This past weekend was our local bookfair.  I usually struggle whether to go or not.  Little of my curriculum is sold, it's difficult to get to, there is little parking, etc.  This year I decided at the last minute of early bird registration to go for it and take the family.  The children came with me both days and my husband joined us on Saturday.  They had never been to a bookfair before.  And although I have homeschooled for 10 years, it was only my third one!  This year I decided I would go to my favorite displays and enjoy a few sessions, counting it as a science and history field trip for my dc.

Our first stop was to see Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler.  Wow, this was a guy after my own heart!  I have heard of him for years but never gone to one of his sessions until Friday morning.  He does historical reenactments of major historical figures in full authentic costume, telling their story with a Scriptural lesson.  Fri morning he was Sgt. York.  The dc and I already know his story by heart.  We watch "Sgt. York" every Veterans Day.  Little Bear did an extremely authentic portrayal of York, down to the accent.  He was wearing an authentic WWI uniform like Sgt. York would have worn and had rifles and pistols original to the era.  Afterwards he let all the kids come up to see the guns and he answered questions.  DS had a million of them!  

Little Bear had another session coming up to talk about his ministry.  DS wanted to walk around and see things but I wish we had stayed for that talk.  

The first display we went to was the first one I always hit...IEW!!!  The lady remembered me from last year.  Last year she was ready to sell me the product but I had told her that I was already finishing our first year of IEW and wanted more stuff!  lol  She remembered me as the lady who likes more IEW!  She is so friendly and we had a great time talking.  I met her husband who was from upstate NY like my husband.  I met her kids.  We just talked and talked.  That says how friendly she is because I am a quiet person by nature.  Here are the exciting things I bought!

If I buy $100 worth of product I get a free CD of tons of downloads for IEW use, which I haven't even tapped into yet!  I also get a free audio of one of Andrew Pudewa's speeches.  I've listened to others and they are wonderful.  I'll have to individually review them sometime.  This one is "What are We Really Doing Here?"  Hmmmm....   Well, I knew exactly what I was doing at the IEW booth.  I wanted to get the TWSS Tips and Tricks DVD, a good grammar reference book, a poetry memorization kit and "The Elegant Essay."  I've been snatching opportunities to read "The Elegant Essay at every opportunity and my wheels are turning for next school year!  I'll do a review on these soon! 

Then I went to the Teaching Textbooks table.  I have been increasingly frustrated with our current math program.  With dd starting Algebra I next year, we had to make a change.  I struggled with the pros and cons of TT and trying out the programs nailed it for us.  My dd will use their Algebra I and ds will use their 7th grade math next year.  I'll review those later.

Then we went to another talk which were looking forward to because it was about something we studied last week in great depth.  This was a topic we are extremely interested about.  However the speaker was sort of boring.  We talked about it later.  I told the dc it was because he used tons of statistics in his speech.  I explained why we should be careful about doing that in our writing or any of our speeches.  I reflected on what the moderators of my IEW yahoo group have counseled us many times.  They have encouraged us when writing biographies, for example, not to get caught up in all the statistics of the family members, etc.  Instead, put life into the biography by adding interesting stories of the person's life.  After all, that's what we liked about the other speakers we listened to.  I had thought that this talk would have reinforced some of their history lesson.  Instead, it became an English lesson.

I also went to the HSLDA table and renewed my membership for the year.  I get discounts for renewing at convention as well as being military.  We could even get one for using TOG.  Other groups have discounts too.  I am pleased to help HSLDA secure homeschool freedoms for all of us.  I also purchased a new book by one of the founders. 

I had read excerpts from their daily e-mail: Part I and Part II. I'm hoping to read it this summer.  I plan to use it for high school when we come back to TOG Year 2 for Units 2-4.  

Then I went to the Discovery Toy booth.  I love those toys!  I have one nephew in the whole wide world and he has only 1 aunt, 1 uncle and 2 cousins! =) His birthday is coming this summer so I had to get something very special for him.  I was able to get something at half off, being discontinued.  He should have a blast with it.  Last year I got the squishy blue, vanilla scented, texture ball for him, like the one my children had as babies.  In fact, we still have it in the closet.  I was delighted when it was his favorite toy of all the 20+ gifts he must have received at his birthday party!  Everyone kept checking out the box to see what made it so special.  =)

Another speaker we attended was Dave and Mary Nutting from  Alpha Omega Institute.  I met them at my first bookfair and I purchased some Creationist materials from them then.  I also attended all 5 of their seminars that year.  I had taken geology in college but sadly, that was from the evolutionist perspective.  At church, I've learned a lot of Creationist viewpoint.  I was desperately trying to get all the sequence of events straight and basic knowledge down.  Through their talks and some of the materials I had purchased from them, I finally understood it.  It is a great deal of fun looking at creation in a whole new way.  I thought my children would enjoy their talks.  We attended one on Friday afternoon where Dave Nutting showed slides of lots of National Parks of the West, while refuting evolution yet proving Creation.  The Nuttings used to be evolutionists but in time became Christians and Creationists.  They have seen lots of kids who went to church all their lives go to college and be taught evolution, resulting in their turning from their faith.  

The next day my husband joined us.  We went to see Little Bear dressed as William Wallace, aka Braveheart.  He told us where the Mel Gibson moving was misleading in historical fact, as well as spiritually deceptive to children.  I never saw the movie, but I guess Mel Gibson wore a kilt.  Those ancient kilts were not actually worn until the days of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1700's.  He got a helper from the audience to wrap an ancient kilt around a 5'9" boy.  For someone like me who likes to make costumes and do our own little historical reenactments, this was right up my alley!  He took about 14 yards (or so, I forget) of plaid wool, pleated it, wrapped it around the boy's waist, wrapped a belt around it and tucked it in and overlapped to secure it.  He said if a guy had no one to help, he had to lay on the ground to hold everything in place.    Little Bear explained how practical it was to carry things while wearing it, to keep one warm on cold nights or in the winter, etc.  Simply fascinating.  He told us about the chain mail that was on display at his booth.  We got to touch it and it is heavy!  45 pounds in fact!  They think Braveheart was 7'2" tall because his sword was so large.  There were also swords for us to see too.  I could just go on and on about his marvelous talk about Braveheart and his convictions, applying it to Spiritual convictions.  Little Bear does sell DVDs of his reenactments and spiritual lessons.

After a break, we came back to see him dressed as a Northern Civil War officer.  He told the story of Sgt. Driscoll with a heart rending ending.  In case any of you ever get to see this talk, I hate to spoil the ending, but it had a dramatic impact on all of us.  You could hear a gasp in the room. Then Little Bear applied that to how we raise our children.  Little Bear was speaking exactly what I have felt in my heart.  Once again he had actual weaponry from that war.  He played a little guitar, sharing a bit of his past when he worked in child evangelism. This was part of his tie in to how we raise our children.  Then one of his co-pastors got up to speak about how media affects our children.  He has written books about this.  Oh he was speaking my heart!

We went to the Teaching Textbook table and let dh actually see how it works, then I finally purchased it.  We went to Little Bear's table and got some goodies. 

 I got some DVDs for teaching at home.  The Davy Crockett and Sgt York were to replace some old videos I already had.  I got a book that I hope to share with dd while we have Mother Daughter time, perhaps during tea parties.  This has been a dream of mine.  Hmmmm.....

DS saw some goodies he wanted for his birthday. He hopes to use them at our Year 3 Unit 1 Celebration next October.  DD purchased some books with her birthday money, but ran out of money, so she asked for the other two books for Christmas.  She likes the author a lot and would like to finish the collection. 

We often shop like this.  It is difficult to shop for my dc, so now when they see something special, they may ask.  We have a budget and there is a monetary limit, so they are careful what they ask for.  I'd rather get something they like and will use instead of a dud.  Also, this is easy shopping for me.  All I have to do is store it and when the time comes wrap it up.  Done.  

While dh put the gun in the van, we wandered around the other tables.  DS discovered the Texas Living History Association table.  We have seen them at the Alamo, reenacting the seige.  Ds was drawn to the guns they had and must have spent nearly an hour talking to them. In the meantime one of the other reenactors started drawing me out (remember I'm a quiet person).  He dragged out of me that I taught 3rd grade in the area years ago.  I wrote a San Antonio curriculum for them.  When I taught Texas history for my dc, I wrote that curriculum.  I told him that we dress in costume for the eras we study in history, etc.  He was ready to sign us up.  Hmmmmmm, it sounds interesting.  But when would we find the time?   I'm not quite into Texas history, though I know a lot about it.  I would love to do this at Colonial Williamsburg.  Hmmmm, I don't know.  Maybe.  Then my husband came by and eventually we went to another session.

We had missed one of the Creationist sessions.  But we made the last one about dinosaurs and all the people  of the past who have seen them. Many slides were shown, showing cave drawings, ancient pottery and figurines, etc. Dave Nutting asked lots of questions and ds got all the questions right.  Mr. Nutting said homeschoolers who know all this stuff are stealing his thunder!  =) 

Then we took one last walk around.  DH wanted to be sure he saw everything.  I took him to the IEW booth and the lady was so delighted to see me again, she came and gave me a hug!  I guess I keep her in business pretty well!  LOL  I told her I had to come pay another visit to my favorite booth!  In years past, when I've come by myself, I've come back just to hang out and salivate over the other materials, dreaming of how I'd work them into our budget in future years.  Her husband was there.  I met him the day before and he's from upstate New York like my husband is so they spent time talking about old stomping grounds. 

Then dh wanted to see the Creationist table.  We spent time talking about their family camps in Western Colorado.  DS told Dave Nutting about unidentifiable fossils and rocks found in our yard, probably that came in from imported top soil.  Mr. Nutting told him to e-mail pictures to him and maybe he could identify them.  When we left, ds told him, that for a lecture that some might consider dry, he did an excellent job of making it entertaining.  The Nuttings were delightfully incredulous that a 12yo boy told them that! 

My Year 3 Redesigned TOG was preordered in Jan.  I need to get the rest this summer when unit one comes in the mail in June.  I still need to order Apologia from CBD and Latin.  I also want to get an art program a friend told me about to work on during the summer, to improve our nature journals.  Then I think we'll be set for next year.  Whew!