SSA Summer Conference 2010

Last summer I blogged about creating my own homeschool conference. This year we were out of town celebrating my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary the weekend of the local conference so I took the opportunity to again design my own! You can read about some of the nuts and bolts of what I did and how I did it in my old post to jump start your own planning if your interest is piqued.

What I love is that I can plan two days to meet my exact needs. I am a Classical homeschooler with strong Charlotte Mason leanings. I always say - and this is an oversimplication but still helpful so I share it - the Classical model is the head of our school and Charlotte Mason is the heart. You will see that reflected in the sessions I planned. I also have an Aspie so I devoted a session just to him. In addition, I have embarked on a journey of self-education to fill in the gaps of my own education and prepare myself for the high school years so I included a time dedicated to that as well. Like last year I used many different mediums; I read books, journaled, listened to MP3 downloads, researched websites, and checked out blogs and message boards.

Also you will see four sessions dedicated to time management. I am typically a productive person and a git-er-done kinda gal. Yet, I have known for some time that time management would be a huge issue and challenge for me going into this year. Thatcher is getting older and the increasing demands of his school mixed with the reality of his ADHD make for a busy day there alone. Haddon will be in Kindergarten and Beckett in pre-K as well. While Haddon's and Beckett's lessons are small compared Thatcher's work they still increase my responsibility load and I find I am ever juggling more balls. And with this, I am still committed to spending daily time with God, making my marriage a priority, cooking from scratch as much as possible, blogging, my own self-education, exercise, and spending time with friends among other things. Whew that makes me tired reading over what I just typed!

So here is my schedule from my two days with links to resources I used below.

Peace Hill Press MP3 - A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the Elementary Grades

Tony Atwood's Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome

Simply Charlotte Mason MP3 - Reaching Your Child's Heart

Franklin Covey - Build a Personal Mission Statement (highly recommended!)

Peace Hill Press MP3 - A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the Middle Grades

Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

I hope someone might be encouraged to plan their own time away after reading this post. It was a highly motivating time for me and I felt refreshed and refocused at the end of the two days. No matter how you are planning to start the upcoming year, I hope you too feel the same way! :)

Creating My Own Homeschool Conference and a Plan for More "Teacher Inservice"

Our local homeschool conference was this weekend in Houston. I have attended for three summers now and received great encouragement each time. I had pre-purchased my ticket and was ready to go...until I sat down on Thursday night to read over the seminar schedule. There were lots of new speakers and several new workshops on all sorts of topics. But none of them spoke to me and where I am in my journey. I couldn't justify spending two days and a half a tank of gas to sit listening to talks that really didn't apply to me at this time. Not that they weren't great; they were. They just weren't great for me.

Immediately a thought jumped into my mind, "Why not plan my own two-day conference?" Dh was already planning on staying with the kids and I really needed some time off re-ignite the fire that had somewhat dimmed in recent months. I made my own schedule, packed a bag full of books and goodies, grabbed the laptop and headed off to Panera Bread, a place with free Wi-Fi and yummy food. I think their Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and Honey Walnut Spread just may be my new passion in life. ;) I spent the next two days reading, researching, listening, reflecting and journaling. I was able customize my day and utilize so many mediums: books, websites, blogs, message boards, my trusty journal and seminars on MP3. It was wonderful, enriching and a very motivating time.

I missed the fellowship of friends but most of them were not attending the conference this year for various reasons anyway. I also missed walking around the Exhibit Hall at the conference; it's so fun to see all the great resources out there. But I had fun replacing that with time walking around Lakeshore Learning. I found some great things to add to our wishlist!

Saturday when my "conference" was done, I thought back to when I was a ps teacher; we had regular "Staff Development" and/or "Teacher Inservice" days scattered throughout the year. They were nice days to recharge batteries, get some fresh ideas and have a little fun in the process. As a homeschooler I could definitely benefit from some ongoing "Staff Development" so I decided I will try to schedule my own "Teacher In-Service" days about once every eight weeks or so. Next time I will invite other homeschool moms to join me. We may all be doing different things but just to be able to visit on our breaks would be such a treat!

Here is the schedule I went by:



And here are links to most of the things listed in the schedule:

Charlotte Mason, Volume 6 in Modern English at Ambleside Online
HANDLE Therapy
Grace Based Parenting
AO - Ambleside Online
SCM - Simply Charlotte Mason
Laying Down the Rails MP3 from SCM
Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival
Higher Up and Further In Blog
Handbook of Nature Study Blog
Lakeshore Learning
Masterly Inactivity e-book from SCM

If you are thinking about your own planning your own conference/teacher inservice here is what I would suggest for your consideration:

1. Start making a list now of things you might like to do. Research online seminars you can download and or CD talks you can go ahead and order so they are ready. What homeschool related books are sitting half-finished or maybe haven't even been started? Any new curriculum you've been wanting to take a good long look at? Order the catalog now so it's ready. Need time to do some goal-setting or long term planning?

2. Then, prioritize. I tried to make the majority of my conference a time of enrichment. Conferences are supposed to motivate, inspire, introduce new ideas or new ways of doing things. Make sure your conference has plenty of time for personal growth, not just practical planning out your year (although I did a tiny bit of that, too). This is a time to recharge batteries! What will recharge you?

3. Make a schedule and stick to it, just like you would at a real conference. The accountability of having mine printed and on the table next to me kept me on-task and not mentally wandering off.

4. When I made my schedule, I tried to alternate between reading, computer time and listening. I didn't want to be staring at a computer screen for 4 straight hours or plan all my reading back to back.

5. If you have a laptop, research places with wi-fi, preferably free to keep costs low. If you don't but internet access is needed during your time, consider going to a library so you can use their computers. When choosing a place for my days, I chose restaurants where you order at a counter and get your own drinks; tips are not expected. If you go to a traditional restaurant and sit in a server's section for several hours, it is appropriate to tip him/her enough to make up for the money s/he would have made from all the tables during the time you sat there. Now if you are there during a dead time and you are really, really low maintenance (don't need your drink refilled every two minutes) , don't worry too much. Can you tell I worked at restaurants for years? ;)

My two days were just the start of my plan to fight off the burn out I've been facing. And what a great start it was!