If you’re a Christian parent and have never been to a CHEA (Christian Home Educator’s Assoc.) Convention (like me till this past weekend), you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s a blast! I didn’t know what to expect and thought it was a very bad idea to try and attend something like this with a small… er, very large, baby in tow. But Activated Ministries is sponsoring the entrance fees for missionary parents this year and ALL my friends were going and insisted that I at least try. It turned out to be just what I needed at this point in my parenting life. I’ve been feeling so guilty about feeling like I just don’t have a grasp on where to start with educating my little ones. Oh, I know they’re just 3 and under 1 years old… and, yes, I know all parents probably feel guilty no matter what they do, but I’m talking more about that nagging feeling that there IS something you can do and you’re just not focusing on it enough to find out where square one is. I don’t want early readers or child prodigy’s, but I want to feel like I have a plan for my kids and that they’re at least getting some quality focus and the right foundation both academically, spiritually and in their character building.
The CHEA helped set some things in motion that will help me with that and I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit of a jump start now. They had amazing classes on so many different topics. Well, to be honest, tugging around an 8 month old who only wants to flirt with all the other girl babies in the class and discuss his opinions as loudly as the designated speaker, got me kicked out of at least one class. I got about 5 classes (out of maybe a hundred). My favorites were one given by David Hazell of My Father’s World on the topic of Occupying your preschooler while you’re doing other stuff. To be honest, I was trying to get tips on how to keep Violet happier while I’m doing email, but instead I feel he totally renewed my vision for home schooling at a time when I was losing that vision. He made it seem so doable and like something I could probably still do even if I have other work and responsibilities. I mean, here’s a dad who homeschooled his six children while his wife had to go back to work, one of them a nursing baby. I have it easy, right?
Then, the other speaker that really caught me was named Andrew Kudrow, or something along those lines. He gave an amazing lecture about the ways boys learn differently than girls. He recommended a book called Why Gender Matters, by Leonard Sax that explains the scientific differences between the sexes, such as… girls actually hear and see better or differently than boys do. There’s a whole lot to the lecture, but it sounds like a very interesting
I’m just starting to grasp some of that home schooler lingo now, but I did get to go to a convention and it’s definitely worth it. I recommend going if you want to get any help with parenting. These are pros… Christian pros.
Anyway, Jude and I had fun. We sneaked out of the hotel room on the last day to let the other girls we went with sleep in. We were just going to walk around Long Beach and kill time, but… heheh, I came across a really cool aquarium that I couldn’t resist. So we ended up hanging out with a bunch of fish, jelly fish and an awesome octopus for a couple hours. My favorite was the Sea Otter though.
July 19th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Go homeschooling!
July 20th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Did you get any copies of any of the classes? I’m so glad you had a good time. Ours is coming up here in August.