If enough people sign up, cost will be variable on an individual basis partly on the contribution to the conference of having more unschooling experience, older teens your young adults with you, and such. What I plan to do is to make the cost the actual cost of getting the speakers transported and situated, of the firewood (Keith already has a plan on that, which will include wood splitting opportunities for any adult or child who's interested in learning to split firewood, or any who know how and just want to help for fun), and of two evening meals (to be catered buffet style by local companies). Snack food for the gamers and good tea for breakfast will be budgeted in too. Then before I start giving any money back, I'll check against the donations to the cost of my website and chat room, and Unschooling.info (which I adopted last fall). When it is registration time, I'll send out PayPal requests as registrations come in, and if very many people reserve, will offer the option of partial PayPal refunds in some cases.
What I hope each attendee will have is a comfortable condo which will be a place to eat familiar, inexpensive food; to hide out and rest, or to visit other unschoolers; and a base from which to explore Santa Fe and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains a bit if you want. You'll have time to think and sleep, and time to gather and brainstorm.
Please continue to consider this! AND those who are local and don't want to pay to stay in Santa Fe, or whose children are younger and might want to consider a special alternative: The Monkeyplatter Festival When I have a date and a logo, I'll add it to the sidebar, but it will be whichever three days Hema's family is here from India, in or around November. There will be no conference fee on that one. |
That's Marty in the mirror, and these are just to show some of the kinds of decorative details some condos have. Each is different, but they're all cool.