Homeschool Convention Time

If you find yourself asking "Is it Friday yet?" in your  homeschool, it may be time for a homeschool convention! Every state has a homeschool conference or sometimes called a convention. It is a time to go and refresh, learn new techniques, meet others just like you, meet others that are different than you are and to see what is new in the curriculum world. 

Homeschool conventions are AWESOME, we have been attending since 2008 and we love them. So much fun for Mom, Dad and the kids too. There are topics for all ages, the Homeschooled Young Man enjoyed attending sessions that were taught by his textbook authors. He got to meet the authors, talk shop with them and sometimes even get in on some freebies or new ideas that the authors are kicking around. 

Kids will get interested in their school work when they help pick it out. We started using IEW all because the Homeschooled Young Man sat through Andrew Pudewa's sessions. 

I learned about different teaching ideas, learning styles and methods. I learned how to use my specific name brand curriculum better, during vendor question/answer sessions. I got to touch and feel, look through and read the different textbooks to see if they were a good fit for my learner. I got discount codes for materials. I drooled over the Rainbow Resources booths, I got tons of cool stuff from that place. 

Homeschool conferences are also a great place to invite those interested in learning more about homeschooling, they offer sessions about homeschooling laws, getting started etc. 

The sessions range from any number of the following...

New homeschoolers

Homeschooling laws

Special needs homeschoolers

Keeping toddlers busy while homeschooling

Getting household chores done

High school

Transcipts

College

Non-college bound homeschoolers

Marriage

Meal Planning

Large families

Only children

Car schooling

RV Schooling

Finances

and more!

Start looking now for a homeschool conference near you, they are so worth it!

Moe

Bye-Bye Crockpot

“Everything’s impossible until somebody does it.” – Batman

Yep, it's a goner! 

Ran the dishwasher and then while unloading it I grabbed out the lid to my new crockpot and it just shattered all over the place. Big shocker!!!

While the shock wears off, head on over to my favorites gluten free (you will never know these recipes are gluten free) Crockpot website. A Year Of Slow Cooking She has a recipe for EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!!! Our faves are the Rotisserie Style Chicken it rivals Costco! and Refried Beans, I do add a bit of bacon grease to these

Always read to the bottom of Stephanie's recipes because she give you a review by her family and any tweaks that she decides to make after they try the recipe.

Enjoy, while I shop for the new Crockpot or many an InstaPot???

Moe

Ahhhh...A Day Of Rest...

Winter blahs got you down? 

Surprise the kids today on Valentines Day!!

Shut those school books,

Let that laundry pile grow higher,

Grab some pillows and blankets,

Head to the living room and camp out for the day!

Some days you just need to chill out and this is one of those!

Enjoy those little ones while they are still yet little,

Play games with your junior high kids,

Hang with your teenagers...

Let them all have cookies and hot cocoa for lunch,

If you have the fixin's create some fun treats like the guy below.

Homeschool Mom, you are doing great! Create memories that last a lifetime with your kids and 

crack the school books open tomorrow...

Moe

p.s. It's Valentines Day, grab a nice hot shower before hubby comes home and have the kids do a quick 15 minute pick up of the living room before dad gets home.

Homeschool Rooms & Homeschool Spaces

I love to look at other home educator’s schoolrooms to get ideas for our school space.

This one is from Ikea and very COOL! You can see more pictures on Confessions of a homeschooler blog at  http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/08/our-schoolroom-on-ikea.html#comment-32408

Look how neat and orderly this is. WOW!!

Now, I will post a picture of our humble little home school area,
we use workboxes.

The Adoptive Mom Homeschooling An Only Child's version of the Workboxes, decorated using my Circut machine (love that thing!) and the Locker Talk cartridge. My Circut is my must have homeschool tool.

Using stacking drawers/bins from Hobby Lobby bought using my 40% off coupon of course!

Above is my built-in workbox from our home remodel. This space was two large windows in our dining room. Our contractor thought I was crazy when I ask him to do this, until he saw how many books we had! lol. Once he finished it and I had all the books and the drawers up there, he was pretty impressed by my idea.

This is our DREAM schoolroom! hahaha.. Yes, it is a dream, especially since our homeschooling days are numbered, might be something for a Veteran Homeschool Mom to enjoy.

I could not leave out my favorite home education sign that hangs in my dining room, the homeschool room. It’s from my friend and fellow homeschooling mom Sue. She gave it to me for Christmas a few years back, as she knows I love snowmen and I like to keep them up year round. I just love this! lol.

Moreover, yes, for those of you that don't homeschool or are new to the concept, we do take snow days off here and there. However, most often the subject matter or the conversations are just too exciting to stop for a snow day. Nevertheless, if the public school kids are outside playing or if they come knock on our front door, we do head outside for some playtime.