Authors: Susan Stewart and Susan Beatty
Homeschooling is a new idea, and you may be getting overwhelmed. You’re trying to make sense of all the information and are wondering if attending a convention would be a good idea or if would it just be too overwhelming.
Why should you go to the expense and bother of attending a convention?
It’s easy to think that you can just buy recordings of workshop sessions or look at a curriculum product online. Before you succumb to the idea that everything available at a convention is available on the internet, think about what you can’t get online.
- QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED. Speakers who may not be able to come to your local area are often at larger conventions. Many speakers make themselves available during breaks or at their exhibit booth to chat. Attendees get an opportunity to ask detailed questions about the subject.
- NETWORKING. Maybe trite, but it’s true. God created us as social creatures. We need to be around others.
- REFRESHMENT. If you are discouraged or overwhelmed with all of the new information, going to a convention may be what you need to clarify your vision and path. Chatting with like-minded people is uplifting.
- ENCOURAGEMENT. It’s nice to hear that you can do this new thing called homeschooling (or if you are already homeschooling, that you are doing o.k.).
- IDEAS. At a convention, you can explore new teaching methods by not only looking at materials in the exhibit hall, but by attending seminars about particular methods in order to be more informed about implementation.
- CURRICULUM. You get the opportunity to look at the material before you purchase it. Sometimes, the author of the material is available to answer your questions. Better yet, it’s not unusual to chat with other parent educators who have tried the same product.
- A FAMILY VACATION. Conventions often have activities, often at great discounts, for the whole family.
Bottom line: find a statewide convention in your area and take the plunge. You won’t regret it.
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Reprinted with permission. Originally posted by the Karman Family on Apr. 18, 2007 in the National Alliance of Christian Home Education Leadership (ACHEL) library.
