Home School Conference Time

By the time you are reading this – I will be immersed in the unique world of the the yearly NICHE home school conference.

And I’m so excited!

Jan and I look forward to this weekend all year! Two wonderful days together!

We’ll walk hand in hand through the curriculum hall – drooling over books and resources. Debating over purchases. Adding to our extensive library.

Running into friends and family in the hallways between sessions, laughing and catching up with life.

Sitting side by side during keynotes – gleaning wisdom and encouragement from the speakers.

Having deep conversations over our picnic lunches.

Honing, refining our vision for our family.

Sharing our thoughts, our convictions, our dreams, our realities.

Making life-changing decisions. (Was it just a year ago that we heard John Stonestreet speak and sent Matt to Summit, which lead to his semester in Colorado, which lead to Oxford?)

Alone, together, surrounded by thousands of people, but belonging to each other.

A team.

On the same page.

United.

I can’t wait!

Thoughts From the Home School Conference

We had a wonderful weekend at the NICHE Home School Conference! As always, the Lord sent just the things we needed to hear to encourage and motivate us.

Here’s just a small sampling:

Todd Wilson: Be real. Show the chinks in your armor and be understanding when others do the same. There is no “perfect home school family”, every one has their share of trouble.

Zan Tyler: Kids have to talk. Conversation builds tissues in the brains. My home should be bursting with language.

Todd Wilson: If a plant loses some leaves, it can still grow, but if the stem of a plant is broken, the plant will die. My marriage is the stem. I need to cultivate it and be careful with it. Almost everything else (curriculum, money, houses, even home schooling) are leaves, there are just not that important.

Zan Tyler: “Fold them the way they’re bent”. I need to adapt the training of my children to the way that God created them, their natural abilities and interests.

Sarah Mally: Five goals for our home school: 1. Godliness 2. Wisdom 3. Knowledge 4. Skills 5. Ministry. Spiritual goals always come first!

Sonya Shafer: Habits take up 1/3 of education. “The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children.” ~Charlotte Mason

Jan Bloom: Great books help your children to practice emotions. They should nourish the mind and the hearts. They should broaden our understanding and develop our imagination.

It was just the weekend that both my husband and I needed!

Home School Conference Time Again

It’s time for our Annual State Home School Conference and I am packed and ready!

This has become a tradition for my husband and I, a time away to really focus on our home and children. It’s a time to set goals, choose curriculum and be encouraged. It’s a time to evaluate where we are as a family and decide where we are going and how we are going to get there.

Some sessions we attend together, some we split up and take good notes. Everyday for lunch we picnic at a nearby park and talk over the things we are hearing.

We never know in advance just what speaker it will be that bring tears to our eyes or conviction to our hearts. But every year we come away blessed and thankful that we invested the time in our family.

I wonder what God will have in store for us this year?