My Homeschool Convention Overview

This past weekend was our local homeschool convention!  What a great day of encouragement!  I feel refreshed and ready to take on the next year!  I got so many good tips to use with my boys and had some great fellowship with other homeschool moms.

Here are my top 5 take aways from this weekends convention:

5)  You Can't Do it ALL!  Simplify your schedule, your home, and your children's education!  With our schedule I need to learn to say no or at least "not right now".  Get rid of the non essentials in our day.  For our home, we need to clear the clutter!  No need to hang on to things just because we might need them "one day".  The less things in our home, the more clear our minds will be to think on the important things.  In our children's education, I need to remember to ask myself "Is it best for my child, or is it just good for me?"





4)  Boys learn differently!  How can I motivate them?  First of all I need to make sure they get enough sleep, cardiovascular exercise, and lots of water!  I need to challenge them with real life projects that get them thinking and processing using their hands.  Most importantly I need to inspire and believe in them!



3)  Learn my children's learning style.  Are they visual, auditory, or kinesthetic?  For my kids I know that I have one very kinesthetic learner.  For him I got some great ideas to try, for instance, while listening to a lesson he may need to be using his hands doing something.  That something needs to be mindless and repetitive, such as silly putty.  Showing a picture of a person before reading a history lesson will give that visual learner something to focus on while listening to the story.



2)  Sometimes it's just better to be quiet and let them process!  I have a tendency to want quick answers, especially when I know they know something.  I learned that it's good to just give them quiet space to think it through.  Their brains process things a little slower sometimes, and that's ok.  The more you let them come to answers on their own, the better their brain will get at processing        information.




1)  We need to Tame the Techno Beast!  Technology in and of itself is not the enemy!  How much time and how soon we introduce it to our children is important!  Limits need to be set, filters need to be in place and timers need to be used!  We are a huge technology family, we have iPhones, iPads, 2 laptops, and one desktop computer.  My 3 year old is pretty good at navigating our phones and iPads. Our conviction this weekend was to set limits and stick to them!  We will step up and be parents when it comes to this area.


Those are some great starting points for me to begin planning our school year!  I feel so encouraged and ready to go!