Preparing for Homeschool Conventions: Choosing Speakers

Planning for the FPEA Homeschool Convention

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to live for homeschool convention time? Or perhaps you've attended a convention and wondered what the draw is for hearing a bunch of people talk about what you are already doing every day? Maybe you are planning right now to go to your first (or your fourteenth) convention and just find the speaker list overwhelming. Today we are going to examine why attend the speaker sessions at your local homeschool convention, and how to plan your sessions. Because, investing time in listening to convention speakers, yields benefits in your daily homeschooling.

• Why listen to homeschool convention speakers?

  • for self-education.

  • for encouragement.

• How then to plan your sessions?

  • what are your interests.

  • what are your current priorities.

  • take a look at your over all choices.

  • what is your gut feeling.

Homeschool Conventions: Time for Self-Education

As the daughter of a public school teacher, I can verify that a great deal of time is spent by teachers in what they call continuing education. They go to seminars, have in-service days, and summer programs all to learn more about the best way to teach and manage a classroom. As homeschool parents, we too often find ourselves desire to better approach a situation or better teach a subject.

You must always continue to learn in order to keep growing and advancing in your chosen career. In this way you're able to give more of yourself each time... -Shannon L. Alder

We, I would argue, are more invested in what we do than classroom teachers. They care a great deal about their students and desire for them to learn and achieve in the classroom, but as parents we have an even greater motivation to engage in self-education. This homeschool path that we are on, is our chosen career, and the only way that we can give our children our best is if we keep learning ourselves. The speakers at a homeschool convention are one way that we continue our education.

Continuing our education can take many forms. We do it when we meet with other homeschool moms to discuss what isn't working for us, and hope for ideas to try. We do it when we read up on a new methodology while searching for curriculum. But even more so, we do it when we listen to speakers at a convention. These are the people who have revolutionized some area like Ginny Yurich's 1000 Hours Outside or have years of experience like Julie Bogart of Brave Writer. Sometimes they have worked out new methods and curriculum like Steve Demme with Math U See, or they have endured the difficulties of homeschooling like Zan Tyler. These are people that we can draw from their experience and knowledge.

Homeschool Conventions: Time for Encouragement

Have you ever had one of those days. You know, the one where one kid is crying over math, and another has lost their pencil and never started. Meanwhile, another kid has decided to cook something new for lunch and the kitchen looks like a disaster as you walk through. You restart the washing machine for the third time, on the same load, while another child calls out "Bluey won't work!" You dash to answer the phone as the husband calls only to discover the twins are dumping out all the cereal in the living room floor. Wait, this might be getting too autobiographical.

Everyone has days where you struggle to remember why you decided to homeschool in the first place. Sometimes it's more than a day, it's a season. A season where someone is constantly sick in your household. A season where school feels more drudgery than privilege. A season of unemployment. A season of death. The second major benefit of listening to speakers at the homeschool convention is that you find encouragement. Yes, this path is often difficult, but there are others going through the same thing. Just knowing you aren't alone in the trenches can make a big difference in finding the strength to carry on until a better season. Listening to Todd Wilson, the Family Man joke about the lies homeschool mom's believe or Hal and Melanie Young talk about the challenges of raising our sons also gives us that pick me up that we need. Motivation is critical to successful homeschooling, so this is a fabulous way to refill your cup each year.

Homeschool Conventions: How to Plan Your Sessions

Now, that we've established why you want to go and hear some of the amazing speakers that are lined up at the homeschool convention near you, just how do you go about figuring out which sessions to attend? My first convention more than 10 years ago now, was the CHAP convention in Pennsylvania. Our current home state is Florida and we attend the FPEA convention almost every year. Whether small or large, a convention typically has multiple speakers speaking at any given time. Since you can't be everywhere at once, you are going to have to narrow the field. We get to draw from the expertise of others, but how do we determine whose expertise we most need.

What are my interest?

Each year I get online and print up a list of the sessions, this tells me who each speaker is, but more importantly what they are speaking on during each session. This year I got the FPEA convention booklet in the mail before I started planning, so I just worked out of it. The first action I take is to go through the entire list and circle any of the workshops that looks interesting to me. I frequently have more than one speaker circled in a given session time. That is ok, don't worry about it right now. Secondly look at the session slots, and see if there are any that you don't have any prospective workshops scheduled, that is your lunch break. Any that you only have one prospective workshop for is also easy to fill in. When I know that I plan to go to a particular workshop I highlight the title.

What are my current priorities?

The real trick comes in narrowing down the sessions that you have multiple workshops circled. The first question I then ask myself is what do I most need to get out of convention this year. That answer changes from year to year. This year my top priorities are homeschooling high school, soft skills (such as executive functioning and various character traits), and encouragement. So I ask myself which of the workshops I found interesting meet my goals for the convention this year. This means that this year a session on creating transcripts is going to outrank a session on teaching with littles.

Take a look at your overall choices.

This often helps me narrow down my choices but not completely settle them. What do I do when a class on family communication skills and how to ace the SAT are offered at the same time. This is when I look over my sessions at large. Perhaps I already have several workshops settled on various soft skills, so I decide to pass on the communication session for the testing workshop.

What is my gut feeling.

If I get stuck, I proceed in one of two ways. Since most years, my husband attends with me I run my thoughts by him. Sometimes he feels strongly about one workshop over another, and it's great to have a second perspective when I get bogged down. If he doesn't have any preferences or suggestions, my second tip is to write them both down, and then just see which one I feel like attending that morning. Best of all, if I'm still not sure I can always get a recording of one of the speakers.

It takes a considerable amount of time to plan, but planning your speakers pays off. It helps give you the tools and motivation you need for another year of homeschool. It often helps me to then narrow down curriculum and make decisions in the vendor hall. Next time, you are looking at that homeschool convention in your area and feeling overwhelmed by the number of speakers presenting such a large variety of topics; tell yourself that it's worth it. Then, sign up for that convention near you and plan out your speaker workshops.

Now I'm off to finish my planning for the FPEA Homeschool Convention that is coming up in just 16 days. Maybe I'll see you there.