Homeschool Convention Memories and Tips

The first homeschool convention I ever went to was in 1997 in Wichita, Kansas. Laura was four years old and Rebecca was just beginning to toddle. I wasn't seriously considering homeschooling at that time, but a friend of mine was and she invited me to go to the convention with her. We bought vendor hall passes and went one evening just to browse and shop.

We received a tote box full of literature and samples as we went in the door. Yes, a tote box. Apparently they were meant to be sturdier than bags? I don't know. The handles soon broke and we had to carry them in our arms. If I had known then what I know now, I would have taken my own heavy-duty bag. Or better yet, a wheeled suitcase. We collected more information as we went around the hall and our boxes got heavier and heavier. I was just blown away by all the options... and encouraged to reconsider homeschooling my children.

Two years later, after Laura's kindergarten year at home, I attended the convention in Portland, Oregon with my sister-in-law. We spent the whole day there. Lyle kept Laura that day, and I took Rebecca with me. I had our double stroller and that gave me the whole second compartment for stashing catalogs and purchases. The stroller was cumbersome to navigate, but it sure was handy for keeping my preschooler and all our "stuff" contained. Late in the day, when Rebecca was ready for a nap, I just leaned her seat back and pulled the canopy down over her and then walked around and around and around the vendor hall, and even outside a little bit,until she went to sleep. That was the day I discovered comfy shoes are a must. 

Over the years since then I've attended around 80 homeschool conventions by my best count. With the exception of those first two, I've been a representative for Sonlight at almost all of them. At some conventions we are so busy I never have a chance to leave my booth. At others, I've had time to stroll around and visit other vendor booths... and even slip into a workshop now and then.

Naturally I've picked up a few tips and observations. I mentioned the wheeled cart (or stroller) and comfy shoes. Not all events allow wheels, so be sure to check about that before you go. A sturdy backpack would probably be a good alternative, if you can't take something with wheels.

Some events are very kid-friendly with planned activities and hands-on booths for the kids. Others don't allow young kids in the vendor hall at all. Personally, I think you'll get more out of the event if you're able to plan to leave the kids with someone else for the day. At one event recently I was trying to help one mom whose unhappy toddler in the stroller screamed the whole time we were talking. That was very distracting and frustrating for both of us.

There are times when the vendor hall is very busy and you may not be able to get into a particular booth you want to visit, or the line may be long. An insider tip to get around that issue is to plan to skip one workshop and do your shopping during that time slot. The vendor hall is usually much slower during workshops.

One other insider tip I want to mention is to take printed address labels with you. If you have some of the freebie ones that come in the mail occasionally, great! Those'll do! If not, you can print your own. You may want to anyway, to include your phone number and email address. That makes it so quick and handy to enter drawings and provide that info when you are placing an order. Plus it helps the vendor who may struggle to read your handwriting.

Do you have other tips I haven't mentioned? I'm sure others who are participating in Sonlight's Blog Party this month do! Check it out!

A 3-State Day

We traveled from Denver to St. Louis yesterday with a small detour to Rolla, Missouri to visit Lyle's mom for a few minutes. We left home at 3:00 a.m. and traveled a total of 17 hours, including stops. Mostly we were on the interstate with not much "scope for the imagination" or interesting tallies. We were off the main road for a little bit as we cut down from Columbia to Rolla. With that in mind, here are my tallies for Thursday:

States traveled through: 3 (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri)
Car Talk episodes: 2
Audio book CDs: 3 (of a 15 CD book, Illusion by Frank Peretti)
Dead armadillos along the road in Missouri: 44 (not kidding!)

Country churches with interesting names:
Little Flock Baptist Church
Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church
Grace Cowboy Church

Ok. So we'll see what this post looks like. I don't seem to have the hang of mobile blogging, so I  may or may not post again before we get home.

Our Homeschooling Decision

Okay, I'll confess... before I had children I honestly thought I would never homeschool. After all, I had survived public school just fine, and as long as I was involved in my children's education I was sure everything would be just fine. The year my oldest child turned 4, a friend who also only had preschoolers invited me to attend a homeschool curriculum fair in Wichita with her. (We lived in Kansas at the time.) My friend did intend to homeschool, and I was interested to see what was out there for preschool... because I knew I wouldn't be sending my child to school till kindergarten.

What an overwhelming and eye-opening experience that was! I took the tote box they gave us at the door and proceeded around the hall, gathering as much information as I could. And that's exactly what I recommend to folks who are considering homeschooling for the first time. Attend a conference. Explore your options.

Up until that time I only knew about a typical textbook curriculum, or a not-so-typical but still very cut-and-dried workbook approach. While I have always loved to teach, I wasn't sure that either of those approaches really appealed to me. I would really just rather read to my children. Imagine my delight when I discovered the literature-based approach to home education! I have always been a voracious reader... and I love to read aloud. To get to do that, and call it school? Umm... yeah, I b'lieve maybe I will homeschool! No, I really didn't make up my mind that day, but it sure gave me food for thought.

I had a part-time job in the evenings as assistant children's librarian at the public library. Working there I began to get to know the homeschoolers who regularly visited the library. Later that summer some of them came in with book lists because UPS was on strike, and their curriculum was delayed in coming. As they asked me to help them locate the books on their lists, I was delighted to find many of my childhood favorites included. Turns out, the book lists were from a company called Sonlight Curriculum.

What really clinched the decision for us was an opportunity to move out-of-state the next year, just before our daughter was due to start kindergarten. We moved to Idaho after school was out for the summer, so I didn't have a chance to check out the public school. My husband and I decided that I would try homeschooling for the kindergarten year and see how it went. After poring over dozens of catalogs, I finally settled on Sonlight  for that first year. By the end of the year, I couldn't imagine not continuing with Sonlight for the next year. And we never looked back.

I started representing Sonlight at conventions in 2000, when the children were still very young. Every year at the conventions I went to, I still explored my options. Yes, I loved Sonlight, but first and foremost, I wanted what was best for my kids. If there was a better curriculum for us out there, I wanted to know about it. Always, I came to the conclusion Sonlight was what our family needed. It is flexible enough that I could adapt it for my kids' individual needs and we could still enjoy and learn from all the great stories.

Looking back, I can't imagine what our life would have been like if we hadn't chosen to homeschool. It has been such a rewarding experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.

This post is part of Sonlight's 25th Anniversary Blog Party (February edition):

I hope you'll join the party.
I'd love to read your story...
plus you have a chance to win a great prize package!

Settling In

 I guess it's way past time for an update. We are gradually settling into our new home. The weather has been quite variable. January was overall pretty mild. Last weekend we got a good bit of snow, turning our backyard into a Winter Wonderland.

 Two weeks ago we made a quick trip to Kansas over the weekend to meet up with my parents so the girls could go home with them. They are planning to stay in Arkansas until the end of March. Laura will probably come back to Colorado at that time, but Becky intends to stay and raise a new flock of chickens this spring, since last year's Girls had to stay in Idaho. She's thinking of adding some guineas to her flock as well.

We drove home across southern Kansas, and drove parallel to an Amtrak train for many miles. Sometimes it would get ahead of us when we stopped, but then we would pass it again.

 In the evenings we're trying to get more unpacking and setting up done. Last weekend we got some pictures hung which makes the house feel more like home. I was happy to get Lyle's string arts hung in the family room. (This is a craft he was into as a teen. Even though they are somewhat "retro" by now, I have enjoyed hanging them in our home throughout our marriage.)

Work continues to go well. Each week is a little better than the last... which is a good thing, I think. Lyle is getting to know his co-workers and enjoying more variety than just running the printing press, which is what he mostly did the first couple of weeks. I've been making plans for the upcoming homeschool convention season. Turns out I'll be doing 8 events this year... 3 of which are in Alaska! I'm very excited about that, as I've never been to Alaska before. That will be an adventure, for sure!

One thing we are thoroughly enjoying is exploring the area. Last Sunday was sunny after a big snowfall the previous two days, so we went for a long drive up in the mountains. Suffice it say that fresh snow in the Rockies shimmering in the sun is breathtaking.

Until next time...

Kansas Sunset

We have enjoyed a few days in Kansas visiting with Lyle's family... good meals, good fellowship, shopping for bargains, cuddling babies, playing with cousins, chasing barn cats, fun in the sun...

Kansas

This was one of our longer days on the road. We drove across much of Colorado and Kansas. We stopped in Garden City to eat lunch with a former pastor... and got to Lyle's brother's house near Wichita in the early evening. His parents and a few other relatives joined us for supper.

State Thimbles

As promised, here is a picture of the thimbles I collected on our trip last week. Just thought I'd show them to you as part of Kelli's Show & Tell.

I have the thimbles lined up in the order I got them.

The first one is actually not a state thimble. I picked it up at a garage sale earlier this summer for a dime! After I noticed how well it fit in the tiny lower cubbies of my type case, I decided I'd like to collect more thimbles.

The second thimble is metal. I got it at WalMart in Butte, Montana, not realizing that the prettier ceramic thimbles would be available at gas station convenience stores along the way, at a cheaper price. Once I discovered that, I decided to focus my collection on that style of thimble. Which explains why I'm missing thimbles from Minnesota and North Dakota. The places we stopped in those states that had thimbles only had the more expensive/less attractive metal ones. I decided I could hunt for pretty ones from those states another time.

That's a pretty good start, don't you think? I will enjoy adding to my collection as we travel.

Of course, I'll probably add Idaho and Washington this weekend!

Checking in from Kansas

It was exactly midnight Central Time when we checked in to our motel in Salina tonight.

1,120 miles today. Well, yesterday, I mean. Wednesday. Whatever day that was. In any case it was 16.5 hours in the car.

So that's my report for tonight.

Good night!

Teter Nature Trail Geocache

We used to live in El Dorado, Kansas-- moved to Idaho in 1998-- and had hiked this trail in years past. Now we're back for a visit, and it was cool to get to do it again and look for a Geocache this time! We brought our 13-year-old nephew along for his first cache. After quite a little while of searching the area, he was the one who first spotted it.