Friday, October 27, 2017

Homeschool Conference

We just got home from our first homeschool conference. NCHE hosted their 33rd annual conference- it was so good!
Here are a few things I want to remember for next time:

  • take a jacket, highlighter, snacks
  • some families tailgate in the parking lot (good idea!)
  • set a budget and wishlist before going- there really is a lot available there and it's good to know how much the items you really want cost before you start adding items! 
  • there are a lot of sessions where kids will really enjoy and learn too (my kids really liked Jonathan Morrow's talks- his notes are online now.)
  • when you're picking which sessions to go to- read both the session topic and the speaker's bio and notes if they have some. I missed a few sessions that I think would have been really good and went to a couple that I probably should have missed. Not that they were bad just it's really busy time there and you can't get to all of it.
The booths I spent the most time were IEW (they were very helpful), MUS (we already knew what we wanted but was happy for a little discount), Rainbow Resource (good prices and lots of selection). Kids loved Action Math Baseball

Now some of my lessons learned from speaker. 
  • A to Z Character Healthy Homeschool:  
    • do first things first. Model good behavior. OK to put academics aside to work on character. Goal to raise spiritually sensitive, mature, responsible adults
    • start the conversation of character: when we show Christ like character, we are winsome and reach the world.
    • Use Eph 4 put off old man, put on new man, when training children. eg "you may not covet, you must be thankful."... look in Proverbs and ask God to show 
    • Attitude is everything
    • Contagious Excitement- be excited about service. Celebrate "morally great" actions/ attitudes in kids ("you did great" plate)
    • Relationships are most important- pray for each relationship in family. Tough relationship. told him over and over "God chose him for your brother because He knew he was just the right brother for you."
Teaching the Classics from Seuss to Socrates. 
  • Ask key questions starting with young children and they will continue to ask those as they read harder books. 
  • who is protagonist?
  • what does he want?
  • why can't he have it? (peel back the onion)
  • who doesn't want protagonist to have it?
  • what kind of conflict? (5 types)
  • any other conflicts?
  • when is climax? (when you know what the outcome will be_
  • what idea is the author discussing
Cindy Rollins "Mere Motherhood"/ "Morning Time" Turn off the noise

Andrew Kern "How to cultivate attention"
when soil receives seeds, it starts growth. 
Give children a riddle to solve. You pay attention to things when you have questions- allow/ teach/ encourage questions. 
1. should he have done it?
2. what should have have done? 
3. find threads to compare- river crossings throughout the Bible ...
4. how do you define it?
5. how are things related?
"Quality of attention is determined by quality of questions asked." 

Thoughtful Apology

1.I’m sorry for …

2.It was wrong because
3.In the future I will…
4.Will you forgive me?



Tuesday, October 24, 2017

It's been so long since I blogged

I really don't even know where to start...
so much learning, growing, living, ...
where to start? why haven't I blogged?
again busy learning, growing, living, (and I've had trouble downloading pictures- which that saying "a picture is worth a 1000 words" is really true- plus pictures trigger memories.

but even if I have trouble with pics- I want to remember. (well somethings, maybe I want the glossed over memory but I do want to remember.)

I just heard a podcast talking about keeping a book journal and encouraging students (or anyone) to write down what they want to remember.

so here goes:

I want to remember
-a team of loud boys so excited after losing their last game of the season that you would have thought they'd won the championship,

-a team of boys chasing one of the coaches (James) all over the field and the other team helping catch him

-a boy sweetly reading books to his baby brother on the couch

-a big brother on his own helping younger brother with his math

-a bunch of kids huddled on the couch quietly looking at a book together

-a family reading their Bible together first thing in the morning

- a family working together in the yard and then enjoying yummy pancakes, bacon, and eggs

-a group of younger kids having fun on the sidelines while big brothers play soccer

-a group of moms and dads cheering and encouraging kids throughout the soccer season

-boys loving playing soccer in the rain after an end of season soccer dinner

-a boy sweetly helping his little sister with logic puzzles on the couch