Utterly Meaningless

Can we count hanging out in the woods drinking beer around the campfire as a homeschool conference?

Only if we all wear denim jumpers.

You mean you aren’t going to the conference to help support NCHE??? As well as they have protected our homeschool freedoms??? For shame! Go on and go and pick yourself up a volunteer card to go to Raleigh and file some of that illegal paperwork DNPE takes in every year!

Go on–ya know you want to!

HeeHee

There’s one here every year that people in our local groups keep reminding us about. It’s called “The Rethinking Education” conference. There are several reasons I haven’t gone, but the main one is that it’s too darn expensive. I just don’t feel like it’s a good use of the money we could otherwise spend doing something fun with the kids.

Maybe when they have it somewhere other than W-S, I’ll join you.

Funny how different people look at the same thing so differently.

“We strongly recommend that parents who have any interest in home-schooling attend a home-school conference.”

I tell newbies to NOT go to the conference the first year because it can be so overwhelming. I tell them to spend the first year finding out what their family goals are and what kind of schedule works the best for them before they are bombarded with others’ ideas.

“Many veteran home-schoolers have indicated that these conferences are the shot in arm they need each year to continue their home-school adventure.”

Not me. Anytime I go to the big conference I usually come away feeling like I have attended the ‘beginning of the end’ ceremony for many homeschoolers. There is so much talk about groups and clubs I always wonder where the ‘home’ fits in.

Anyway, that’s just me. I definitely favor the small conferences and workshops sponsored by local groups over the huge one that entails 3 days away from home, hotel and meal spending, and HUGE crowded conference centers.

I will attend the NCHE conference when the conference is focused on education rather than theology.

We’ve gone to several conferences (both large and small) over the past couple years. However we don’t go to “support” anything other than our own desire to get a discount and save shipping costs on books we would otherwise buy online. We mostly go because at the curriculum fairs you can really check stuff out in more detail than you can get from a publisher’s synopsis or someone else’s review. (For example, if you want to know how much content overlap there is between Saxon 7/6 and Saxon 6/5, so you can decide whether or not to just skip 7/6 and go straight to 8/7. Also there have been many things that came highly recommended, but when we looked at them in person, they sucked.) And of course I always have a good time by making fun of the people at the HSLDA booth 🙂

It takes all kinds I suppose. I attended CHAP (a large PA christian homeschool convention) for the first time when my homeschooled kid was only 3. I am neither from PA or Christian, and I got a lot out of it. I’ve been back twice (kid is 8 now) and loved it, wish I had the time and $$ to attend this year. My favorite part was the used curriculum – I was able to buy and try a bunch of different things for very little money.

My two cents.
Jill

Around here the state conference is your best shot at talking face to face with more than three other homeschooling families at a time.

Amen to the campsite!

The only one I ever went to was set up in one of the most expensive corporate looking places they could find. Of course, that cost is passed along to the attendee. I’d go every year if they could set it up on some fair grounds or rodeo grounds or flea market someplace. Kids can go on rides. Dad can eat BBQ and I can sort through tables of books at booths which the vendors won’t have to pay an arm and a leg for the privelege of having a fold up table. Maybe more would attend if it weren’t so expensive for the vendors.

Well, I think that there are tons of different types of conferences out there…each with their own feel. We actually have a lot around here outside of Washington DC. Personally I prefer the smaller/grassroots ones as well…so much that I am volunteering to help pull one together! I think that you can tell a lot about a conference just by looking at the speaker list and session titles.

If you are going to be around Richmond, Va on Aug 25-26 and want to attend a relaxed, informative and fun conference put on by our inclusive state-wide hsing organization, please check out the VaHomeschoolers conference at vahome...ce.asp

~Steph

ya know, when I read the title ‘homeschool conferences’ I had visions of parent/teacher confernces. In the kitchen, I spoze.

but then I figured out you were talking about ‘dog & pony shows’. you know, the kind where fast-talking slick salesmen talk you into putting aluminum siding on your log cabin.

Not always. We haven’t had a saleman show up yet.

Well, Jeanne is moving from MS to VA (sigh…dammit), so I vote that we all pay her a visit and have a blogger “conference” in the VA mountains.

BYOB. And none of that Natural Light crap.

One of our “goals” is to sample multiple microbrews. Generally, the darker, the better.

Yikes! I just saw the costs for NCHE’s. Book Fair only is $30! $10 for members. Plus gas. So much for saving on shipping. Last time I went it was $15 for non-members and free for members.

I hadn’t realized it had gone up that much. I’m way behind the times.

Of course, I’m way behind on a lot of things.

The one in Richmond sounds nice.

Yeah– Eastern NC needs a cheap, inclusive curriculum fair. Maybe HA-NC could organize one?

Well, Jeanne is moving from MS to VA (sigh…dammit), so I vote that we all pay her a visit and have a blogger “conference” in the VA mountains.

>>>>>>>>

While I am sorry for your loss, I can’t tell you how happy I am for our gain! (We did have her first, after all! ;o) ) Jeanne is one of the featured speakers at the VaHomeschoolers conference and I know that I personally can’t wait!

Bloggers are more then welcome to join us at the conference. :o) We may even save you a drink by the pool afterward if you let us know that you are coming!

~

Well I think y’all should just start a bidding war on where I should live : )

Seriously tho’, the PEAK conference in Mississippi and the Virginia Homeschoolers conferences in Richmond have both been really fun, affirming, and welcoming — inexpensive, too.

The only downside to being a speaker is not being able to hear as many of the other speakers and panels that I’d like to hear. Otherwise, it always feels like a reunion or maybe even also a Pre-union with bloggers and elist friends that I’ve not met in person yet.

But maybe between conferences we can get together for some camping in Shenandoah National Park. Certainly the hollows of the Virginia mountains have seen a few, um, micro-breweries. Tradition and all that, y’know.

Daryl,
What do you know and would be willing to share about HA-NC? I looked into that group after I got so disgusted with NCHE but read where this group also recommends complying with DNPE’s excessive requests for non-required info. That was a few years ago when it was first formed. Any different now?
Thanks!

Bonnie-
I can assure you, speaking as a board member of HA-NC, that we DO NOT recommend overcompliance with NC homeschool statutes. There are very few actual *requirements* but a multitude of *recommendations* and we strive to let folks understand the difference.

That philosophy goes for the *voluntary mail in program* of annual testing results as well. NCHE actively encourages its members to participate in that program but we at HA-NC, prefer to emphasize the fact that it is *voluntary*.

$30 for admission to the NCHE bookfair !!?? Ouch. I’d rather camp than shop anyway :))

I just confirmed our reservations for the second annual PEAK conference/retreat/workshop/thing for the last weekend in August. It just so happens that I’m currently trying to talk a VA homeschooler into speaking (my plan is to kidnap her and trade her back for Jeanne…muhahaha).

BTW, is that too late for a homeschool get-together?

Daryl wrote: Yeah– Eastern NC needs a cheap, inclusive curriculum fair. Maybe HA-NC could organize one?

Until such an event occurs, if are willing to drive to SE Virgina, there is a great homeschooling store in VA Beach called Moore Expressions (www.mooreexpressions.com) where you can see most hsing materials in person for free. If you call ahead they will even pull specific stuff for you.

As a speaker and the volunteer coordinator, I will also plug the August VaHomeschoolers Conference in Richmond. The venue is the Science Museum of Richmond and it is unlike any other conference I have ever attended (and in the past there have been very few denim jumpers in attendance).

Barb in Chesapeake,VA

Thanks, Toni