Convention Wrap Up

We had a great time at convention last weekend, but I ended up sick this week, which derailed our plans; however, I'm feeling a bit better today, so I thought I'd share our convention wrap up.

Britt and Ruth's reaction to the convention was mostly positive. Ruth felt like the best part was seeing and hearing all the "different people and how they talked about all sorts of subjects, but that it was not too overwhelming." Also, she was impressed with the resort. She couldn't believe "they had a golf course, basketball course, ping pong stand, three different pools, two hot tubs, a kiddie pool, a beach volley ball court, and a lake!" She also LOVED the amazing ice cream place at the resort. But her greatest compliment was that "For once waking up early was worth it. Lots of the coolest stuff was in the morning, in the keynote session."

Britt felt like the best part was the session on CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Though he also really enjoyed the session that shared all the reasons evolution won't work from a Marine Biologist's point of view. And he thought "Todd Wilson's story about the turkey in the camper was the most hilarious story" he'd ever heard. When asked about the resort, ever practical, he concurred that "the pools were great but the drinks and food were over priced." The only negative the two had, echoed one another, Ruth said that it was "easy to get lost and it was a lot of walking" while Britt described it as "a little confusing navigating around."

Gary, the husband, felt like compared to previous years. That there was an increase in booths, with a great deal of action in the vendor hall. There were lots of options for speakers from technical talks, things geared to new homeschoolers, as well as things for veterans. He still likes the venue but recognizes that as long as it is held there, the parking is always going to be a serious problem. Overall he summarized the weekend by saying, "You can look at it as overwhelming, or see it as multiple ways of training and teaching your children. While getting hands on experience on how it works, from those that make the curriculum and writers of the text are there every year to answer questions. The one area I think they miss out on, however is in not holding a used curriculum sale like CHAPP did back in Pennsylvania."

As always, I felt the weekend was a success. I heard some speakers that gave me the encouragement to do this another year. I learned some of the things I needed to launch out into homeschooling high school. I had the kids look through some books, and settled on our curriculum for the next year. I didn't buy it yet, but I also found out where the best prices for my books are, so that I can purchase as soon as we have the budget ready. I left with a plan and feeling ready to implement it.

Other than the usual goals, the greatest highlight of the weekend for me was getting to spend some time with friends. A fellow homeschooling family was able to meet up with us for several sessions, and we spent some time together wandering the convention hall and comparing notes on speakers and curriculum. We also were able to meet up with Mrs. Eva and Mr. Jonathan of Open Tent Academy, who have been the kids' teachers for several online classes over the last year. They were great fun to talk with and the kids loved getting to meet them in person. If only I had thought to get a picture with them for us. It was a wonderful weekend.