Apr. 4, 2008 - Cincinnati Homeschool Convention
Ah, homeschool conventions. Cincinnati does an incredible job of securing top-rate speakers. This year my in-laws came down to stay with our kids so my husband could accompany me to this years convention. This was his first time going. He is typically pretty hard to impress, but this years convention was wonderful enough to impress even him. I think his favorite speaker was Andrew Pudewa from Excellence in Writing speaking about "Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day". I'm glad I went to the session I did, but clearly I missed out on an exceptional session. They made it available as a download for conference attendees. I haven't been able to listen to it yet, but I'm looking forward to listening to it soon.
One of my favorite sessions was Mellisa Boring speaking on "Teaching the Distractable Child" Her eldest son and youngest daughter both have Sensory Integration Disorder, which my Little Monkey (5) struggles with. It was so wonderful to meet another mom who understands what we go thru without me having to explain every little thing. So refreshing!! I picked up a few little do-dads at her booth. Some little squishy balls to help Little Monkey during church, some Wikki-Sticks, and what Mrs. Borings husband called "Whack a Math". This thing is a huge hit with my kids. What kid wouldn't like to vent their frustrations with this:
It does addition (simple and double digit), subtraction, multiplication, and division. It's like Whack-a-Mole. A math problem comes up, you need to solve it in your head, then comes the hard part: you have to wait for the correct number to light up before you whack it. The music they've got going on with it is a bit annoying, but thank you for volume control!!
I think we went to a session on just about every subject. One of my favorites was there, Jessica Hulcy. She is a gifted, not to mention hilarious, speaker. She did a session called "If You Homeschool You Don't Have To Live In A Pig Pen". You better believe I gave my husband a hard time when he pointed out that session! I went though, because of Mrs. Hulcy . . . okay, and our house can be a pig pen at times. I blame the three boys and a dog.
Okay, so here are the main things that struck a nerve this year:
* I MUST make myself get back on track with an early morning schedule. Having a new puppy that needs to go out in the middle of the night coupled with a three year old who seems to think he needs mommy for a few minutes in the middle of the night has seriously thrown off my tenuous hold on an early morning schedule. I'm already very slow to become conscious in the morning. Sleep deprivation helps nothing here! My kids are very early risers . . . except the eight year old, he's beginning to realize the enjoyment of sleeping in a little. Although for him that generally means 7:30. Since my others are up early, and I'm a zealous anti-morning type of gal, it is very difficult for me to come out of my coma before they leave their little beds. Even if I manage to accomplish such an amazing feat, they have ears that pick up the slightest change in my breathing and WOOSH out they come from their bedrooms. Nevertheless, I need to try to get myself caffinated and ready to start our schoolday before half the morning is over!
* I've let little things slip that help my children greatly. That needs to stop! Little Monkey (5) has sensory issues that are managed best with a consistent sensory diet. I haven't been consistent. Big Man (8) concentrates and performs far better academically if he's had some "crossing the midline" exercises. I haven't been consistent with that either. I've already begun to remedy these things by changing our Circle Time activities a little. Yeah, I'm still getting to that Right-Brain post.
* Little Monkey is a solid Left-Brainer! I'm always focusing on Big Mans Right-Brain leanings because I've had to adapt so much for him. Now I need to break out of that a bit for Little Monkey. I'm so used to fixing things to lean Right-Brained, it's going to take some adapting by me to flow in the other direction on this.
* Repeat as a daily mantra, "I don't need to feel guilty about not doing lots of outside activities." I tend to focus on what we're not doing too often. I feel the need to be Superwoman (as brought up in "Confessions of a Prayer Whimp"). I feel guilty when I don't "make time" to do those co-ops, be the leader of the meals ministry at church in addition to the other things I'm doing there now, take every field trip that comes along, etc. Homeschooling is something we feel like we've been called to do. Our first responsibility is to God. The biggest ministry we have is our kids. We need to do what's best for them right now. That means we don't do a bunch of things I'd really like to be doing. When I'm honest, I'm thankful we don't because I see how it all wears out the moms I know who do a lot of these things. They themselves admit it affects the schooling of their kids in a negative way. Schoolwork becomes the "big bad chore" that needs to be done (and done just as fast as you can because we need to leave in five minutes!!) instead of making it a more natural, enjoyable time. There's no way to make more time. You have a set number of hours in a day. You can't do everything under the sun. You can't even do half of them and do them well, so focus on a few things. Concentrate on doing those few things well. Then, next schoolyear maybe we'll add something else.
* I need to get back to my Fly Lady roots. I need to make myself work on an area for fifteen minutes, then leave the rest for another time. That's the hard part for me, the leaving. It's back there nibbling my brain until I get it done. I need to be content with what I can get done with the few minutes I have, not worry that the ceiling isn't scrubbed 
An idea I really like is deciding on one "project" for the week. This doesn't have to be something like redesigning your garden, but something like "clean out childrens dressers". Write this on a sticky note and post it someplace that will make it nag you: the bathroom mirror, the fan above the stove, the fridge . . . okay that won't work on mine! You get the idea. I'm a great forgetter. You know, you have a great idea for a project that week, then those nasty blonde roots push it right out of your brain. Do that one project sometime that week, then take a load off until next week :)
There are other things I came away with, but those are the biggies that caught my attention. Five things. That seems like a reasonable number to tackle. Of course, I like to think I'm Superwoman.
Comments
Apr. 5, 2008 - Wow!
Posted by MayTheyBeMightyMen
All I can say is wow. You obviously went to the conference and brought home a wealth of information! I've never been able to go to one, and have half wanted to go. Usually, the cost is what gets in the way.
Reading this post is a wonderful thing for me! What a blessing to see what God did through the speakers...and now what He's going to do in and through you as a result! Thanks so much for sharing! I'm going to read this more than once. ;') It applies most readily to your family, but it sure inspires me for mine!
Wish I knew more about what went on in the sessions specifically, but you give me ideas for where to go for "topics" I might want to research and spend time on for my kids and school.
Thanks again!
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