All about the homeschool conference

It's so hard to remember to blog when I can just quick go to Twitter and write a oneliner about what I'm doing and where I am.

 

So for you all who are not on Twitter, get with the program!  And, I was just in California for the weekend at a homeschool conference.

 

I went by myself.  I needed some alone time, and also we couldn't afford plane tickets and conference tickets for everybody, so I ventured on my own. I had an amazing time and I definately will go back to some type of conference next year.  I almost think it will be a neccessity.  

I know that there are conferences in Wisconsin - that's what everyone seems to tell me - but by the time I found out about it, it was over.  Plus the keynote at the CA conference was someone I really wanted to hear, so it was worth it.

 

Here's the rundown of the weekend, and all the things I learned - for all of my  homeschooling friends.

 

I left on Thursday afternoon, and didn't get to my hotel until close to midnight.  I got up pretty early the next morning to register, and had a lovely breakfast and coffee before the first session.  I have to put that because the flight was kind of hectic and I hadn't had time to eat or drink anything since the afternoon before.  So the coffee bar with the perfect mochas really was the start to my weekend.  yum.

 

The first class I went to was Deschooling Gently by <a href=http://justenough.wordpress.com/>Tammy Takahashi</a>.  She's an unschooler, and an excellent speaker.  I think I would be an unschooler at heart if I were left to myself, but it doesn't work for our family.  Anyway, Tammy was very inspiring and really helped me relax for the rest of the conference.  I wish I had my notes in front of me to say more... The main thing I remember was not to be afraid of failure because that is how we learn.  And, that we are the moms and we know what is best for our kids, no matter what. 

 

The second class I went to was Ways to Find and Accept your Limits by Kimberlee Davison.   I think I will find myself going back to these notes through the school year, especially during busy or bad weeks.  Now that I think back on it, actually, what she said kind of went with the theme of the weekend of - don't worry, enjoy your kids, praise them at every turn, focus on the relationship rather than the acadamia.  Also, she had adopted 5 of her 8 children from Eastern Europe, so afterward I talked her ear off and asked some questions.

 

The third class was also by Kimberlee Davison - Teaching Math Without A Text.  This class was absolutely excellent and I'm planning to use her method with Andrei.  She said she was very frusterated because she had half gifted children, and half special needs children so she couldn't find one cirriculum that worked with all of them, or even one that worked with the same child from one year to the next.  So she made up her own.  The very basic rundown is this:  She takes a piece of paper, writes 5-10 math problems on it and has the child do the math.  She doesn't correct or make them re-do the incorrect ones.  Then the next day she looks at how the child did and taylors that day's work page to their skill level - sometimes a little easier and sometimes a little more difficult.  If she notices a pattern of errors or is introducing a new concept, she'll sit down and give a lesson, but usually not very often.  This method is great because you can increase the difficulty in small enough incriments that the child is able to handle, and give them just the exact amount of review.  To figure out what to teach or teach next, she just looks at a scope and sequence online or in a book.  She said this has worked for every single one of her kids, all the way up to algebra -then she had to send them to a text book.  I was really stressing about a math program for Andrei, but this seems good for the first couple of years.  Andrei already picked out a Spiderman notebook to do his math in. 

 

The last session of the first day was a panel on Atypical Children.  It really was mostly about autism and aspergers and that kind of thing, which Andrei doesn't have but he does have obvious learning and emotional delays.  Plus we really don't know what else is going on in that mind of his yet.  So it was interesting even though not geared toward me.  And I was getting the idea that the message I needed to hear was relax and just let it go the way it will go.

 

So that was day one.  I had the hotel shuttle take me to the grocery since the hotel food was very expensive.  Then I just went back to my room and veged out for the night.