be asked to leave if you fail to follow these guideline and NO refund will be given.
Should state or federal COVID-19 guidelines require stronger measures prior to the conference, we reserve the right to update this policy.
Keynote Speaker
Noah Romero is a PhD Candidate at Te Puna Wānanga, the School of Māori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Noah’s research uses Indigenous Philippine methodologies to examine how historically minoritized people redefine learning and identity within subcultural contexts. Noah’s research appears in journals like Educational Researcher, the Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry. His book, Decolonial Underground Pedagogy, will be released next year.
Through community-embedded projects with Indigenous, immigrant, and queer punk scenes, skate collectives, and unschooling families, Noah’s work celebrates the agency of minoritized peoples and shows how decolonization emerges out of our commitments to autonomy, responsibility, and relationality.
Our Programs
The Northeast Unschooling Conference boasts a variety of robust programming, organized into four types of events: funshops, panels, discussions, and presentations. Check out our schedule here!
Funshops are hands-on, interest driven programs where people share skills, create community, learn, and play!
Panels aim to represent a particular demographic, such as grown unschoolers, or address a particular topic, such as concerns around math. Three or more presenters with a depth and breadth of knowledge will speak about their own unschooling journeys, and answer your questions.
Discussions provide an opportunity for our community to come together around a particular topic, sharing wisdom, talking, and listening. These may be unschooling specific topics, closed identity groups, discussions about social issues, and much more! Each discussion will have at least one facilitator to keep the conversation on track.
Presentations allow one facilitator to take the lead, creating a workshop or speech on a specific topic such as college entry, traveling full-time with young unschoolers, or making a career on YouTube.
Programming for folks of all ages will be offered in every timeslot. We appreciate your patience as we put together the program booklet for 2022. Stay tuned for an announcement about our keynote speaker, and a full schedule jampacked with programming options.
Have an idea for programming you'd like to see or facilitate? Fill out our programming proposal form here!
Attending NEUC has been helpful in my unschooling journey as a mother of 4. It has helped reconfirm and support our lifestyle. It has given me confidence in the way we are raising our children.
A dynamic conference we left feeling secure in our choice to unschool. Each member of our family left more confident, inspired and connected.
As a grown unschooler, I remember the feeling of relief that my siblings and I felt at NEUC. It was a haven. A place full of people who learned like we did and who helped us feel like we weren't alone in our unique journey of living life and learning.
Event Organizers
The Northeast Unschooling Conference is the first-ever unschooling conference to be organized entirely by grown Unschoolers! Our conference organizers, Emmett and Rhianon, met at NEUC as young children in the early 2000s!
Emmett DuPont (they/them)
Rhianon Small (she/her/they/them)
Emmett DuPont is a 27-year-old always unschooled adult living in Western MA. Emmett started attending the Northeast Unschooling Conference at the age of nine and attended every year ever since. NEUC gave them the space to come into their own as an adult and allowed them to grow up surrounded by other children and teenagers who understood the unique struggles, joys, and challenges of unschooling.
Emmett graduated in May 2019 from Hampshire College with a B.A, double majoring in Public Health and Entrepreneurship, and double minoring in Culture, Health and Science and Reproductive Rights. Emmett is now a high school teacher at an alternative learning school called LightHouse Holyoke, whose mission is to bring unschooling philosophy and interest-driven exploration to ALL teenagers, regardless of family structure or socioeconomic status.
Rhianon Small is a 25-year-old, life-long unschooler currently living in Southern RI. Rhianon graduated from the Community College of Rhode Island in May 2018 with an A.A in General Studies and from the University of Rhode Island in May 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science. Rhianon is currently working towards an M.A. in International Affairs at American University, with the hope of entering the field of program monitoring and evaluation.
Having attended every Northeast Unschooling Conference since its inception when she was 6 years old, Rhianon has grown up in the community and views it as a second, vast, and loving family. Her goal is to share the joys and hardships of unschooling and to foster an environment where unschoolers can feel safe and understood, regardless of their sexuality, gender, race, religion, or ethnicity.
community guidelines
This is what we believe. Please take a moment to read through what we stand for.
frequently
asked
questions
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about NEUC here!
Land Acknowledgement
We want to acknowledge the original and rightful inhabitants of the land our conference is held on.
