For the third year in a row, Jonathan and I attended the FPEA Conference at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. I took all of three pictures the entire time. Every year I come away so encouraged and excited about a new school year. The timing is great since I usually have just finished up our school year and am running low on enthusiasm.
We met for a quick bite outside during Friday’s lunch break.
This year, I attended the following sessions:
Laying Down the Rails with Sonya Shafer; main points: instill good habits, it takes about 2 months to cultivate a new habit
Raising Competent Communicators with Andrew Pudewa; main points: read out loud to your children (and never stop, even when they can read on their own) and have them memorize
How to Apply the Biblical Worldview to Science and History with Catie Frates; main point: creation science matters and shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed
The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daytime with Heidi St. John; main points: it’s not a matter of time management, it’s ME management; try to plan for two non-scheduled days a week
Homeschooling: Discovering How and Why it Works with Dr. Jay Wile; main points: research supports the effectiveness of a homeschool education, research debunks the myth that homeschoolers can’t function socially
Gotta Have Games with Rainbow Resources; main point: games can support your educational goals (and I saw Krystle and Denise there, which was honestly the best part!)
The Busy Mom’s Guide to Romance with Heidi St. John; main point: don’t let homeschooling come before your marriage
Dinosaurs and the Bible with Catie Frates; main point: the dinosaur questions our children ask can be answered and fit in with the creation account
Cultivating Tender Love for Your Children with Bev Bradley; main points: your relationship with your children matters more than getting a subject done that day, take time to show your children you love them (a good session, but probably my least favorite of the weekend, but not because of the content)
And I’m Homeschooling, Why? with Catie Frates; main point: Relationships matter (left halfway to get to the next session)
Common Core Thoughts with HSLDA; main point: keep an eye on what’s happening with Common Core, it will impact testing
I was really looking forward to hearing Pudewa, St. John, and Wile and they did not disappoint. They were some of my favorite speakers, although probably my most favorite session was Laying Down the Rails.
We managed to make it through the whole exhibit hall too and picked up a few things, although I still found that most I could order for less at home. Handwriting Without Tears though was significantly less at the convention. It’s fun browsing through all the booths. There is just so much out there! I was also able to firm up what we are going to do for spelling next year. This year we did spelling lists and I feel that we need to do something a little bit different so we’re switching to All About Spelling. I’m starting with Level 1 and hope to get through Level 2 by the end of the year with Rosemary, but we’ll see. If we need to go slower, we will.
It was also fun running into so many people that we knew this year. Our first year, we saw one or two people that we knew. It’s just such a great time of encouragement and time away with Jonathan. I look forward to it every year.
