Sometimes, invitations aren’t genuine invitations. They might sound like proper invitations. We say the right words, “Would you like to…?” but expect a particular response that doesn’t include the right to decline.
Then, some invitations are issued without a personal touch. We wonder, “Does it matter if I accept? Will anyone notice if I’m there or not?” This happened to me years ago when I was a naive Facebook user. I received an invitation to a baptism. There was only one problem: my friend lived on the opposite side of the world from me. I wondered if she’d forgotten that I lived in Australia when she’d invited me to join her for her daughter’s baptism in America. I sent my apologies, assuring my friend that I’d be there with her on this momentous day if I lived closer.
Later, when I told this story to my kids, they said my Facebook friend had probably invited all her ‘friends’ to the baptism – hundreds of them – regardless of who they were and where they lived. No one expected me to accept the invitation. It wasn’t personal. It wasn’t a real invitation. Probably, the friend wasn’t a real friend either.
Can someone invite everyone and still make it personal? I hope so because that’s what I’d like to do. I want to invite you to a Christian unschooling Zoom meetup. Even though I’m not addressing you by name, your presence at the get-together is important to me. If you accept the invitation, I’ll get to know you. As we share our thoughts, stories, and ideas, we’ll become friends!
The Invitation
Erin from Ever Learning and I have been hosting Christian unschooling Zoom discussions for a while now within our Unschooling Together community. And now we’d like to invite you to join us.
Recently on Instagram, Erin @__everlearning__said:
Hello Christian Unschool Families :). Would you like to get together virtually for some connection and conversation? Sue Elvis from @stories_ofan_unschoolingfamily and I have been meeting with a small group and we’d love to open it up further.
There are lots of us out there but we tend to be pretty quiet about this particular combination in our lives. Something we hear over and over again is that while people are thankful for the various home ed connections, they sometimes feel misunderstood in both Christian homeschool and parenting circles as well as secular unschool and parenting ones.
It’s been helpful to chat in a space where we can be fully expressive of both of these aspects of ourselves at the same time.
And so, for our December conversation …
Join us as we enter Advent, sharing our thoughts and reflections with one another and looking toward Christmas. We hope to chat about the quieter, deeper, gentler points of the season as well as have some fun finding out about favourite festive traditions that bring joy to each of us and our families – and why not chat about Santa Claus? We’d love to share. All perspectives and experiences welcome. ❤️💚
*Please feel free to share with those you think might be interested.
Where: Over Zoom, a link will be sent once you’ve been in touch with me at [email protected] or by DM.
When: We’re getting together the first week of each month, but you are welcome to come for whichever months work for you, even if it’s just one. Wednesdays at 4 pm EST/Thursdays at 8am AEDT(subject to slight change if anyone in the Southern Hemisphere needs to shift a bit)
Who: Christian Unschooling parents who would like to connect for conversation, encouragement and support. This isn’t specific to any particular denomination or definition of unschooling – all are welcome. We just ask that people come with a spirit of respect for the choices of both unschooling and Christianity.
Cost: Contribution to Buy Me a Coffee, details to be sent once you contact with interest.
Erin and I will set up a Buy Me a Coffee account just for Christian unschooling, where we can share links and other information relevant to our discussions. You’ll also be able to reserve your Christian unschooling Zoom place each month on this Coffee page.
If you’re interested in joining us, please contact Erin or me on Instagram or leave me a blog comment. We’ll make sure you receive all the relevant details.
So, I hope you’ll accept our invitation. It’s a genuine one. Your presence at our Zoom discussion meetups is important to us!
Photos
These are some of my family’s 2018 Advent photos. As you can see, Imogen, Charlotte and Gemma-Rose were putting up our Christmas tree on a warm summer’s day.
