Hello,

I hope this topic is appropriate for this forum, if not I apologize in advance. Please let me know at choagland@connectec.com .

I'm Carolyn. I have a daughter Dale (5), a son Ben (7), and a husband of 20 years (Bob). Bob and I just started home schooling 2 weeks ago. We have no huge complaints against the public school (our son has been lucky enough to have great teachers). We are hoping to give our bright, "interested in everything " children a broader life experience by home schooling. We currently live in the North Atlanta suburbs, but planning to move to the foothills or Mountains of N. Georgia later this year (yes- possibly before the snow flies!). Bob and I are both from Midwest farm families and we are finding the Atlanta lifestyle to be too fast paced and yuppiesh/consumer driven for our tastes. However we find the people of rural Georgia and its climate very much to our liking. What a beautiful state. We can make a living anywhere and have been successfully self-employed in a variety of locations more for a decade. Here is our dilemma:

We were planning to move to the country even before Y2K, so now:

We are planning to purchase about 50-60 acres mostly wooded with several acres suitable for pasture and gardens and with a clean stream or spring originating on the property. We prefer somewhat secluded, but within a long bicycle ride of a small town with grocery store. Also we prefer no house or just a small cabin and mostly south facing land. Because we hope to pay $2K/acre (or less) for the land this means pretty far north or quite a ways off from Atlanta. Our largest concern is to find several other HOMESCHOOLING or UNSCHOOLING NEIGHBORS who are pursuing it for a liberal, quality educational purpose rather than a quality educational purpose based upon a religious agenda.

We are interested in permaculture (here's a link if you are curious: permaculture ), simple living, and helping our kids grow up without traditional schooling. Pleasant neighbors with kindly, inquisitive children are our first priority!. Music makers, wildcrafters, good joke tellers, book readers, tool users and gadgeteers, moderate skeptics, and gardeners (especially organic ones) are high on our list. I would also hope to have some neighbors who are young and don't have children yet, and some empty nesters or grandparent types who are familiar with and supportive of the idea of growing without schooling. We would also consider "going together" to purchase a larger amount of land with several other like minded families or individuals, but would expect that everyone would end up with their own deed, and there would be little or no income sharing. (Also we are ready to do it *now*. We are not just thinking about some nice idea for the future.) People of all ages with and without children are welcome to contact us. I would hope that a healthy barter network and food and tool-sharing co-op might develop as well. Yes, we plan to be completely Y2K ready by early 1999 (including necessary defensive and communications equipment), but that is *NOT* the focus of our community. This is not about a fear based "head for the hills" mentality. If you are a Rambo, just can't wait to pull the trigger type - you will be bored out of your brain with us!

If you are interested in having us as home schooling / unschooling neighbors, or would like to share any helpful advice or comments, or a recommended location, please contact me via e-mail during the day, or by e-mail or phone in the evening. If you feel your comments would be helpful to others who are preparing for Y2k, post a reply here. (If you are contacting us only about real estate, please don't clog up the Y2K forum).

Best wishes to all, Carolyn Hoagland -- choagland@connectec.com Phone:(770)592-3593

Regarding my above "Personal Ad for Neighbors" (I know - its too weird.... ) If you are interested in learning how this wild hair idea of mine came about, here is the list of books that spurred my thinking.

How Children Learn by John Holt Dumbing us Down by John Gatto The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff, John Holt Ishmael & The Story of B (both fiction) by Daniel Quinn Beyond Growth by Herman Daly Permaculture designer's guidebook by Bill Mollison Family Matters by David guterson The addicted society by Ann Wilson Schaef Small is Beautiful (Economics as if people mattered) by E.F. Schumacher Downshifting by Amy Saltzman The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge Sustainable Community Development by Chris Maser Deschooling our lives by Matt Hern The Education of Little Tree (fiction) by Forrest Carter Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman The Paleolithic prescription by a bunch of MD's and anthropologist from Emory Univ. - I can't remember their names....

-- Carolyn Hoagland (choagland@connectec.com), September 03, 1998

Answers

Good luck in your quest for Utopia.

-- adam (eden@utopia.ga.us), September 04, 1998.

I kind of like Kennesaw myself.

A close friend from A&M (David Basile) is living smilarly in South TX; I'll try to get you two guys tigether if okay.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 04, 1998.

Carolyn, you might want to take a look at the web page below. Go to the site, scan down about halfway and check out all of the "unschooling" pages. Hope this helps.

http://www.artrans.com/rmsg/educate/home.htm

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 07, 1998.