AERO’s Conference 2017 has a great line-up of pro self-directed education speakers as their keynoters: author and child advocate Jonathan Kozol on child-led learning, author Joanna Farber on “How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen, a Survival Guide to Life,” Dayna Martin on radical unschooling, Dennis Littkey of the Big Picture Schools, and John Gatto.

I was concerned how John Gatto could present at the conference due to his stroke and Jerry Mintz, the conference founder, emailed me that John is writing a speech just for the AERO conference that will be read on stage by someone else. John will then answer questions asked in advance from our participants and in real time, by typing them from his home.

The AERO conference is held on the beautiful campus of Long Island University C.W. Post in Greenvale, NY. The dorm room rates are inexpensive, especially for Long Island, so try to get them while you can.

YesWorld.org, whose mission is “connecting, inspiring, and collaborating with young changemakers” is conducting its annual Education Jam in Baltimore this year. They are putting the event on in conjunction with the Free Minds, Free People conference “that brings together teachers, young people, researchers, parents and community-based activists/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote education as a tool for liberation. We seek to develop ways of teaching and learning both in and out of school that help us to build a more just society. The conference is a space in which these groups can learn from and teach each other, sharing knowledge, experience and strategies.”

NOTE: The registration deadline has been extended for YesWorld so ignore the May 21 deadline on some materials you may see.