And now we come to Friday. The middle day. I’m going to add a logistical tip here that I’ll repeat in part three as well. I strongly advise not trying to drive home on Saturday evening. Yes, the conference is over by 5 or 5:30, and yes, it seems so reasonable if you only live 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 hours away–but don’t. Thursday is made longer by driving to arrive there; Friday is a full day due to the convention schedule; Saturday night, you are going to want to pet your new curricula purchases, discuss speakers, write down your thoughts, and generally process the experience. It’s hard to do that when you’re tired, and the quickest way to get even more tired is to drive home as soon as the convention ends. As a bonus, this will make Friday seem like a doable marathon (“Tomorrow is a shorter day!”) rather than just the first part of an Ironman triathalon.
We made the decision on Thursday evening not to try to get to the convention center for the first session. Ugh. I wanted to be there, but not as much as I wanted to reduce our stress. Here is an occasion where the convention center being attached to the hotel would have made a huge difference, because we had to consider transportation time and logistics. Regardless, we skipped both the 8:30 am and 10 am sessions, in the end. My first session for the day was Michael Clay Thompson, “Teaching Advanced Academic Writing.”
I’m going to be honest and say that I expected a better presentation based on others’ comments online. He was a decent speaker but I’ve seen better many times, so I’m not sure where the reputation as a great, engaging speaker is building. That said, the content was still excellent. One of the big things I distilled from the presentation is that there is a skill in reading non-literature which many students don’t have, and research papers are one vehicle for developing that skill. I’m going to throw out a few quotes:
“If we want formal writing to be the outcome, then informal writing cannot be the norm. Academic writing has to be, as it used to be, normal writing.”
“Academic writing is about academic reading. It is not a pure writing exercise.”
MCT is big on using real books, not websites. His basic plan is writing a series of short research papers each year, four papers at around 3 pages for each paper. He spoke about modern approaches to the research paper process (i.e., no need for bibliography cards and note cards, no need to turn in an outline). He also spoke at some length about the concept of a rough draft is counter-productive. Yes, a first draft is necessary, but the idea of “rough” means there’s a lot left to fix later.
MCT is also a big fan of MLA over other formatting guides. Finally, he talked quite a bit about expository, narrative assessment rather than rubrics. Apropos of nothing, he also uses a Mac.
Meanwhile, my mother was next door listening to Dr. Christopher Perrin speak about the intellectual virtues. She said that there was excellent content (and I haven’t had a chance to review her notes, though I’m looking forward to it), but he wasn’t the best speaker. As I’ve said in the past, the best authors are not always the best speakers. This was apparently one of those times. After that, she went to see Julie Bogart speak on the natural stages of growth in writing, which she said she thoroughly enjoyed. Again, I haven’t reviewed her notes, so I’m skimming over her sessions.
Then I went to see SWB talk about the well-prepared high school student. First of all, everyone should listen to SWB, because she is one of those good authors that is an excellent speaker. If you set the bar at SWB, very few speakers are going to impress you. I would know, since I... set the bar with SWB. She covered three areas of preparation: academic, practical, and emotional. I don’t want to attempt to summarize her entire talk, because it’s simply too full and rich. She spoke about basics, specialization, methods of instruction, tests, deadlines, writing, library skills, transcripts, keeping one’s own schedule, managing money, laundry, maturity, gap years, and more, all with coherence and depth. Whew. I bought this one on CD, even though I was in the room, because there was so much to really meditate and think upon.
Then we took a food break before going to the Tim Hawkins show, which was just EG, my dad, and I, for various reasons. Uh. I’ve only ever watched two of Tim Hawkins’ videos, mind you, so I was expecting stuff like “Chick-Fil-A” and “Homeschool Family.” I was surprised at some of the humor, and thought some of it was homophobic. It was near the end of the show when he started singing about climate change and how his Suburban wasn’t hurting anything. That song talked about Mr. Gore. Then he immediately followed it up with a song, well. “Who can tax xxx? The government can! Who can tax...?” you get the idea. I got up and walked out. Gah.
So there’s another tip for better convention time management: don’t buy tickets to things like Tim Hawkins. Even if you know you’ll enjoy it (and obviously, I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it), you need to decide why you’re at the convention, on some level. It’s entertainment stuck in the middle of what can be hard-core education and “professional development,” and I’ll be leaving entertainment off future convention schedules for me.
My dad and EG went to one of Ed Zaccaro’s sessions, then, and the Spousal Unit went to a Jim Weiss session for fathers. I happily wandered around the vendor hall, spending more time at places like the Usborne books booth. They had a prehistoric search book in the bargain bin–score! See, you can find non-YEC science material there, you just have to look really hard, lol. After that, Spousal Unit ran EG back to the hotel while my dad attended another of Julie Bogart’s sessions, and I went to Janice Campbell’s session on teaching literature. Who, um, also uses a Mac.
She had some good suggestions for teaching literature and I was pleased that it wasn’t just an ad for her curriculum. She is really big on including context materials, like art, music, other authors, major world events, and so forth, so in that sense, her curriculum is very handy because it’s all organized. She suggested that audiobooks were an adequate substitute for reading the book. I somewhat disagree, but I do think I could probably use audiobooks more than we currently do. She had a great list of recommended reference books and some good suggestions on literary analysis. This was easily a session that a high school student or relatively serious middle school student could glean from.
And that was the second day. It may not sound horribly long, but trust me: it was long and exhausting. A lot of the exhausting part was knowing we’d be getting up to do it again the next day, I think.
Showing posts with label homeschool: conventions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool: conventions. Show all posts
22.3.11
Thoughts on the Southeast Homeschool Convention, Part One
It’s going to take more than one post to talk about the Southeast Homeschool Convention, I think, so this is part one. All of us went, plus my parents, so you’ll see details about that.
Thursday. For anyone local planning to go in a future year, we left between 9:30 and 10 am. We stopped for Starbucks at Exit 149 on I-85, and then at O’Charley’s for lunch, about 20-30 miles from the hotel & the convention center. We arrived at the hotel around 1:30 pm and decided to try checking in, despite the official check-in time of 3 pm. We were lucky and our rooms were ready, so we checked in and unloaded the car. Then we headed over to the convention center.
My mom and I stayed there; the others went to go miniature golfing. I was unprepared for the sheer number of people already there. All of the registration lines were horribly long–except the one for my last name. Score! We were able to quickly register, then found a place to sit and make our plans for the remainder of that day.
My first session was about planning high school, or so I thought, but it turned into more of a session about what to do each year with a view towards college. Since I already knew more about testing for college and so forth than most of the people in the room, this was kind of a wash. I couldn’t slip out easily, though, and I didn’t have another session that sounded appealing (this one had been my back-up choice, but the schedule was redone). My mom went to see Cindy Wiggins speak about kids working independently. This was my mother’s first real introduction to the craziness of the whackadoodle homeschool crowd, bless her (Christian and liberal) heart. She nearly walked out of her session because the woman started it by dissing university professors. My mother works at a university, albeit as consultant/staff, not faculty; still, she wasn’t that impressed with this session.
My second session was with Ed Zaccaro, author of books such as Challenge Math and Real World Algebra. It was a good session. He referenced Outliers, how to create a quality program for the mathematically gifted, and other great topics. Meanwhile, my mother went to see Dr. Carol Reynolds, which was also a great talk. I left the end of that session and encountered a long line of people. Then I realized they were waiting for the vendor hall to open. Ooookay. Well, we had thirty minutes to kill, so we went in. We took in the layout but didn’t yet purchase anything.
Then my mom and I went to see Dr. Peter Enns. The room was eerily empty. I chalked it up to people being caught up in the vendor hall and missing the 6:30 sessions. Listen, y’all, I can be completely clueless when necessary! I hadn’t seen any of the upscut at that point. I just thought it was disappointing that there weren’t more people in the session, because he’s an excellent speaker. His voice is very calm and easy to listen to, he’s organized as a speaker–it was an enjoyable session. (Side note: if you watch QaF, his voice reminds me of Ben’s voice.) I think I learned more in that one hour about various points than I had in perhaps years of childhood church attendance. His perspective was one I enjoyed, too. How to put this? Dr. Enns is undoubtedly not nearly as liberal as I in any way :), but it’s been too long since I heard a voice in Christianity calling for love and communion with Christ, rather than shrill judgement and legalism. The items that stick out are his call not to be too quick to personalize the Bible, and his goal for children to develop a real, not superficial faith, one that prepares them for a lifetime as adult Christians. It was refreshing. I admit, I was predisposed to like him; I was surprised by how much I did.
Like many of the speakers I saw, both Ed Zaccaro and Dr. Enns are Mac people.
After the end of that session, my mom and I took PC while the menfolk, EG, and FB went to a presentation on sibling relationships. We shopped. I did all of my “must-get” shopping. While at the WTM booth, a blowhard (you know the type!) of a man was arguing with Suzanne of WTM about SWB’s use of “BC/BCE” in the SOTW books. Seriously. (I later heard the same blowhard pontificating about Classical Conversations while at their booth. This time he was positive in his statements, but the attitude was similar. What an annoyance!) This was the only hint I picked up on of all the other “excitement.”
Finally we all returned to the hotel, and once all the children went to sleep, I ate dinner, as it were: chips and salsa, plus a slice of bologna. I never said it was the best dinner ever.
Thoughts on the vendor hall: as you might expect, places like My Father’s World and Heart of Dakota have very large displays, as did Vision Forum, Answers in Genesis, A Beka Book, and Bob Jones. On the other hand, so did places like Miller Pads & Paper and Well-Trained Mind/Peace Hill Press. There were a fair number of completely secular or non-sectarian vendors. There was one awesome games vendor, and several used/antique book vendors (I found the Francis Scott Key COFA book in near-mint condition! One of my favorite books as a child.). There was certainly more than enough to look at, even for secular, evolutionary, and/or non-sectarian homeschoolers. Other vendors clearly had a religious slant to some of their offerings (Exploring Creation with Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, anyone? I saw that series EVERYWHERE), but also had non-sectarian and secular resources.
One thing that even Spousal Unit noted was how various curriculums were marketed. Without fail, all of the mathematics curriculums were being sold under the guise of “Math is tough,” whether as an explicit slogan (printed on the free wooden ruler we were handed) or in a more implicit manner. “Where,” he asked me, “are the curricula that are challenging? Where are the banners saying ‘If your current math is too easy, come visit our table!’?” Needless to say, there was no table for Art of Problem Solving.
I think any attendee is going to find multiple vendors and booths that do not, in any way, apply to his/her family and needs. That said, with a vendor hall that large, there was still more than enough to buy and plenty of things to browse. In some ways, I’m glad there were a number of vendors I immediately did not consider, since that made it seem easier and less overwhelming!
Thursday. For anyone local planning to go in a future year, we left between 9:30 and 10 am. We stopped for Starbucks at Exit 149 on I-85, and then at O’Charley’s for lunch, about 20-30 miles from the hotel & the convention center. We arrived at the hotel around 1:30 pm and decided to try checking in, despite the official check-in time of 3 pm. We were lucky and our rooms were ready, so we checked in and unloaded the car. Then we headed over to the convention center.
My mom and I stayed there; the others went to go miniature golfing. I was unprepared for the sheer number of people already there. All of the registration lines were horribly long–except the one for my last name. Score! We were able to quickly register, then found a place to sit and make our plans for the remainder of that day.
My first session was about planning high school, or so I thought, but it turned into more of a session about what to do each year with a view towards college. Since I already knew more about testing for college and so forth than most of the people in the room, this was kind of a wash. I couldn’t slip out easily, though, and I didn’t have another session that sounded appealing (this one had been my back-up choice, but the schedule was redone). My mom went to see Cindy Wiggins speak about kids working independently. This was my mother’s first real introduction to the craziness of the whackadoodle homeschool crowd, bless her (Christian and liberal) heart. She nearly walked out of her session because the woman started it by dissing university professors. My mother works at a university, albeit as consultant/staff, not faculty; still, she wasn’t that impressed with this session.
My second session was with Ed Zaccaro, author of books such as Challenge Math and Real World Algebra. It was a good session. He referenced Outliers, how to create a quality program for the mathematically gifted, and other great topics. Meanwhile, my mother went to see Dr. Carol Reynolds, which was also a great talk. I left the end of that session and encountered a long line of people. Then I realized they were waiting for the vendor hall to open. Ooookay. Well, we had thirty minutes to kill, so we went in. We took in the layout but didn’t yet purchase anything.
Then my mom and I went to see Dr. Peter Enns. The room was eerily empty. I chalked it up to people being caught up in the vendor hall and missing the 6:30 sessions. Listen, y’all, I can be completely clueless when necessary! I hadn’t seen any of the upscut at that point. I just thought it was disappointing that there weren’t more people in the session, because he’s an excellent speaker. His voice is very calm and easy to listen to, he’s organized as a speaker–it was an enjoyable session. (Side note: if you watch QaF, his voice reminds me of Ben’s voice.) I think I learned more in that one hour about various points than I had in perhaps years of childhood church attendance. His perspective was one I enjoyed, too. How to put this? Dr. Enns is undoubtedly not nearly as liberal as I in any way :), but it’s been too long since I heard a voice in Christianity calling for love and communion with Christ, rather than shrill judgement and legalism. The items that stick out are his call not to be too quick to personalize the Bible, and his goal for children to develop a real, not superficial faith, one that prepares them for a lifetime as adult Christians. It was refreshing. I admit, I was predisposed to like him; I was surprised by how much I did.
Like many of the speakers I saw, both Ed Zaccaro and Dr. Enns are Mac people.
After the end of that session, my mom and I took PC while the menfolk, EG, and FB went to a presentation on sibling relationships. We shopped. I did all of my “must-get” shopping. While at the WTM booth, a blowhard (you know the type!) of a man was arguing with Suzanne of WTM about SWB’s use of “BC/BCE” in the SOTW books. Seriously. (I later heard the same blowhard pontificating about Classical Conversations while at their booth. This time he was positive in his statements, but the attitude was similar. What an annoyance!) This was the only hint I picked up on of all the other “excitement.”
Finally we all returned to the hotel, and once all the children went to sleep, I ate dinner, as it were: chips and salsa, plus a slice of bologna. I never said it was the best dinner ever.
Thoughts on the vendor hall: as you might expect, places like My Father’s World and Heart of Dakota have very large displays, as did Vision Forum, Answers in Genesis, A Beka Book, and Bob Jones. On the other hand, so did places like Miller Pads & Paper and Well-Trained Mind/Peace Hill Press. There were a fair number of completely secular or non-sectarian vendors. There was one awesome games vendor, and several used/antique book vendors (I found the Francis Scott Key COFA book in near-mint condition! One of my favorite books as a child.). There was certainly more than enough to look at, even for secular, evolutionary, and/or non-sectarian homeschoolers. Other vendors clearly had a religious slant to some of their offerings (Exploring Creation with Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, anyone? I saw that series EVERYWHERE), but also had non-sectarian and secular resources.
One thing that even Spousal Unit noted was how various curriculums were marketed. Without fail, all of the mathematics curriculums were being sold under the guise of “Math is tough,” whether as an explicit slogan (printed on the free wooden ruler we were handed) or in a more implicit manner. “Where,” he asked me, “are the curricula that are challenging? Where are the banners saying ‘If your current math is too easy, come visit our table!’?” Needless to say, there was no table for Art of Problem Solving.
I think any attendee is going to find multiple vendors and booths that do not, in any way, apply to his/her family and needs. That said, with a vendor hall that large, there was still more than enough to buy and plenty of things to browse. In some ways, I’m glad there were a number of vendors I immediately did not consider, since that made it seem easier and less overwhelming!
