Driving away from the most significant home education festival, possibly in Europe, the smiles will not leave our faces.
It is not your ordinary post-festival joy plus burnout lighting our faces; it is something deeper. The Home Educating Families Festival in England is an almost 1300 people get together for those who choose to educate their own. A whole week of sharing life with people who are like-minded on a deep level, instead of some specific life elements.
This kind of event is needed, for sure. It is not just fun and games for home-ed families; it is planting roots in our base choice and understanding the ins and outs of it for those embarking on the journey.
It is being almost normal for a week, nobody questioning this so-called extreme choice.
It is sharing the how-tos on all levels.
It is the release of stress, the sharing of knowledge, of political pitfalls and little wins, hacks for everyday life, and complete perspective turnarounds.
It is moments off coffee and early mornings of shared yoga.
It is lifelong friendships starting right there and then, love stories unfolding, careers encouraged, and ideas spreading.
It is beautiful.
The Home Educating Families Festival is a space to hold a conference as well as a space for the large group of teenagers to have a weeklong continuing party of late nights with music and lazy days with sports, talks, and bonfires.
It is the opportunity for the parents to share moments: deep conversation, laughter and tears.
The social field is huge, new friends can be made, and new friendship groups can be formed. The way the children can unfold in a safe environment of other children who stay in their authenticity is such a reminder of what is one of the most significant benefits of home education. It s beautiful to see, how it all unfolds, and if there was ever any doubt, home ed is the way moving forward, just look at the confident and real teens, young people in all of their glorious exploration of life and identity, knowing exactly who they are and where they want to be, looking you straight in the eye, dancing, talking smiling, conversing - this is the presence and present, we want for our youth, this is the base we can build a better world on.
“This is the presence and present we want for our youth,
this is the base we can build a better world on.”
HEFF is built upon a lot of voluntary sharing of knowledge, with many workshops held by parents and children sharing their skills and perspectives. Each year (three) we have been to HEFF, we have given a talk on the concept and the ways of Worldschooling, sharing our stories, and the things we have learned about how a life outside of several boxes is very much possible. The second year, Jesper added very much appreciated dad-circles, and this year, on top of that, Cecilie held a talk on unschooling, as this seems to have been a forgotten theme at the festival.
It is beautiful to experience how much knowledge is out there in the community, and how sharing it creates a wonderful line-up of opportunities for everyone. The music nights are overwhelming, hosted mainly by home-educated teenagers who can DJ or play band music, and the dances are incredibly fun. Bringing joy enough to last many months.
For the Conrad family, it is also a week shared with a lovely mix of a worldschooling community and an English home educating community, several of our friends are part of. A land-grabbing moment at the beginning of the festival secured a beautiful Wild West-style circular camp with a bonfire in the middle and an opening to the west, to allow us all to enjoy the sunsets.
English weather, of course, is not always sunset-friendly, lots of clouds, lots of cold and wet days - yet nothing could keep us away from this festival, where we will return year after year, I am sure of it.
These gatherings are of great importance for the community, and for every one of the individuals in it. Our family has attended several different formats: The Worldschool Summit held by Lanie Liberty, the Pop-ups hosted by Rachel Carlson, informal co-living events, the German Septre festival for alternative education (home-ed is illegal in Germany, therefore the cover-up name), and the big and famous HEFF. The way these things have been pivet points for us and most of those we know in the community, has inspired us as a family to make sure, we give back: We are hosting two podcasts, we give free and payed talks, I am writing the blog, and the latest is we host month-long events aimed at families with teens.
Every time we participate in or host events, we stand back in awe, looking at what this community is, what it has created, and who we are.
At HEFF, every night there is live music and DJs: a big party. Mostly aimed at the teens, these nights to me are a shower of celebration of the light. The younger children and the parents are part of the crowd, dancing, smiling, talking, and in the front of the room, the big group of teens get together in a shared and loving, intense party mode. Both DJs at the festival are home-educated, most of the musicians too, and the cheering and dancing are so full of joy and love.
The teens take good care of each other, and from my place in the back, dancing with my friends, my smile is as wide as the solar system, as I bath in the flow of this: A tribute to what life is, what we wanted to create, to the freedom to live a meaningful life, and we look at them and see how it “ended”, how awesome they have all become, how overwhelmingly and intensely themselves they are, so happy and young, so passionate and wholehearted.
If there were ever a doubt (and there was), if there was ever a black day where I thought I had ruined their lives by choosing to homeschool (and there has been many), if there were ever the idea they would be lonely (and there was), they would never find romantic love (and we had that worry too - where would they even meet enough options, being nomadic?) - well the big parties at these events, HEFF being the most prime example, they are the proof, the Mr. Clean hurricane energy to wipe away all of that and leave us with relief.
We did well.
All of us.
Together.
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