I spent the last two days at the CHEC (Christian Home Educators of Colorado) Home School Conference, or as they call it the Christian Family Conference. The conference is also on Thursday, but I didn't go. I will probably be getting some MP3 files from Best Christian Conferences for a couple of Thursday talks recommended by friends.
A friend and I carpooled to get there. We were chatting, and I missed an exit (I go a really back-roads kind of way to get there). We ended up looping around the long way, but got there in time anyway. It was kind of fun to see the oil processing plants in the middle of Commerce City. We both commented that our boys would have loved it.
I had my list of what I wanted to buy ready when I got there, so I made my stops: Math-U-See, My Father's World, and Rainbow Resource. I hauled it all out to the car in our "book basket" and I was ready for being energized and encouraged.
The first talk I went to was called "Teaching Your Kids to B.L.E.S.S" by Rachael Carman. She's a very good speaker, energetic and pulls in personal life stories. I really appreciated her heart in this talk. B.L.E.S.S. stands for Beneficial, Loving, Encouraging, Sacrifical, and Serving words. And, this was not just about the kids doing it, but moms and dads as well. This is something I need to work on for me, and for my kids. I can really see this helping have kinder words to each other.
The next talk I went to was by David Hazell, called "Homeschool: 'School' at Home or Family Discipleship." The big focus on this talk was thinking about the future - to your grandkids and great grandkids. Are you raising your children so that they'll raise their children to raise Godly children. At one point he asked, "What do you wish you had known when you got married?" No one answered, "More calculus." It was mostly relational things and life skills. Yes, academics are important, but they're the means to an end, not the end. Education never ends.
"The Joys of Raising Boys" by Marsha Washburn was my next talk. Having had an energetic girl, a lot of what she talked about wasn't "new" to me, but it was a good reminder as I head into starting K with my little guys. One of the things I really liked that she said was to find heros for your boys. I liked that. Good, Godly heros to look up to.
After that I felt like going to "Teaching Your Children to Stand Alone" by Little Bear Wheeler. He was a great speaker. He would be talking, and then get into something, and about 3 sentences into it, it would be funny. You wouldn't realize it because he kept such a serious face. He was really about guiding your children, but not being a control freak. Showing them, helping them and letting them go. Yes, we want to control their lives when they are little, but we need to be gradually letting them go, not going cold turkey when they turn 18.
And finally, since I will be teaching writing next fall, I thought I would go to Andrew Pudewa's "Teaching and Evaluating Writing." First, he is an excellent speaker - engaging, funny, and to the point. I really like how he gave his example outline, and other tips on helping improve a childs writing. But, I'm still going to start with Writing Strands this fall. If Rabbit has too much trouble, then I'll consider his program. Oh, this talk was 59 minutes on Teaching Writing, and 1 minute on Evaluating. Basically, if they did the topic sentence, and 3 supporting sentences, and the "clincher," then they should get an A.
At the end of the day I was exhausted. I was glad to have someone carpooling with me. Of course, we hit rush hour traffic at the worst time - about 1/2 hour to go 2 miles at one point, but we made it.
Today my husband had a "men's meeting" with the men at church, so I couldn't make the main session, but got to the conference just in time for shopping. I wandered around, and bought a few odds and ends that I thought would complete our school year.
Diana Waring's "The Indespensable Ingredient" was my first talk of the day. Basically, you the mom (or dad) are the main teacher, and you are what makes your school possible. She used the example of Strawberry Jam. The strawberries don't pick themselves, or wash themselves, or cook themselves - you have to do the work. Same with school. However, there is a lot of responsibity with that role. It was encouraging though. Again, real life personal examples of God's grace and winning back your children when you really mess up to give you hope.
I skipped the next time session because dhudson on the MFW message boards wanted us Colorado MFW users to meet in the cafeteria. That was great. Turns out, I worked with dhudson's husband way back when I worked, before we had kids. Talk about a small world. Hopefully we'll do some field trips or other fun things together.
Over the lunch hour I listend to "Family Ministry: Training Children to Reach Out" by David Hazell. The focus of this talk was the fact that we are chosen, called By God, to do what's in front of you. I really like how he talked about doing ministry as a family, and not sending the kids off under someone else to do ministry. Feeding the homeless, visiting nursing homes, a "jar" for giving, Bibles for displaced people - all ideas of things you can do as a family.
I will be adding my boys to our school next year (not that they weren't a part of our school this year), so "Teaching Boys and Other Children Who would Rather Make Forts All Day," by Andrew Pudewa seemed a logical choice. The room was packed for this talk. He talked about how boys are girls are really different - even physiologically. Boys need to stand to do math, boys don't hear as well, and need to be "cooler" temperature-wise. He had us laughing almost the whole time. He has two secret weapons for motivating kids. The first is you have to fill up their emotional bank account so they're living off the interest. He had a rule of saying 10 nice things before saying one critical thing. The second was to smile - a lot. If you smile you will make the other person smile.
My last talk of the day was "Exposed, Isolated or Insulated: How Should We Homeschool Our Children?" Another talk about having the long-term vision for your kids and their kids. About walking life together with our children and guiding them through it. One example he gave was going to the movies - his kids can only go if he gets to go with them. He'll buy the tickets for his kids and their friends. This way he knows what they're seing and get to talk with them afterwards about it. He again talked about ministry with your kids, not just sending them off with someone else (unless they're ready, of course). Another thing I really liked aout this was the idea of we don't have teenagers, we have young adults. At age 12, you start giving them responsibilities so they can be prepared. Of course you help them and guide them and teach them, but you are helping their roots grow deep (Psalm 1) so they know how to rely on God.
The amazing thing was, at the end of the conference I wasn't exhausted, even though I didn't sleep much last night. I woke up around 2:45 and just couldn't sleep. I got up for a while and read my Bible, and about 4:30 went back to bed. My husband got up at 6:00 and I thought, "Oh, I'll sleep until 6:30.' No sooner than he gets in the shower, and Pooh is knocking at the door - his bed is wet. So, I get him changed, and the bed changed, and crawl back in the bed thinking, "Okay, I'll sleep until 7:00." I pull up the covers, and Rabbit comes in with the same problem. (This hasn't happened to her in about 2 years.) So, my husband and I change the sheets on her bed, and it's 6:30 - time for me to get ready. The boys get up at 7:00. But now, 9:50pm, I am tired and hoping to get a good night's sleep.
I think the conference was great. I got something good out of every talk. And I did feel refreshed and energized at the end. I'm glad I went.
