Dear Friend and Fellow Homeschool Enthusiast,

Greetings! You know, I've been thinking about how I struggled those first several years of homeschooling:

• The discouragement of ongoing, everyday life with chores and children (like how to get laundry off the table and dinner on the table while teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to less than enthusiastic learners),
• The hopelessness of getting it right when compared to others (why does everyone else seem to breeze through this while I'm tearing my hair out?),
• The feeling of inadequacy (if anyone had really been aware how little bookwork we were doing, they would have known what a failure I was at teaching my own children!)

It seems that you are dealing with some of these same issues ... which makes perfect sense, since homeschoolers all tend to labor under high expectations, false models, and unrelenting fear of failure. Perhaps my story can help. When Bill and I began to pray about how God wanted us to view our homeschool (in essence, how He wanted us to do it, since I was failing so utterly in doing it my own way), one of the first significant steps we took - a God-directed step, let me tell you! - was going to a homeschool convention.

I know, I know. Today, homeschool conventions are seen by some as passé, no longer needed since the advent of the Internet. But I'm telling you the truth, the things I received from homeschool conventions in the twentieth century are the same things you will receive in the twenty-first century ... the things that brought me hope and encouragement will bring hope and encouragement to you. It's kind of like getting your tank filled up when you are running on empty and about to quit, because our true struggle is not about whether to download a 300-page book, or how to return it, but about the real things that move our hearts. Let me share with you just a bit of all the things I received at homeschool conventions beginning back in 1988. They fall into three categories: new ideas, new ingredients, and fresh vision.

New Ideas
At my very first homeschool convention, I was talking with other mothers about how to make American history come alive - using great read-alouds, folk music, and hands-on projects. One of the moms shared her idea of growing heirloom vegetables from Thomas Jefferson's garden to inspire her kids - which is, of course, a fabulous idea! That launched us on a whole creative thought process about how gardening can make American history come alive, like planting a dead fish under a seed of corn - i.e., Squanto and the Pilgrims. You find this dynamic synergy at a convention when people begin to share their ideas or when one homeschool mom shares her struggles with another and receives suggestions and new ideas that she can try out in the safety of her home.

For me, it was hearing a mom's idea for her highly kinesthetic child who had not been getting it when it came to forming his letters. This creative mom had pulled out a cookie sheet, filled it with cornmeal, and had her child practice a, b, c, all the way to z in a tactile, kinesthetic environment. That little tidbit came back to me several months later for my own highly kinesthetic Michael, who struggled unsuccessfully to learn his times tables until I realized that he needed to move to get it. When, in the security of our home, I asked him if he would like to do jumping jacks while reciting the times tables, his eyes lit up like beacons, and he enthusiastically leaped to his feet to begin the "hard work" of memorizing. It was kinesthetically appropriate and eminently successful, and this idea that saved the day, or at least paved the way, had morphed from someone's conversation at a convention.

A different type of new idea that you can find is this: when you see someone who is good at an area you are not good at, you can ask her how to successfully teach that subject. In my case, it was science. I was at a complete loss as to how to give my children either a foundation or an appreciation for a subject that seemed cold and unyielding to me. After all, my experiences in school with science were of the "Do it this way, or else" variety. Though my grades were okay, I really had no use for science. But when you teach your own, you don't want to limit them, so I embarked on a one-woman quest to discover from scientists at homeschool conventions what they would say about how to teach science to elementary-school kids at home. It was absolutely fascinating to me to hear each one say categorically, "Get your kids involved in hands-on science experiments and in playing outside in the dirt." Seems like the scientists I met and pigeonholed thought that the best foundation in science was actually doing it - on a child's level, of course - and that once they began to discover how fascinating science and the created world were, they would be wonderfully prepared for learning the "stuff" of science. And, actually, while we're on the subject, the best way to learn abstract things like science and math is by starting with concrete, hands-on, sensory experiences. Forget the "memorize this list and someday you'll know what it means." That advice is a bad model for a good subject!

New Ingredients
I have to start this section with a pre-convention sob story. When I started homeschooling back in the mid-1980s, I had no idea what to do. I knew what it looked like, since I had spent 16 years in school - desk, flag, map, apple - but how to actually teach this little person was an absolute mystery to me. You might liken it to constructing a rocket that would actually fly to the moon. No clue. So, I did what many other homeschooling wannabes do - I picked up a book. This book described homeschooling and gave lists and reviews of various curriculua. One of these was described by the author as a "Cadillac curriculum," the crème de la crème, the best of the rest. Wow! With a description like that, this know-nothing homeschool beginner decided to save up all the Christmas and birthday cash for the next year so we could have the best. Many months later a check went out and a box came back. I opened it and was fairly disillusioned by how little I received for how much I had paid. If I had seen it before I bought it, we might have had a different ending to this particular sob story. But then, what did I know anyway? This teaching thing was out of my league, and I needed someone far smarter than me to hold my hand and tell me step by step, day by day, exactly what to do. This particular curriculum lasted us about 30 days before we realized that both Isaac (my 5-year-old) and I absolutely hated the sight of it. It was unfortunate that we had already written in the books, because that meant that all of those Christmas and birthday dollars were down the toilet for good (it was before the days of eBay ... can you imagine?).

So, one of our most delightful surprises at attending a homeschool convention was the opportunity to wander through the vendor hall, looking to our heart's content at all the titles we had been considering purchasing based on the advertising copy in magazines. You know, there's nothing like putting your eyeball directly on the item you think might be good for your kids. There was many a "no way!" when we actually looked inside the books, and many a wonderful surprise as we found treasures we'd never seen advertised that were just perfect for our family.

One of the early treasures we found was Rummy Roots - a game teaching vocabulary through learning Latin and Greek roots. When my kids could imbibe their learning painlessly through a fabulous game, homeschooling was effortless. From that small beginning, we went on to discover other games, such as Made for Trade (about the American colonies), Where in the World (a world geography game), and The Play's the Thing (about Shakespeare's plays). Who would have ever thought that learning could be this much fun?

Perhaps our most spectacular new ingredient at a homeschool convention was discovered by our son, Michael. He was very interested in learning Russian as his foreign language, and since I was fresh out of Russian-speaking friends in South Dakota, I didn't know how to help him. We attended a homeschool convention in Montana, where a man was selling Sybervision foreign language tapes. Michael struck up a conversation with this vendor, telling him all about his desire to learn to speak Russian. Since the man had an "Enter and Win a Free Set of Tapes" bowl on his table, he encouraged 10-year old Michael to go ahead and enter his contest. Imagine our surprise at the end of the weekend when the man suddenly appeared in front of us, totally excited and exuberant. "Michael won the contest! Michael won the contest!!!" It was such a blessing for Michael, and such a wondrous new ingredient in his homeschooling curriculum. And we would never have known of it (nor been able to afford it!) if not for the convention.

One more thought on this aspect of homeschool conventions. Don't be as foolish as I was when, during a national homeschooling event prior to my first homeschool convention, I had the opportunity to look at the books on Ruth Beechick's table - books such as You Can Teach Your Child Successfully - and to chat with her about her area of expertise. Since I was still so determined that if only I could find the right curriculum, it would teach my children, I only had one question for Ruth: "Does this book tell me what curriculum I'm supposed to buy?" She gently tried to help me see that I was asking the wrong question, that there was a whole world of learning out there beyond the limited understanding I had, but my blinders wouldn't allow me to listen to her wisdom. I left her table without the treasured book that would have unlocked this new world to me, and went on to have an absolutely horrible year with my shackling textbooks. It wasn't until a few years later that I discovered what I had missed, when I finally opened up a copy of her book and began to read. So, dear friend, learn from my painful mistake and go with an open heart, a curious mind, and a discerning spirit.

New Vision
Finally, there is the eye-opening, heart-expanding opportunity to hear national speakers share their experience and wisdom at conventions. Though not all speakers are created equal, so to say, there are plenty who communicate from their hearts the vision of what homeschooling can do for your children, for your family, and for you.

If I had time and space, I could share many wonderful speakers and their stories, but for now, I would like to share with you my all-time favorite national homeschool speaker - Steve Lambert, of the Five in a Row curriculum. Steve's very human and heartfelt stories make us laugh and cry and end up thoroughly encouraging us to keep going in this homeschool journey. The most profound and inspiring story concerns a friend of his who began her weight loss program by learning to jog. As Steve tells it, the first time his friend jogged down the block, she ended up on her hands and knees, vomiting on the street. Amazingly, she tried again the next day ...and the day after that. Eventually, she could successfully jog for a few miles. Looking for a challenging goal, she decided to begin training for a marathon - 26 miles! Sounds kind of like homeschooling through high school, doesn't it? Well, the day of the big race came, and Steve's friend began to run. She ran and walked and ran and walked ... and the finish line never came into view. Discouraged, exhausted, and completely out of vision, this marathon newbie was about to quit when suddenly a friend came back towards her. The friend said, "You're almost there! The finish line is just over the hill.... Believe me, you can do this!!" That little bit of encouragement, that fresh surge of hope, the vision that the end was in sight, was all Steve's friend needed to keep going, to finish the race.

As you listen to convention speakers like Steve Lambert, you will find that bit of encouragement, that fresh surge of hope, that vision to keep going until you finish your own race. And, if you are like me, you didn't start this marathon just to quit in discouragement halfway through - you're in this to finish, and to finish well! I have found homeschool conventions to be a significant part of my racing strategy, and even though I may appear to be a dinosaur from the twentieth century, I am convinced they are a significant part of your strategy, too.

Blessings,
Diana

Diana Waring and her husband Bill successfully homeschooled their three children from kindergarten through high school and have traveled internationally, sharing lessons they learned in the homeschooling process. Diana has spoken to families on four continents, has produced highly acclaimed instructional materials, world history CDs, and curriculum, and is always in the midst of creating something new to bless families.