MidWest Homeschool Convention

My family and I returned Saturday night from the Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati. To sum up my experience in one word, WOW! This was the third time that I've attended the Midwest Homeschool Convention and each time it just keeps getting better and better.

The absolute MOST wonderful thing about attending this year was that my whole family went with me. I didn't have to miss them and I didn't have to drive in downtown Cincinnati! Since "big-city" driving makes me incredibly nervous, having my husband be my convention chauffeur was a huge bonus for me! While I attended seminars and shopped in the vendor's hall, my wonderful husband took the kids swimming at the hotel pool, played games with them, and took them out to lunch. Yes, my husband rocks. (I even purchased a shirt that proclaims that very fact at the convention).

My convention experience was filled with highlights. Hands-down, though, the biggest highlight was attending a Tim Hawkins show on Friday afternoon with my teenage daughter. We laughed until we cried. I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did during his show. He was absolutely hilarious! Since he was performing at a homeschool convention, he included lots of jokes about homeschooling and I found those particularly entertaining. We were so excited about his show, we even purchased a few of his DVDs to watch at home.

I attended five seminars. My favorite seminar was "Spelling and the Brain" by Andrew Pudewa. In his fascinating lecture, he explained why a child can READ a word and still not be able to SPELL the word. Seriously, I have wondered about that very fact ever since I started homeschooling. I attended his lecture specifically because I was looking for a spelling program for my daughter whose only language arts weakness is spelling. After listening to Andrew Pudewa speak about teaching spelling to children, I not only purchased the Institute for Excellence in Writing's spelling program for her, but for my sons as well.

While I enjoyed almost all of the seminars I attended, I did attend one in which the actual topic was completely different than the description included in the convention materials. I have to admit, this was upsetting to me. Choosing between speakers was quite difficult and I relied heavily on the descriptions of the lectures. I should have jumped up and left but I didn't. Has this ever happened to you at a homeschool convention?

The vendor's hall was fabulous and I purchased many wonderful books and programs for our homeschool next year. I'm looking forward to spending some time reading over and appreciating all of the educational materials that I purchased over the next few weeks. With my purchases at the convention, I am just about done curriculum shopping for the 2010-2011 school year. With one more order of odds and ends from Rainbow Resource, I will be all done!

Lastly, while I expected to enjoy the Tim Hawkins show, the seminars, and the vendor's hall, I had a completely unexpected happy surprise while at the conference. I was looking at a sewing curriculum in one of the vendor's booths and I heard my name. I looked around and a vaguely familiar-looking lady was looking right at me and saying my name. I thought I knew the face but I just couldn't place her.

Then, she told me that she was Angie from the Homeschool Classroom. The recognition clicked in for me and I promptly gave her a great big hug! We talked for quite a long time and I was just thrilled to meet a bloggy friend in real life. We've corresponded many times via e-mail since I started writing for the Homeschool Classroom and it was a real treat to actually meet her in person. I am pleased to say that Angie is every bit as delightful in person as she is on e-mail and her blog. If you haven't read Angie's blog or checked out all of the wonderful articles at Homeschool Classroom, I urge you to do so.

I am filled to the brim with fresh encouragement and excitement about homeschooling. After having such a positive experience, I'm ready to make my hotel reservations for next year's Midwest Homeschool Convention!