Over Memorial Day weekend, Jonathan and I attended the FPEA Homeschool Convention at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. He took Friday off and we headed down to Groveland to stay with the Peine’s for a few days. Janice and Richard watched our kids so that we could go on our own.
I was really looking forward to going, both for the information and encouragement that we’d receive while there, but also for the one-on-one time with Jonathan. I think I also needed a break…the week before I’d managed to leave the outside freezer door open and wash the cell phone! Rosemary also had a stomach bug a few days before…poor thing. It was a doozy of a week!
But by Thursday night, Rosemary was back to her old self (perhaps even a little better, I think she was making up for her lost days of illness) and we loaded up the car to head south.
Charlotte and Rosemary wanted to ride shotgun on the way down.
We decided to get to the conference after the keynote and go straight to the first session. We checked in quickly then headed in different directions; Jonathan to a class about fitness and I went to one about homeschooling methods by Jeannie Fulbright. We went to different sessions again, then met up for lunch.
We ate outside in one of the courtyards. (And in the background you can see a couple of the rolling boxes that EVERYONE pulls around at this conference. We don’t pull one of those yet, we tote around our old Jansport backpacks so we feel like we’re in college again). :-)
We caught each other up on the different sessions we attended. I really liked both of the ones that I attended that morning.
After that, we went through a bit of the exhibit hall then rushed up to sessions. We met up again for a session about incorporating music into your school day by Maestro Classics. The session right before that, Jonathan had a seat where he could see outside and saw smoke rising from a wooded area across the street. By the time we got out of our music session, the smoke was pretty bad and they’d closed the hotel pools. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that anyone was in danger and the conference went on as usual. The fire fighters got the fire contained and under control.
At the end of the day, we did a bit more of the exhibit hall then headed over for a bite to eat at Carrabbas. We saw Jonathan’s brother while we were there so we got to visit with him for a bit. After dinner, we headed back to Groveland. I was exhausted and I think I slept most of the way back.
The next morning, we headed back for day 2. We attended different first sessions, but met up again for the second session. It was on Notebooking and was another one that Jeannie Fulbright led.
It was interesting how technology has changed how people attend conferences. A number of attendees took notes on their iPads or just took photos of the slides with their phones instead of writing down their notes.
We brought our lunches again and this time we found a spot in one of the atriums to eat. It was very nice…like being outside without being as hot!
We walked through this area on our way back to sessions.
We wrapped up the day with another session then finished up the exhibit hall. In the end we bought three Maestro Classics CDs (Mike Mulligan, Peter and the Wolf, and Swan Lake), Artistic Pursuits Level 1 and the art kit, and Family Time Fitness lessons.
We had a great time being encouraged, running into friends, and just spending time together.
When we came home, Ben got sick (now Charlotte is too) so it was nice to have the window of health so that we could go. Now I’m really looking forward to what next year holds!
