About the Convention

I just wanted to share about our annual state home school convention. It was held in Fargo at the Holiday Inn. We got to Fargo Thursday afternoon, shopped a little at the mall where we visited the pet shop (!), and checked into the motel before 6:00. The kids wanted to swim right away so we let them. Then we met Brandon at the Golden Coral for supper. We didn't visit the used book sale that night as that wasn't a priority for me.

Since we had pre-registered for the convention and meals I just had to go pick up our name tags and meal tickets. Then we headed off to the first session. The main speaker was Kevin Swanson. Let me tell you... he was a great speaker. His talks were very convicting. He spoke mainly to the dads but really gave them practical things they can do do lead their families. He also spoke a lot about home schooling, the statistics, and what is going on in public education right now. It really made me glad that I am homeschooling!

I've got a link to his radio show http://www.generationswithvision.com/broadcast.aspx where you can go and listen to him if you want. He spoke quite a bit about fathers spending quantity time with their sons especially their older sons aged 15-25 years of age. He said they need about 30 hours of the father's time a week! I can remember this as a priority in our son's lives and can see how that would greatly help.

Kevin also talked about mentoring. This is something he does. He and his family house 6 young men three nights a week in the basement of their home. These are young men from single moms who don't have an active father.

I went to all Kevin's main sessions but didn't go to his two other workshops. They really were for the fathers. The kids and I did go to a couple of Buddy Davis' workshops. Buddy is with the Creation Museum http://creationmuseum.org/ and Ken Ham http://www.answersingenesis.org/ . Buddy is the one who actually sculpted the dinosaurs at the museum and has written several books and done some videos. I wanted to get some of them but didn't.

Buddy was very entertaining. He also had a concert on Friday evening that we went to. His workshops were interesting. They were always filled up with kids. And he really seemed to like the kids and spoke to them in ways that they could understand. He used a big screen with pictures of what he was talking about. So that was a good hit with my visual learner. It was nice to be able to hear about the dinosaurs and not hear that it was millions of years ago. People seem to forget that evolution is just a theory. They teach it like it is fact. The answers really are in Genesis!

This year they had an optometrist who is a visual therapist at the convention. Dr. Agnes is from Fargo and has had great success helping children see and learn better. He had a booth where I visited with him a bit about Daniel's eye. He knew what I was talking about and felt therapy might help. I also went to his workshop where he really explained in depth what he does. I have made an appointment for Daniel to see Dr. Agnes. Dr. Agnes said he likes working with home schoolers versus public schoolers as the home schoolers really do their home work. It sounded like there is an hour a day that the child has to do. I will tell you more about it if we decide this is something we will pursue.

A big highlight of the convention for me was that my favorite curriculum sellers, My Father's World http://www.mfwbooks.com/ was at the NDHSA convention for the first time. I hung out at the booth just wanting to meet another home schooler who uses MFW! I was asking moms who were looking at the books if they used it. They didn't. When I said I did they would start asking me all kinds of questions about it. I love the curriculum and loved sharing how it has made a difference in our lives. It was fun meeting the people from MFW and hearing their stories, too. Then I got to meet Poohbee from the MFW forum. We had visited a bit on the forum. It was fun to meet and talk face to face. So I did get to meet one mom who uses MFW.

I was really drooling over the new curriculum I will use next year, Creation to the Greeks, http://www.mfwbooks.com/ctg.htm . It will begin a 4 year study of world history starting at creation. I wasn't able to purchase the curriculum at the convention but plan to order soon. I will also be using the Kindergarten curriculum, http://www.mfwbooks.com/k.htm , that I already own, with Leah. I've had the K since last spring and have been tempted many times to start it with her. But I've held off as I didn't think she was ready for all the writing. I'm glad that I did as it will work much better for her when she is 5.

One thing I learned about MFW is that they give 50% of what they make on their curriculum to Bible translation, http://www.mfwbooks.com/missions.htm . I knew that they gave a portion of what they make to this but didn't realize it was 50%! It makes me even happier to be using MFW as that is another way I can further God's kingdom.

It's always a bit disappointing when the convention is over as I know it will be a whole year before I get that encouragement again. If you are a home schooler you know how discouraging it can be at times when your family doesn't approve, your church doesn't understand or support what you are doing, and your friends think you are weird. It is just so nice to be with people who accept you in that way. The convention comes at the time of year that I need that extra boost to keep on keeping on. I am pumped up to keep doing the task God has called me to do and I am thankful to God for those servants he sends to encourage us along that path.

We heard that the convention will be in Jamestown next year. I don't much care for it when it is at the Civic Center. It doesn't seem like the rooms are big enough for the workshops. But I found out it cost the NDHSA $4000 to have it at the Holiday Inn. It only costs $400 to have it at the Civic Center. I guess that is a good reason to have it in Jamestown.

Those are my thoughts about the convention. I haven't felt this encouraged after a convention like I did this year for a long time. I'm sure it is a combination of all of the things I shared above.

A Fun Night

It has been a busy few days. But when isn't it busy? We continue to do school each weekday. Once Daniel remarked, "We should take a snow day!" I reasoned that as long as we are at home we don't need to take a snow day. He agreed. I guess it just sounded good to him at the time.

School went really well this week and we completed all our assignments in a timely manner, even art. I don't know why I don't like doing art or science experiments. I think it is because I am a visual learner. I would rather read about it or watch someone else do it. For the most part the children do like art and the experiments so we do them and I try not to let on that I am less than enthused about it.

Leah continues to read without being formally taught. I have just been having her learn as http://www.mfwbooks.com/ suggests for preschoolers. We have the preschooler package that this company sells. It is mainly Lauri Toys, http://www.mfwbooks.com/preschool.htm with ideas of games to play with the toys by MFW. Plus she is a quick learner. That always helps, too.

Daniel, too, is doing well. This week in Singapore Math 3B he was learning pounds and ounces. He found it wasn't as easy to convert ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces as the metric system was. Too bad our country didn't adopt that system instead. At least he is learning both.

A few weeks ago Dan from SpellQuizzer contacted me on my blog. He designed a spelling software that he now sells. You can go to his website http://www.SpellQuizzer.com and check it out. He gave me a free download of his product. I will be writing a review on my blog soon. I need to have Daniel use it a bit before I write about it. I have to say that I do like it so far. Also Dan will give a free download to one of you who reads the review and comments on it. So check back about this as I plan to do it soon.

Last week we got tickets to Monster Jam in Fargo for Saturday night. On Friday Leah came down with a cold. It wasn't too bad. But on Friday night she was feverish most of the night. She and I stayed home from church. I do get a little fearful when she gets sick especially when she gets a fever as it was only a little over a year ago when she was very ill and hospitalized with pneumonia. We thought that Tim and Daniel would have to go to Monster Jam without us.

Daniel felt so bad that I wouldn't go. Tim and I talked and decided if Leah's fever didn't come back and if she seemed better we would still go. By 3:00 she was doing really well, no fever and barely any runny nose. So we all left for Fargo.

Before the show we ate at Chili's (which wasn't very good.) Brandon and his friend, Riley, went to the show with us. It was a nightmare trying to get into the Fargo Dome parking lot. It took us 1/2 hour to park! They really need to have a better system. Their parking lot wasn't cleaned out and the snow was at least 6 inches deep. We had to park way back and trudge through a lot of snow. Leah was the only one wearing boots. The rest of us got wet feet.

By the time we got into the Dome we were about 10 minutes late for the show. But it was worth the wait. I loved the sound of power from those big trucks. You could feel the vibrations. My favorite part was the racing. Two trucks would race against each other at a time. They would start on opposite sides and go around and over the track at the same time. You could see who was ahead as there was a center line. It was amazing to see the trucks flying through the air. One truck did a wheelie and tipped over. The driver didn't get hurt and was able to compete in the "Free Style." They also had motorcycles doing tricks for part of the show. We all enjoyed it and would like to go again.

This morning Daniel got out Dustin's old monster truck, The Claw. He is having fun playing with it. On this video the truck didn't make it over all the cars. But it can and does!