After discussing How to Choose Speakers at the Homeschool Convention last week, this week the vendor hall takes the forefront in our minds. Have you ever felt the giddiness of possibility walking through the exhibit hall? Or perhaps you get sensory overload and have no idea how to choose? Maybe you are planning right now to go to your first (or your fourteenth) convention and find yourself trying to navigate the vendor list to better allocate your funds. Today I am going to share with you how to make the most of your vendor hall experience. Because, let's be honest that's the biggest draw at most conventions.
Why check out the vendor hall at the homeschool convention?
for opportunities to discuss issues.
for inspiration.
for great deals.
How then to plan your vendor hall experience?
pre-planning.
what are your needs.
what are your priorities.
what fits your kids.
walk the hall.
Homeschool Conventions: What's the benefits of visiting the vendor hall?
If you are one of the ones who find the vendor halls more overwhelming than inspiring you might ask why not just skip it. There are numerous benefits to walking the exhibit hall before settling on your final decision for curriculum and resources this year. It gives you the opportunity to discuss options, be inspired, and find great deals.
Discussions
As Kathy pointed out last week in the comments, a major plus of the convention halls is the opportunity to have discussions with the speakers and companies in attendance. I can't tell you how often I've been able to follow up with a speaker with either my personal questions related to their presentation or a question about how their curriculum might work for our family.
Several years ago now I listened to Kirk of Celebrate Calm at the Convention. His work was so helpful that I reworked my speaker schedule to catch some of his other workshops. I then followed up with a few questions in the vendor hall, and met Casey when I bought all his parenting cds. A friend and I have talked about the "Calm Guy" ever since as we support each other in implementing his methods.
The very first convention I ever attended back in Pennsylvania, I was searching for math curriculum. I had a few possibilities on the list and looking between them decided that Math U See was the best fit. However, I found myself stumped at which level of Math U See to purchase for my son, since we had informally been doing some math for a year at that point. I had the opportunity to talk it over with Mr. Steve Demme. After conversing with me, he got the blocks and got down on my son's level to engage him. I will never forget the way that little boy lit up and responded. Even now, 10+ years later all the kids tell people that Mr. Steve is their math teacher simply from that one encounter.
Finding Inspiration
I really enjoy the vendor halls, even when they are an overwhelming cacophony of sound and color. Every where I look there is a world of possibility with the potential to inspire and revolutionize your homeschooling journey. All these booths contain people who are passionate about the niche they have chosen to fill, and you can find almost anything in the convention hall. It's enough to make anyone optimistic about their next year of homeschooling.
Most years I have entered the exhibit hall with a plan to find materials for a particular subject, but without a plan for who I would be purchasing it from. Year before last, I decided that as the kids were getting older I wanted a more structured science program. Up to that time I had been building my own unit studies based on their interests. I knew that I wanted a more thorough and systematic approach to the subject. I also knew from the kids interests that I was looking for chemistry. The vendor hall gave me the option to go to numerous booths and actually flip through their books, navigate their computer programs, and over the course of a few days compare back and forth as I narrowed down my options. I left that weekend excited about our choice for the next school year.
Likewise just walking the exhibit hall has given me ideas. Sometimes that has looked like me noting a project or program for the future when my kids are older. Occasionally that has lead me to adding something to our current school year. Sometimes it is an idea to change something in our homeschool for something else that is a better fit. Every now and then I even discover a solution to an area that I didn't even realize was troublesome rather than just typical.
Great Deals
A big reason that I started going to the convention was for the vendor hall deals. Often the best deals of the year can be found at homeschool conventions. Most companies run special pricing for convention and even if they plan to ship your book to you later, will offer free shipping. What sort of deal if any varies from company to company. More and more often companies are running convention specials online as well as in person; however, I am still saving money most years by making my final decisions and ordering at the convention.
Homeschool Conventions: How to Plan Your Vendor Hall Experience
Now, that we've laid out the reasons that the convention hall is such a beneficial resource, just how do you go about figuring out where to go and what to do? I can recall walking into the convention hall for the first time at my first convention and being absolutely stunned at the number of resources available. That year, I didn't come even close to walking all the booths over two days. I grew up in a family of public educators, and never dreamed of all the available options I had out there. There is no question that all the options can be overwhelming, so how do we determine where to start.
Pre-Planning
My biggest secret to a successful homeschool convention experience, as you might have guessed from the title, is pre-planning. Now, I'm a planner and if I do nothing else successfully, I'll teach you how to make planning work for you. But right now, we are looking at vendor planning. I spend sometime ahead of the convention, usually late at night, after all the kids are in bed, scrolling through the vendor list online, and looking up every one with a website. This is the first step. Some I can automatically cross off the list. Some folks really love Classical Conversations, but I'm not a classical homeschooler, so most of those I don't need to look into further. Others might be a possibility because they line up with something I need, which brings us to our next step.
What do I need this year?
Each year ahead of convention time, for me usually around March, I start thinking about our next school year. (We begin our school year each year in August.) This is a multi-step process, that I might delve into deeper at another time. I look at what's working for us, and what's not. Some choices are fairly simple for us, I am 99% sure I'll level up in Math U See, for example. Others are a little more complex and involve alot of discussion between me and the husband. I always ask the kids what they are enjoying or would like to change up. I also always ask them what they are interested in learning, sometimes the answers are surprising. After a week of examining, I usually have an idea what I need for the next year.
What are my current priorities?
Once I know what I need for the following year, it's time to begin prioritizing. I don't know about all of you, but the husband has never given me a blank check and told me to buy curriculum to my heart's delight. Since I have to work within a budget there are choices to be made. My math expenses are fairly fixed each year, but subjects like science especially with experiments are more variable. This coming school year I'll have two 9th graders, who will be taking biology. This is going to eat up a chunk of this year's budget. Dissection equipment, a good microscope, not even talking about the books, so I either have to be judicious in purchasing these items, or I may have to make choices about what isn't a priority, or a combination of both. If my priority is to get the top notch biology equipment, since one of the kids wants to pursue more biology related courses, then my secondary priority might be language arts this year, and finding some cheap history resources to round out the course I'm structuring myself might rank third. Art might not be a priority at all this year, and that's ok. The key isn't to beat yourself up for having priorities but to be realistic in what you are going to be looking for.
What fits for you and your kids?
Way back when I was first considering homeschooling (against my best intentions, I might add) I read through Cathy Duffy's book that I picked up at the library "101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum." I worked my way through two sections that have proven invaluable over the years: my teaching style and my child's learning style. It doesn't matter just how amazing this new curriculum is if it isn't a fit for your teaching style and their learning style. This is why frequently homeschool parents use different options for the same subject for different kids over the years.
With 4 school aged children, I have several different learning styles. So I often look for material that fits multiple learning styles, though I also wil pick up items for use with just one child when it's just the right fit for them. It also doesn't matter if it is the perfect item for them, if it doesn't work with my strengths as their teacher. Because if it is drudgery for me, then it's going to take the enjoyment out of their education. Remember there are no right or wrong answers to learning or teaching styles, everyone is built differently; and the advantage to homeschooling is that we can customize the education and curriculum for each child. This process helps me, for example, to take the list I've made of biology options and narrow it down further to a list of biology options that might prove a fit for us.
Walk the Hall.
Finally, you've done all your pre-planning. You have an idea of what you need and have prioritized your list. You've weeded out things that don't fit your family. You are waiting outside the doors to the convention hall, ready to walk the floor for the first time. I take an hour or two that first evening and just wander the hall. It lets me oggle over all the neat items for sale. I look at the new board games and the resources for beginning learners. I stop and listen to the instrument vendors as they play and discuss the value of music in homeschooling. It lets me enjoy the atmosphere of the exhibit hall and soak up all that inspiration.
Later on (or the next day if it's a three day conference), I take my list that I wrote up ahead of time, with the list of venders that made my cut and start hunting for my first priority. I narrow down my options from a few to one or two, and then repeat the process for the rest of my priorities. I then sit down that evening and talk over my options with the husband. Usually he offers little to no input in this process because I'm the one that does all of the instruction. However, I have learned even if he has nothing to say just talking through it out loud helps me to sort through the pros and cons, then focus in what is the best fit for both the kids, me, and the budget.
The following morning as soon as I've time around the speakers I want to hear, I go and purchase my curriculum. At that point, I just enjoy roaming the halls to get ideas for the future. This is also when I take what money I have left over and find a little something for each kid. They always love it when we come home with a specific fun surprise that fits each of them.
Homeschool Conventions: Vendor Hall: In conclusion
This process takes the stress out of choosing curriculum. I remind myself there are no perfect choices, I'm just finding the best fit for our family at this time. With a system to evaluate options over more than just a couple of days, I can feel good about making a decision at the convention. I don't have buyers regret because between my pre-planning and experience at the convention hall, I have a game plan for the new year. Try my method out for your homeschool convention this year, you won't be disappointed.
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