Convention Report

Friday and Saturday I attended the state homeschool convention! I rode over with 3 friends (Pam, Vicki, and Darlene) and we stayed the night in the hotel. AWESOME trip!

About 25 families I know were there. Hundreds of people attend this conference, so we were a very small portion, but when I went in 2004, I didn't know ANYONE from this area that was there! So, that's a huge improvement, eh?

We arrived just in time to check into the hotel and head over to the first seminar. There are 7 time slots for seminars, and I had chosen a seminar in each slot, but I only ended up attending 4 of them. I did not attend either general session (Friday night/Sat am) so I did not hear the keynote speaker.

The two seminars I attended on Friday were fine, but the content did not match the description of the seminar very well, so my expectations were not met. One presenter was one I had heard several times before, so I was disappointed that she had not included enough fresh material in this new seminar, which was titled Managing Multi-Level Teaching. The other seminar, Developing Independent Learners was too general. I wanted MUCH more specific details on how to develop this trait at every age.

I spent an hour or two in the vendor hall and bought a few things that night. Then eleven of us decided to head out for dinner instead of attend the general session that night. We walked to a nearby restaurant that was highly recommended but the wait time was very long. (There were many graduation celebrations in Lansing that day, due to MSU graduations.) So we went back to the hotel and decided to drive out to Olive Garden. Most of us were STARVING, so the drive over was torture. We demanded breadsticks as soon as we walked in! lol Dinner was WONDERFUL - both the food and the company. We took a very long time at the restaurant and didn't get back to the hotel until about 10:30pm!

At a convention, you can tell the night owls from the earlybirds very easily! :-) Some people headed right off to bed as soon as we returned, but others of us stayed up VERY late playing cards, talking, and getting reprimanded by hotel security! Yep, I guess we are a wild bunch of homeschool moms - not a denim jumper in any of OUR suitcases!

About 2am, Vicki, Darlene and I finally turned in for the night and didn't set a wakeup call since the first seminar wasn't scheduled until 10:20 (since we were planning to skip the 8:30 general session!). However, Pam, who was staying in a different room, had OTHER plans for us. At SEVEN AM, a sharp knock sounded at our door, and I blearily answered it to find a perky Pamela greeting me. What did she want? NOTHING except to wake us up! Very funny, Pam! So, none of us in our room got more than 4 hours of sleep. But that's to be expected, I suppose!

We headed over to the convention center eventually and tracked down a muffin for breakfast and then headed into our first seminar of the day. Andrew Pudewa, director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, was speaking on the topic Nurturing Competent Communicators. This seminar blew us all away!! I highly recommend him as a speaker and if you can get THIS seminar on tape, I would do it!

He said that a wrong, but common attitude is that if children are good readers, they will be good writers. This is not true. He said that children need to build "linguistic databases" in their brains that they can draw on for writing and speaking. Reading current children's fiction is not usually effective at this.

He suggests several things. First, throw out the TV or severely limit it. This would also include DVD's, video games, frivolous computer time, also. Second, read aloud. A LOT. To all ages. He suggested that 2-3 HOURS a day would not be too much. He specifically suggested fiction from 1850-1930. Third, have children MEMORIZE. Poetry. Scripture. Literature. Use the "Suzuki" method to memorize. Start with a short section and add to it as children master the parts. Work up to being able to say LONG sections. He gives this seminar across the country from time to time, so watch the website. You could also order a tape/CD of the seminar from INCH. www.inch.org

I was so glad to have attended THAT seminar, but needed some time to process it, so I didn't attend the next seminar I had planned to hear. I headed into the vendor hall for some more shopping. Then 8 of us headed over to the hotel for lunch in their restaurant. A yummy buffet featuring stroganoff and chicken looked great, so most of us had that. We relaxed upstairs in our room for a bit before heading back over.

Vicki and I went to a seminar entitled "Top 20 Products Used in Over 20 Years Homeschooling" but as soon as we walked in, they handed us a detailed handout of the top 20 products. Since we had the handout, we didn't really think we needed to attend the seminar, so we snuck out just as it began. :-) MORE shopping followed!

The last seminar we attended was the same woman, Donna Reish, who was giving the top 20 products seminar, but the one we went to was entitled Training Children to be Diligent Workers. Another EXCELLENT seminar! I highly recommend this speaker as well - she was funny and practical and had a TON of ideas!

Well, sadly, that marked the end of the convention, or just about. One more walk through the convention hall, some goodbyes, and leaving the hotel room, and then we were driving away. Again it was Pam, Darlene and me, but we swapped Vicki (who was staying one more night with her family, who had driven up to join her) for Tammy. We stopped in Flint at Don Pablo's for dinner, had some great Mexican food, shared some thoughtful conversation, and then started dropping people off one by one.

I can't believe it is over!! Can't wait til next year either!!

Will post my purchases separately. :-)