My Thanksgiving post usually appears over at green-mangoes.com because it typically centers around my family, my friends and my life here in New York City.

And for all those things I am supremely thankful.  My family – husband, kids, parents, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles and so on – are all, to a person, amazing people.  How lucky am I to have good relationships with each and every one of them?  I count those blessings every day.

But this year I wanted to express thanks to a different family.   One that I haven’t had as long and some members of which I’ve never even met in person.

My life-learning, unschooling, alt-ed family which includes at least one former DOE employee (hi Lisa!) and several public school teachers gives me more reasons to be thankful this year.

Their support, their challenges and the debates they spark; their unfailing loyalty to the cause of freedom in learning and their creativity in pursuit of the same.   The amazing things I’ve learned and ideas I’ve been welcomed to share.  And the arguments, because it is sometimes through disagreement that the best ideas are discovered.  I am thankful for it all.

They also deserve thanks for understanding when I’m wrong – because none of us are right all the time – and for believing in me enough to stick with me.

Wendy Priesnitz, Lisa Nielsen, Elsa Haas, Michael Ellsberg, Blake Boles, Justin Schwamm, Brenna McBroom, Emile Gergin, Christa Gainor, Maria Bangs, Nancy Sathre-Vogel, Christina Pilkington, Jeremy Stuart, Pat Farenga, The Minimal List, Priscilla Sanstead, Bob Collier, Cindy Gaddis, not to mention all the commenters on my blog who’ve made me think, criticized me and/or engaged in great conversation.   Thank you.   (And if I left anyone out, I apologize and I blame it on all the turkey I ate.  Tryptophan and champagne don’t make for perfect recall!)

Happy Thanksgiving!