02.28.07
H.O.M.E. again, home again, jiggety jig
Yes, I got home from the Chicago conference 3 days ago, it just has taken me this long to find the time to post about it.
This was our third year at this conference and I was actually able to talk a friend, T, into coming and bringing her kids. Going with a friend made it a somewhat different experience, but still a whole lot of fun.
I love seeing all the people that come to this conference. They come from all over the Midwest and from all ‘walks of life’. And all ages. I met some little tiny infants as well as some Grandparents.
And the numbers of people that come. T and I volunteered on Thursday and ended up stuffing the take-home bags. 3 hours and nearly 500 bags later, we ran out of steam. We did find out that out of the 1200 participants, there are only about 350 families. So imagine how much fun that is to have some 500/600 homeschool kids running around! (most families are one parent with the kids)
I can’t say that any of the talks that I went to really set me on fire. Mostly I think it was just me and where I am right now - coasting. Boy is nearly done and Girl is fairly easy sailing (unless they can have a session about dealing with obnoxious nearly teenagers). We go to this conference mostly for the kids. Even so, I did come out of a couple of sessions with some ideas.
A highlight of the trip was getting to meet Applestar IRL. She was one of the speakers, and we (and our kids) went out to dinner one night. We had a great conversation about acceptance between homeschoolers, and the need for us to remember that what sets us apart should make us not try to divide ourselves into groups. Since I’ve been home I’ve also notice a couple of other bloggers here that were at the conference. I wish we had all known about each other, it would have been fun to meet more. Well, maybe next year the organizers will develop a way to bloggers to connect.
Anyway, we are already making plans on going back for next year. The dates are March 7 and 8 and they are moving out to St. Charles, IL (where ever that is). I actually put in a proposal to do leatherworkshops, so maybe I’ll be doing some sessions next year.
JoVE said,
February 28, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Do like the knitbloggers do at the big sheep and wool festivals — organize yourselves. Just pick a place and a time (lunchtime on one day usually works) and post on your blog that you are going and suggest all the bloggers meet up there at that time. It works a treat. And then you can put faces to names, organize dinner later, or whatever.