Conventional Wisdom

I have decided to blend this edition of things fortnightly with a long promised synopsis of the Home School Convention I was at earlier this month. So, here are a few things I learned at the 2010 I.C.H.E (Illinois Christian Home Educators) Conference.

Thing 1: Be Careful out there.

A friend of mine was a seminar speaker at the conference.

He spoke about identity theft and on-line safety. Did I mention he was a police officer? I am planning to have him be a guest speaker at a blogging class I am offering at my co-op this year. Hopefully we can work all the arrangements out. I plan to interview him later this Summer and feature that interview here.

Here is a bit of what he had to say at the conference. . .



I have learned quite a bit from him already on Internet safety and as a result will be implementing some changes in this blog in the near future.

Thing 2: Pass the catch up.

One of the best things about the conference is seeing old friends. Between people from our co-op, our church, we were running into friends from other places we lived, college and even saw a co-worker of Amy's that we did not know home schooled. These "chance" meetings are real energizers and encourager's. Maybe next year I'll run into my Aunt Eileen!

Thing 3: Tongue Tied

I had the opportunity to work off some of the cost of the conference by working behind the scenes at the conference. One of these jobs was by working as a "host" to seminar speakers. Basically what I do is introduce myself to the speaker 20 or so minutes before they speak and make sure they have everything they need. During the talk I make sure that the place is quiet as all of the talks are being recorded. I was very happy that I was assigned to host a seminar that Dr. Voddie Baucham, a keynote speaker at the conference was speaking at. I spoke with Him briefly on 2 occasions before his address. I had been planning to tell Him how much I enjoyed his work. This was the third conference I had heard him speak at. I also wanted to tell Him how much I enjoyed the book of His that I read. I had even thought about telling Him that I was going to be blogging a review of it soon and give him my business card. But alas I clammed up, which is extremely uncommon for me. I'm not even sure that I told Him my name. Maybe next time.

Thing 4. Guess which one did not speak at the conference.

A conference is a good place to hear quotes. Either quotes speakers attribute to others, or direct quotes from the speaker themselves.

Here are 3 quotes I heard at the conference. Try to guess which speaker was not there in person?

• Museums are the secular temples of our day- Bill Jack

• God says don't walk sit or stand (with sinners) and we say how about marriage? Voddie Baucham

• A pious spouse is a s necessary as a sound arm or leg. - Martin Luther.

Before you answer please be aware that George Washington Carver was announced as one of the speakers.

You were correct if you said Martin Luther. As for GWC, there was a man there who impersonated Carver. I was unable to go to the seminar which was a little disappointing since my daughter had just finished reading a biography about Him.

Thing 5: I'll take History for 300 . (It actually was not that much.)

As I've mentioned previously. One of our big expenditures each year is buying curriculum at the Home School Conference. Some of the stuff we just pick up at the conference and others is delivered to our house a week or two after the conference is over. We are trying out some new curricula this fall and continuing with others. One new thing that looks really promising is called the Mystery of History. Parts of it were offered at our co-op this year and though none of my children participated, it seemed pretty cool. We are doing the ancient history unit this coming year. The more I review the materials the more psyched I am for the class to begin.

Well those are some things I wanted to share from the convention. If you have things you want to talk about it. (How Fred Rogers of me) please join in below.

Next Time: A Good Book.