First info on Next AERO Conference
Life Story of an Early Summerhill Graduate (Entered 1926!)



Attendees talk with AERO keynoter Sugata Mitra at the last AERO LIU-Post Conference in 2015
 The Next AERO Conference Will Be Back In New York, From August 2-6 at LIU-Post Campus 
We are very happy to announce that the next AERO conference will be back in New York, at the Long Island University C.W. Post campus from August 2-6. We researched extensively and the cost of this to participants is half or less than any other options we found. 
 
One thing different this time is that all families can stay on campus in the dorms. 
 
You can now apply to present a workshop here. 
 
Also, we now have super early hardcore AERO supporter registration. This is for those of you who know the AERO conference will always be great, even though we haven't announced keynotes or other programs yet! To reward your loyalty, registration is $200, for this week only. for the full five day conference!  The student rate is $150, for this week only. Some of you may remember that we also did this last year in Portland, and it was never repeated! We are also taking individual and group deposits.

Also, dorm room rates are still unbelievably low. You can reserve a bed in a two person room for $59 a night, and a single for $75 a night. We have similarly good rates for couples and a new one, a suite for parents with up to two children. 
 
We'd like to ask you for suggestions for keynotes. In the past we've been very fortunate to have people like John Gatto, Alfie Kohn, Riane Eisler, Sir Ken Robinson, Debbie Meier, Sugata Mitra, peter Gray  and Yong Zhao. We could even invite some of these great presenters back.
 
To give you an idea what AERO conferences are like we will be reposting some of the information from last year on our conference site. 
 
Also, for the first time we are posting free links to last year's keynotes. To start with, here is Peter Gray's fascinating and unique keynote. He is an evolutionary psychologist with expertise in the area of play and close connections to Sudbury Valley School. In this talk he traces education's roots further back that most people can imagine!
 
To take advantage of the Super Earlybird Hardcore AERO Supporter registration rate, click here!

Life Story of A Summerhill Student From 1926!
Ed: This is an article written by a Summerhill student who entered in 1926 at age 10! I actually got to meet Brian Anscombe at a Summerhill reunion in the 1990's. He was a fascinating man who was also featured in After Summerhill, which AERO carries exclusively in the USA. We have some copies on hand and now have it on sale.  The book traces Summerhill's history through its graduates. You can order it here.

Written by Brian Anscombe

As 'Friends of Summerhill' is launched, it occurs to me to present some reflections and views from the long perspective of an early pupil.

Sixty years ago this summer (1926), aged 10, I joined the small group of children at Lyme Regis. I could not possibly foresee the profound effect this event, this turning in the road, was to have on my life.

 Born early in the First World War, a second son, I was a troubled child. When I was little more than a year old, my mother, intelligent, neurotic, was displaced from her home and pushed from one lodging to another while my father was in France. Her much-loved first child Roger, about a year older, was evidently quite enough. With hindsight, I have no doubt at all that I was - to put it as kindly as possible - 'surplus to requirements'. The effect of all of this was a wound which never quite healed. It is not a question of blame (a misleading and highly emotive term) but of cause. Much credit was eventually due to my mother who despite her own emotional problems had the concern and wits to realise something was wrong, and ultimately to find Summerhill.

Read the rest here.as well as the entire Summerhill Newsletter. 
Some Interesting New Books
People often send us review copies of new books. Here are four we have recently received that seem particularly interesting. Take a look at the links to them and let us know if you think AERO should carry them. A couple are published in other countries but we could arrange to carry them here. 

The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education, Edited bt Helen E. Lees and Nel Noddings

Fitzroy Community School, founded, August 1976, by the co-founders, Philip O'Carroll & Faye Berryman


SelfDesign Graduate Institute Winter/Spring 2017 Faculty Webinars
January 22 Anna Soter (4-5 PM, PST)
Manifesting Language as a Field of Energy in a Poetry-Reading/Writing-for Wellbeing Program  Register for this webinar at: 
 
January 29 Jonathan Taylor (4-5 PM, PST)
The Emerging Elder at SelfDesign Register for this webinar at: 
 
February 5
The SelfDesign Graduate Institute's MA Program (4-5 PM, PST) Register for this webinar at: 
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8fbb556b3cd236b48c34be5db4a05ad8
 
Links and Calendar
Links
Ongoing
Calendar
Please send us feedback on this issue. also, we would like to have more articles written by AERO members and about AERO school and organizations.  Thank you for your ongoing support. With  your help , we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!

In Service,

Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization

Please consider making a donation to AERO to help support our work. Thanks!