Within the Lines

Annual HS Conference

MORE SNOW!!  We left on vacation (4/13) with plenty of snow still on the ground, returned a week later to real spring beginning, but just got another snowstorm Saturday that dumped another 8" on us.  Now... I like winter --- in it's place!  But this is getting a bit much!  To lighten our moods about the whole thing, I decided, "well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and got to making Christmas cookies with Bug10.  It did help turn a not so fun event into a nice time.

For vacation, we headed up to the North Shore.  Hadn't been there before.  We stayed in a great Best Western across the bridge from Duluth (in Superior, WI) Sunday night; then worked our way up the coast shore (I have to stop calling it coast -- I grew up going to the "coast" in northern California.) to Grand Marais where we stayed the next 3 nights.  We did lots of beach-combing and rock-finding.  Hiked in to see Gooseberry Falls and High Falls (up by the Canadian border).  I'll maybe be able to post picts soon; that would help make this all more interesting.  We had a very nice, relaxing time.

On Thursday (4/17), my family dropped me off in Duluth as they headed home, so that I could attend our state (Christian) homeschool conference.  Thursday afternoon there were some pre-conference, "Getting Started" sessions that I attended for the encouragement.  They were very enjoyable and encouraging to me.  Not really much help to my friend who actually is just starting homeschooling.  I think they needed to be much more practical, give more direct how-tos.  Met friends for dinner, the friends with whom I shared the hotel room (fabulous hotel room!); we had a really great weekend, eating, walking, swimming, and laughing together.

On Friday, I had to be there early morning for a training session for volunteering (hostessing one of the conference rooms).  Finishing that, I headed directly for the used book seller hall.  So did everyone else, apparently.  You could barely move in there.  Since I didn't really need to buy anything, I probably would have skipped that mob, but I was bringing some things to consign to one of the vendors.  God used it, tho, to lead me to a used volume 1 of Weaver.  I've looked at Weaver off and on, seriously considering it, but not sure I would commit enough to it to be worth nearly $200.  (I realize it's well worth the money, but #1 I know myself that I'm very bad at following someone else's plan, and #2 that's almost as much as I spend for all our homeschooling for the year.)  In this case, tho, I feel strongly that God led me directly to this, made it affordable, and wants me to follow it.  So, I guess we'll be "weaving" next year.  Bought several more needed items (once you're in, you might as well stay  ), hauled everything to the Coat & Book Check (thank goodness for them!), and headed off for my hostessing duties.  Tho it was sort of nerve-racking at first, I had a great time doing that.  It was nice to narrow down the crowds to a much smaller group, and I enjoyed meeting the vendors that were in "my" room.  After a quick hike thru the (new) vendor hall, I checked my books out to lug back to the hotel room.  That near to killed me off!!  I'm not in that bad of shape, but those were some big -- no, BIG! -- heavy books, several of them.  (Note to self:  next year, buy small, itty-bitty books.)

Saturday would, I thought, be slower-paced, more relaxing because I had a few sessions I was interested in, no real buying left to do.  True -- but just moving from session to session in the massive crowds was a lot of work.  I did have fun meeting and talking with Steve Demme (to tell him how much my daughter loves him and how he saved our math time), who promptly wrote a note to Bug10 -- so nice! -- and Jen Ig who was incredibly nice, but I was too starry-eyed to enjoy the conversation much.  She spoke about it here in her blog, and I am one of the comments.  I was thrilled to find a Worship Guitar instruction course for Bug10 at the YWAM Publishing booth and, in the process, picked up some of their wonderful missionary biographies.  And I found a great book for Son6, Dinosaurs Unleashed, at the Creation Institute booth.  A few other gifts and I was done!  Happy, but done in! 

So, here are the suggestions I will email to our association re: the annual conference. 

1.  There needs to be much more practical how-tos for the many, many newbies that attend.  (Miriam Heppner from Heppner's Legacy is one example of someone with lots of practical knowledge to pass along.)

2.  It would be nice if there were some sort of prayer/worship time to begin -- either once, to begin the conference, or twice, to begin each day.  In the mass chaos and high-pressure vending, it would be really nice to get our focus where it needs to be.  I realize this can and should be done individually, but I think it would be good to do corporately, as well, and would be a good reminder from MACHE that God is to be the author of our homeschooling, not the latest curriculum.

3.  And along with that, I could see a real need for some sort of get-to-know-you, mixer thing.  Where you come into a meeting hall and get together under the banner for your county, perhaps.  It's just plain h-a-r-d to connect with people in all those massive crowds.  Maybe if you're from the Cities and have a super-sized homeschool group, it's easier.  But when you're from the hinterlands and know maybe half-a-dozen homeschoolers, it would really be nice to be given a chance to connect with others.

That's it.  A really nice break from the routine.  And now we're back at it...

Untitled Comment

{ 09:30, Monday, April 28, 2008 } { Posted by borderling }

Thanks for the report on the conference. I hope I get there some year.
Isn't it beautiful up the shore? I grew up in Two Harbors and used to swim at Gooseberry before it became a major tourist attraction. We would go smelting every spring. I still love smelt and will buy them in the grocery store, much to my family's dismay.
Sounds like a wonderful time.
Rhonda