The Great Homeschool Convention

05 May The Great Homeschool Convention

Amy, Catey, Jessica, and I (and Liddi Bitty) attended The Great Homeschool Convention back at the beginning of April. We geeked out on Classical Conversations, studying Latin, sibling conflict, maintaining strong marriages, kids and money, best kid literature, and way, way, WAY more. There were approximately 15 sessions offered during each session, approximately 6 sessions a day, for two-and-a-half days. You do the math. It was head-explosive intense. James and I just finished debriefing the whole thing. I took a lot of notes, and James now knows about all of them. He’s a good husband.

Here’s half of the curriculum vendors. Half. We walked miles and miles each day. Well, especially me because when Liddi wasn’t nursing, I was bouncing her in the wrap or slowing pushing the stroller back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Speaking of Liddi, she was an angel. I had to step out of two sessions halfway through to rock her to sleep. That’s it! She slept through the night (a true blessing since we all shared a room!). She was just a champ. It was fun to get to spend time with her one-on-one, too, since that happens, oh, never. She’s a pretty sweet little gal.

So of course a perk of this awesome convention, hosting big names in the homeschool world, learning more things than we could possibly implement ever waaaaas…

…eating out. With our friends. And no kids (well, almost). It was the weekend of the build-your-owns: burritos (Chipotle), sushi (Fusian), and pizza (Blaze). We need all three in Warsaw STAT.

So the last day was a Saturday. The trolley we had used to transport to and from the convention center each day apparently started its routes later on Saturdays. After waiting thirty minutes, shooing bus after bus away, we finally realized our mistake and decided to walk across the bridge from KY to OH. Yup, we traveled through two states on foot, booyah.

If I cared for Liddi, these gals cared for me! Jess pushed the stroller to and from the center and Amy and Catey helped me get food and drink when I needed it. I’m super thankful I wasn’t on my own! (Always, right?)

At this point in her life (not quite two months old), she was just beginning to smile. And Jess caught some good ones on her phone. We were totally 100% in the speaker. Not distracted at all.

I feel like throwing this in here–a little blurb about what Classical Education is. This is the method of homeschooling we’ll be starting with this fall. There’s much to be said (obviously as there are whole blogs dedicated to it!), but this gives a good basic overview of how it follows the child’s developmental stages in learning. There’s a huge classical community here in Warsaw (and so many other homeschooling methods are represented here too), so we know we’ll be in good company. We’re super excited!