Valley Home Educators Convention

Whew!  I am tired.  We spent the last couple of days "hanging out" at our local home school convention which has really become one of the bigger Northern California conventions.  This year our church had a booth...a really cool booth...to encourage homeschool families in their endeavor to teach and train their children.  I was not sure if it would be a very busy booth but chocolate always draws a crowd.  Lisa (dear friend) really came up with this idea as she does most great ideas that I get to be involved in.  She had a sign made that basically said we are here to encourage you and we have chocolate.  Her family brought in their two leather recliners and we watched as tired mom after tired mom came to rest, eat, and talk about their homeschooling experience.  

The gals that helped in this booth were all experienced homeschooling moms who just wanted to listen and give a helpful word to those who would listen.  By the end of the conference Lisa and I were talking about how we really felt that this booth not only met a need but was very successful in fulfilling its mission. 

I must admit that I am a huge book lover!  So, some of my time was spent at Books Bloom pouring over old, much loved books.  I have truly overrun our wall of books and now I am trying to figure out new places to add bookshelves.  We were able to use our school fund to buy great readers for the kids and I now have a huge stack of new books to devour.  Most of them are on American government since that is one of the subjects we are addressing this year.  

I was also able to meet a lot of people that knew who I was because of this blog.  How exciting it was to talk to those who have been praying for us.   I met Becky who lost her husband suddenly one and a half years ago.  She is the mother of eight and was such an encouragement as she truly understands all that I am going through.   An added bonus was meeting Linda Hobar who wrote my absolute favorite history program - Mystery of History.   We went to dinner with her last night and had such a great time.  

I go to this particular conference to motivate myself to get back into the books.  That is truly what happened...as I was encouraging some first time home school moms to relax and enjoy this wonderful gift of teaching our children I was encouraged at the same time.  I sat through two lectures on American government and economics that were so stimulating.  Oooooh how I love to learn...and, that is the primary lesson that I want my children to learn before they leave home.  If you can teach yourself and know how to use the resources around you to teach yourself you are a better person for it.   

So, back to the drawing board as we plan the new school year!

~Lazyd