The passing of Ned Vare, unschooling advocate
I am passing this information along, for those that haven't heard yet. I met Ned and Luz at the first Live and Learn conference many years ago. I enjoyed them thoroughly. They were tireless advocates for home education and unschooled their son Cassidy in a time when John Holt's writing was new.
Anyone claiming "leader" or "pioneer" today makes me chuckle. These folks are some of the true pioneers of the modern unschooling movement and both Ned and Luz have inspired many of us over the years. Thanks to both of you for all the energy and passion you've put into helping so many embrace the unschooling life.
Ren
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In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we inform our supporters that a great friend and homeschool freedom champion, Ned Vare, has died. Ned was a fearless fighter for educational freedom. I first met him in 1990 when he was in the forefront of the effort to defeat government regulation of homeschooling in Connecticut. He was wise to all the background, history, and rationale behind public schooling and homeschooling.
Over the years, he not only educated me on the ways of the educational world, but educated untold others. He and his soulmate, Luz Shosie, met in 1973 at Ned’s ranch in Silt, Colorado. Together they raised their son, Cassidy, without schooling, with what is now called UNschooling. In essence, they wisely guided Cassidy in educating himself, an experiment, they say, that surpassed all of their expectations.
Ned and Luz were inspired by the writings of John Holt, and together, they started a support group for unschoolers and operated the Unschoolers Unlimited Newsletter for many years. More recently Ned penned a blog entitled, “School Is Hell”. Ned could always be seen supporting the right to educate in freedom at every gathering across the state, from his hometown in Guilford to Hartford and beyond. Ned was never afraid to confront any government official whom he believed was acting in any way to deny parents their rights.
Ned was tireless in his ability to engage legislators in quiet, polite, but persistent conversation educating them as to the rights of parents and why they should support educational freedom. Ned was extremely successful at this endeavor and was instrumental in persuading many key legislators to support the rights of parents in Connecticut. We are also fortunate that Ned, with Luz, wrote his thoughts about educational freedom in a book that I proudly keep in a most prominent place in my home. It’s called “Smarting Us Up, the Un Dumbing of America”. Ned was a true inspiration, who had a keen wit, a most engaging personality, and always the nicest smile. I was proud to call Ned my friend, and he will be sorely missed. A memorial service is planned for him at a date to be announced in the fall.
- Deborah Stevenson – Exec. Dir., National Home Education Legal Defense
Anyone claiming "leader" or "pioneer" today makes me chuckle. These folks are some of the true pioneers of the modern unschooling movement and both Ned and Luz have inspired many of us over the years. Thanks to both of you for all the energy and passion you've put into helping so many embrace the unschooling life.
Ren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we inform our supporters that a great friend and homeschool freedom champion, Ned Vare, has died. Ned was a fearless fighter for educational freedom. I first met him in 1990 when he was in the forefront of the effort to defeat government regulation of homeschooling in Connecticut. He was wise to all the background, history, and rationale behind public schooling and homeschooling.
Over the years, he not only educated me on the ways of the educational world, but educated untold others. He and his soulmate, Luz Shosie, met in 1973 at Ned’s ranch in Silt, Colorado. Together they raised their son, Cassidy, without schooling, with what is now called UNschooling. In essence, they wisely guided Cassidy in educating himself, an experiment, they say, that surpassed all of their expectations.
Ned and Luz were inspired by the writings of John Holt, and together, they started a support group for unschoolers and operated the Unschoolers Unlimited Newsletter for many years. More recently Ned penned a blog entitled, “School Is Hell”. Ned could always be seen supporting the right to educate in freedom at every gathering across the state, from his hometown in Guilford to Hartford and beyond. Ned was never afraid to confront any government official whom he believed was acting in any way to deny parents their rights.
Ned was tireless in his ability to engage legislators in quiet, polite, but persistent conversation educating them as to the rights of parents and why they should support educational freedom. Ned was extremely successful at this endeavor and was instrumental in persuading many key legislators to support the rights of parents in Connecticut. We are also fortunate that Ned, with Luz, wrote his thoughts about educational freedom in a book that I proudly keep in a most prominent place in my home. It’s called “Smarting Us Up, the Un Dumbing of America”. Ned was a true inspiration, who had a keen wit, a most engaging personality, and always the nicest smile. I was proud to call Ned my friend, and he will be sorely missed. A memorial service is planned for him at a date to be announced in the fall.
- Deborah Stevenson – Exec. Dir., National Home Education Legal Defense
posted by Ren Allen | 8:26 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for sharing about Ned. I did not know about his family before this.
Guess I'm really NOT the only one w/ strong feelings about new RUing advocates claiming to pioneer or revolutionize or better yet to ROCK the world being passionate RUers. Feels good to know I'm not alone in my feelings about this in our community as RUers... i am sure these people have good intentions (in their passion for RUing and whatever else they believe in for their family families, & anyone else relating to their beliefs). i truly do believe they do. but...
RUing is RUing. if one wants to promote some other personal belief system they can go preach that to thirsty audiences w/out attaching it to RUing as a whole.
i think what is revolutionalized is a trend that was created and promoted...i can't think of any other separate avenue of RUing besides the LOA one...are their OTHERS? i myself pretty much vibe (pun intended) w/ the whole LOA resonation but i do not care for the label or zoom-in on the LOA thing as LOA is a part of metaphysics as a whole.
it is nice to see others who feel how i do about these sorts of trail blazers. i just wish we could leave RUing simply RUing & the dogmatic stuff as personal private stuff
Thanks for sharing about Ned. I did not know about his family before this.
Guess I'm really NOT the only one w/ strong feelings about new RUing advocates claiming to pioneer or revolutionize or better yet to ROCK the world being passionate RUers. Feels good to know I'm not alone in my feelings about this in our community as RUers... i am sure these people have good intentions (in their passion for RUing and whatever else they believe in for their family families, & anyone else relating to their beliefs). i truly do believe they do. but...
RUing is RUing. if one wants to promote some other personal belief system they can go preach that to thirsty audiences w/out attaching it to RUing as a whole.
i think what is revolutionalized is a trend that was created and promoted...i can't think of any other separate avenue of RUing besides the LOA one...are their OTHERS? i myself pretty much vibe (pun intended) w/ the whole LOA resonation but i do not care for the label or zoom-in on the LOA thing as LOA is a part of metaphysics as a whole.
it is nice to see others who feel how i do about these sorts of trail blazers. i just wish we could leave RUing simply RUing & the dogmatic stuff as personal private stuff.
:O)
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