Homeschool Con 2015 + Curriculum Haul

Ok, so you all know I love mess. But sometimes being messy requires encouragement, refreshing options, and good curriculum. Enter this year's Teaching Parents Association Homeschool Convention.  I had never actually been to a Homeschool Con, so this was a new experience for me.  I had shopped the vendors before, so I knew there were fun things to play with, and more shiny new textbooks than you can fling a kindergartener at, but the actual conference, with the keynote speakers and workshops was a new experience.  I was excited, and nervous, and even a little skeptical (I mean really, what is there for me to learn, being a second gen homeschooler? Yes, I might have a teensy little pride issue happening here.)

So off I went.

Day 1:

My first workshop was called "Setting the Stage During the Preschool Years."  Two veteran moms taught it, and there was standing room only.  Not only that, but I know several of the moms who attended this particular workshop,  One of them is my best friend.  Apparently I was not alone in my curiosity.  My basic takeaway from this session:  READ TO YOUR CHILDREN!  A lot.  Every. Single. Day.  One of the presenters gave a list of resources for reading to your kids.  The most noteable?  Five In A Row

Five In A Row is a fun and interesting curriculum for 4-8 year olds.  Mind you the way it is structured you can enrich your younger children easily with this.  The way it works:  Each day, (Five In A Row) you read your children a book, a good book.  Like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, or Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McClosky.  Each book has a list of activities for your children to complete, separated by subject.  Social Studies, Art, Science, Math, and History all make an appearance.  Hubs and I will most likely use it less like an all in one curriculum, and more like a daily literature lesson for our kids. It looks like so much fun, and a great excuse to fill in some glaring gaps in our family library.  We bought our copy of Five In A Row from Rainbow Resource, but you can order it directly from the company's website (linked above).

I also looked at homeschool planners at Rainbow Resource.  Unfortunately I didn't find one that I liked, but I will touch more on that later.  While I was browsing at Rainbow Resource's booth I found the Live Butterfly Garden that I have wanted for Baby Girl and picked it up as a birthday gift.  Hubs found a cool 2-liter Bird Feeder that we will be setting up as well. 

My second session was the keynote session called Trading Pressure for Peace presented by Jeannie Fulbright.  I will admit, I was skeptical going into this session.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like or benefit from this particular session.  It ended up being a message that I needed to hear.  Fear is a powerful and ugly motivator.  I realized that a lot of my mistakes with the kids and with homeschooling were rooted in deep seated fears and inadequacy.  It was comforting to hear that I am enough.  What I do is enough.  The loads of dirty laundry and sink full of dishes don't make me less than.  As Mrs. Fulbright talked about the mistakes she made I sat and thought this is me!  And seeing where her children are, how far they have come, was a huge encouragement.  If you take nothing else away from this post, know that you are enough for your children.  Your mistakes are not permanent.  Your children will not be perfect.  The house will not always be clean.  But you are enough.  Hear me, and know this.  Take that knowledge deep down into your soul.  Don't just know it with your head, know it with your heart.  And know that I am trying desperately to internalize this message right along with you.

Sorry.  Didn't mean to be so sappy. Moving on.

Third Session:  What Every Mom Needs To Know About Teaching Reading by Cynthia Shelden. This. Session. Was. Life. Changing.  My entire philosophy on teaching Baby Girl to read has been upended and resettled.  Cynthia Shelden has a masters degree as a reading educator, and her explanation for how teaching reading is rocket science helped me realize how Baby Girl and I are different. 

"Research Shows:
The top 30% of children learn to read no matter what method is used.
Middle 50% (average readers) will learn to read from many kinds of well-organized instruction.
17-20% of children are likely to experience serious problems with reading unless they receive intensive, well-designed instruction." ~Cynthia Shelden

There are talented readers, there are readers with talent and skill, and there are readers that are skilled only.  I fall into the category of a talented reader.  I didn't need to "learn" the rules, I just intuitively understood how words worked and could figure out how to "decode" words on my own.  Baby Girl has some talent, but she just isn't as intuitive and needs to be taught the rules to help her decode words.  And because I am a "talented" reader I need a solid curriculum to help me teach her to read.  Unfortunately, people that do things effortlessly tend to be terrible at teaching them to others.  Hubs and I looked at several different curricula.  Mrs. Shelden suggested several great ones.  We settled on Explode The Code.  We were unable to find all of the books we needed at the convention, and plan to buy them online. We plan to start with Book A and run through A,B, and C quickly and then move on to Level 1.  The great news about this program is that is is extremely reasonably priced so buying all of the books won't be particularly expensive in comparison to others.  We even found a few at the used book booth for about half price.  If you choose to use this program you will need to buy readers as well, FYI.

My last session of day 1 was: Let's Make A Plan! by Jeanine Schantz & Lona Gorman, both members of the TPA Board.  I have known for a while that I need to plan my year out to keep me on track.  This workshop was very insightful as to how I should go about this process.  I think I have decided to use A Garden Patch of Reproducible Home School Planning Worksheets by Debbie McGregor.  It is an eBook format, so I can print the pages after I have customized them.  I plan to first divide up my year based on the number of days I need to have my children attend, then spread the curriculum I plan to use across that amount of time.  Then all I have to do is follow the outline I create and I am hopeful that I will stay close to on target.  Do I think we will finish everything?  No way.  Do I think I can be flexible and change the outline as needed to set a pace Baby Girl and Buds can keep up with?  Absolutely.  I just need a direction to head in.  The kids will show me the way to get there,

Day 2:

Hubs and I spent the first portion of our time Saturday in the exhibitor hall.  Aside from needing to physically pry him away from the used book stall we ended up being fairly quick and efficient.  We started off looking for the math program we decided to try.  Two years ago, before Baby Girl started kindergarten we purchased Math-U-See Alpha.  I had used Math-U-See as a homeschooler and loved it.  It is a great curriculum, for some people.   Hubs never used it, and it doesn't make sense to him.  Baby Girl really didn't get it either.  So we decided to go with Hubs old standby, Saxon.  Our challenge was finding which level Baby Girl is at.  We decided that Math 1 is probably where we should start with her.  We found the teacher book and one of the work books at a used book booth for less than half the cost of the brand new items (score!).  We will order the workbooks and meeting book online.

Our next big find is the one I am most excited about.  When we asked Baby Girl what she wanted us to buy her for school she said, "Something for Biology."  Yes, she is 6.  And yes, she really does want a biology curriculum.  Which we found!  Apologia just came out with a new elementary science curriculum, written by Jeannie Fulbright (Remember her from day 1?  Yeah, pretty neat lady.)  Baby Girl is now the proud owner of Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day.  The three zoology texts can be used in any order, and you do not have to buy the accompanying workbook to go along with it, which is really nice. Even better is that the two chapters at the beginning of Zoology 1 are available online for free so that families that choose 2 or 3 as their first texts have those basics available.  I will touch more on my plans for this a little later. 

I had used the high school Apologia Science texts in high school and I cannot recommend them highly enough.  They are very well written, scientifically sound, and have fun experiments.  According to my mom, the supplies that are used for experimentation are easy to find, and usually are already around the house.  A huge plus for us homeschool moms on a budget.

We also visited the Timberdoodle booth and picked a fun Sticker Book for Buds to work on while Baby Girl and I are doing school.  If you have littles and want a fun curriculum check out Timberdoodle.  They have some very fun stuff.  I love looking through all of the fun and good quality toys that they have.

Overall I think our shopping went very well.  We got some good deals, bought some great curriculum, and made some decisions that will be good moving forward with school for next fall.

The first session that afternoon (for us at least) we split up.  Hubs went to "Being a Hands On Dad" by James Glenn and I attended "Notebooking: Creativity with a Purpose" by Jeannie Fulbright.  (I liked her apparently!)   Hubs enjoyed his session, and while I was (again) skeptical going in, I was very glad I went. 

Notebooking is the concept of having a child write and/or draw a picture at the completion of a text or activity.  This falls fairly firmly under the Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling (which on "placement" tests about my style of homeschooling I am merely "meh") which is a philosophy I am not very knowledgeable about.  However, I am all about doing things that my children will benefit from, and I am not opposed to using methods from many different schools of thought.  Baby Girl processes her feelings, thoughts, and desires through drawing, so the concept of drawing as a form of "activity completion" seems very natural for her.   We will be using it heavily as part of her science and reading studies, and after field trips and other experiences.  I am looking forward to using what I learned!

And our final session of Homeschool Con 2015 was "Homeschooling with Unschooling Successfully" by Cyndi Kinney of Knowledge Box Central.  I was very excited about this workshop.  Unschooling has always been my preferred method of learning for my children (yes, you just read a whole long dealio about all of the amazing curriculum I bought- don't be surprised when a whole bunch of it goes out the window!).  I want my children to learn as organically as they can.  Ms. Kinney shared the story of how she unschooled her daughter, who graduated high school at 15 and college at 18.  Her daughter is now an EMT, Fire Fighter, Stunt Double, Photographer, and all around general amazing person.  And she never had a day of formal schooling before college.  Her mother allowed her to follow her passions, and she did so, with gusto!  I am excited to go on my children's learning adventure with them. 

Side Note: Cyndi Kinney owns Knowledge Box Central, which has supplements for many curricula and  books.  I might be getting several of her products for Baby Girl to do this year!

I think my haul, and my experience this year will give me the tools to help Baby Girl and Buds to follow their passions this coming year, while simultaneously allowing me to make sure they are moving toward our end goal of a well rounded education.  So, in the words of Ms Frizzle, I am ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!