How to Train My Brain: Share the playful approach I have created to reframe children’s negative behaviors into opportunities to improve connection and learn to be their best selves using evidence-based practices from neuroscience and therapy. I will explain how to get the most out of my book "How to Train my Brain: A Personalized Playful Guidebook for Children and Caregivers". There will be time available for parents to ask questions about typical parenting struggles and how to respond with my love-based approach. I have hard copies for sale. Care For The Caregivers: Care for the caregivers: I will share how and why the parent's well-being and awareness of their own stress and upbringing is vital to the development of the nervous system, emotional intelligence, and well-being of their children. You will learn and practice simple ways to bring peace to yourself and your family. Pick a Family & Marriage Therapists Brain: Pick a Marriage and Family Therapist's Brain and have a safe place to process thoughts, feelings, and stressors. Twenty-plus years of providing education and counseling to families on human development to improve intrinsic learning and relationships.  Unschooled two children ages 15 and 19 in New Zealand and Ilinois.

Henna bonding event- Bring 1 person you want to connect with. This will be a practice that gets deep fast, connecting to your loved one in a profound & gentle way. Leave feeling loved and deeply connected. Henna will be used. Please be mindful of clothing, henna stains. Heart brain Coherence meditation - Tune into what your heart wants you to know. This simple profound practice is easy to do and helps you stay connected to what is important, operating from your heart space. I AM- a talk/practice of the power of the declaration of "I AM" join me to learn how powerful these tools are. Simple steps will be shared so you can practice this on your own. You will leave empowered. Tiffany DeVries- wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. Have too many certifications to list, been studying holistic health and healing arts for over 17 yrs. My passion is sharing what has empowered me the most, making it user friendly. Currently identifying as a intuitive coach & event extraordinaire! Excited to share space with you soon!

Raising Money-Smart Kids to Adulthood: Do you want to give your kids a head start on becoming financially independent? Would you like to learn how to raise kids who have a mindset for saving? Do you have ideas of your own to share? Join us as we share strategies and resources we’ve used with our 3 kids. We’ll talk about the power of compounding interest & why you should start them young, allowances, teaching kids to use a budget, investing, and more! Hosting Exchange Students: How We Are Raising Global Citizens Through Cultural Exchange: Are you curious about what it’s like to invite a perfect stranger to live with you for 5-10 months and why anyone would volunteer to do that? Join us as we talk about our family’s experience hosting 6 high school exchange students. Meet our Italian daughter in person and our other international daughters through photos and stories. We will also share a presentation that explains how the exchange program works and answers many common questions. Whether or not you’d ever consider hosting, this is the perfect “no pressure” opportunity to learn what it’s all about. I’m Pamela from Southeast Michigan. I’ve been married to my husband Daniel for 20 years, and we’re here with our three boys, ages 15, 13 & 10, as well as our 16 year old Italian daughter (exchange student). Before having kids, I was an elementary teacher, but I knew if I ever had kids, I wanted to homeschool them. When I was pregnant with my oldest, I started reading up on homeschooling, and unschooling made the most sense to me. We attended our first UWG in 2010, when our oldest was 9 months old, and we’re happy to be back for our 6th year. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, organizing, playing around with our budget on YNAB, watching true-crime documentaries, and talking to people about our experiences as host parents for high school exchange students. I was bitten by the “exchange bug” in 2013 when we hosted our first exchange student while I was pregnant with my youngest. Over the last 11 years we’ve grown our international family to include 6 daughters from Germany, Spain, France, Tunisia, Brazil and Italy. We’ve had great experiences with all of our students and have visited 2 of them in the last 2 years, with hopes to visit more in the near future. Of course, international travel is expensive and can be tricky with kids in tow, but we’ve found that when we can’t take our kids traveling the world, hosting helps bring the world home to our kids. I’m a bit of a budget nerd and I’ve managed to raise 3 financially sensible kids, so I thought I would share some of our strategies and resources. I was inspired by a friend who presented on this topic at UWG years ago, so hopefully I can pass along some of that inspiration to you!

Neurodiversity and the Neurodiverse Brain: Many adults and children with neurodiverse brains - including those with ADHD, Autism, SPD, and many other features - have unique gifts and struggles. We'll discuss ADHD and Autism specifically, but other flavors of neurodiverse brains will also be discussed. All are welcome! About Jason: Jason King is Professor of Geography and Developmental Mathematics at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He has taught students who struggle with mathematics for 19 years.

Diving Into Mindfulness: Mindfulness has become a popular tool recommended by many professionals. What exactly is it? What does the research show? Why should we consider this for ourselves and our kids? About Jenn: I studied biology and have my Masters degree in Environmental Biology. I have always loved neuroscience. After homeschooling my 4 kids for many years, I found that I could become a support person for people on their personal growth journey. I have certifications in Life Coaching, Mindfulness and Resilience, and Embodiment. I work to bring people understanding, tools, and work to help others flourish into their best self.

Striking a Balance: Empowering Busy Moms with Work-Life Harmony and Self Care- Former life long Unschooler raising a 2nd generation Unschooler balancing being a business owner and having a demanding corporate career in Public relations and Hospitality while trying to raise a good human is all about balance and a little grace. I teach women about thriving in their careers while also managing their household and somehow saving a little time and space for their own self care ? My motto is "Helping women realize that they can do it all and have it all but you don't HAVE to do it all in one day!" Amanda Campbell is a Lifelong Unschooler, raising a 2nd generation Unschooler. Swiftie. Workaholic. Former Party girl. Teaching moms about building a thriving career while also managing to not forget themselves. In my free time, I karaoke, create digital marketing for other small businesses and watching "Shameless" you will most likely find me decorating for a a large scale event or singing Taylor Swift at the top of my lungs... sometimes both at the same time!

Wilding with Technology- Do you know a nature lover that can’t get enough wild things or a technology lover that never wants to connect with the outdoors (or both)? Join me to learn how to incorporate your outside world indoors and your inside world outdoors. We will explore ways to inspire leaners of any age to add the wild world into their learning or to blend their love of tech with nature. Adults and kids alike can expand their mindset and toolset to build skills and connect with wild world. Technology and Nature are not exclusive categories for learning. Bring your tablet or smart phone! About Melissa: Melissa Layfield is an avid nature-lover and a graduate of the University of Delaware and The University of Pennsylvania Penn Program for Stress Management: Mindfulness in Education Program. She is a mother of three children who have been always been unschooled. She has worked to create mindful education programs for adults and children for over 15 years, including a unschool, forest school, and homeschool program: Walnut Grove Coop ( www.walnutgrovecoop.com). Prior to developing this community she worked in the Finance Industry leveraging Consumer Behavioral Science to direct User Interface Design. She loves to inspire people to learn new skills and find new tools to fuel their genius.