Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Homeschool Conference Take Aways, Random Plans

Thankfully, I don't let my emotions run the show. Because there were many swirling around on the day I left. My thoughts were filled with homefront details, stress and dreams of military boarding school. My arrival was marked by peace and gratitude. I felt grateful for my dear friends who dropped me off at the hotel. My quiet enjoyment was temporally rocked, but all was settled.

I was ready to formulate my plan for next year.  I needed this time so I could touch, hold, read, analyze and sniff some books. I was in the right location to do it.

I first must make a public apology to the vendors. I know I have disappointed you. Normally, I drop hundreds of dollars and need a rolling cart or a strong husband each day to carry my purchases. This time I needed neither. My trusty orange backpack remained half empty. Forgive me?

This was a year of changes. I finally have figured out my strategy for Random. He loves learning on the computer and using online programs. He just had said to me "I regret not doing more online classes earlier."

Well, my teaching style cringes at the thought of a child hunched over a computer all day. My perfect homeschool family fantasy involves all of us sitting in my sun room discussing the Animal Farm and politics.  He, to put it bluntly, likes me to be his mother, not his 24 hour teacher. We are ready for the transition. I'm checking out online and computer options. We haven't made a firm decision yet, but we know it's the right direction.

He also is trying his hand at computer programming with a free program called Alice. I was introduced to this at a lunchtime seminar and knew Random had to do this. He has already commented that it is a challenge. Yeah! Alice is described as:
Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience. 
Back to the convention...I thought I'd share some of the goodies I did pick up:

Because Little Guy's new hobby is all about rocks, I hand picked each treasure and added a detailed Dover coloring to call it curriculum. Total for the thrifty minded: $2.50 rocks, $2.50 for the clearance book.


Paperboy will remain in Math-U-See, he gets the weird shaped book. How's that for a geometric optical illusion?


We all fell in love with these movie guides last month. The boys and I each picked a title, thanks to my cell phone. The convention special was buy two, get one free at $12.99 each.


The Gman and I have a new $5.00 stapler for the office that won't be easily stolen. 
This was purchased at the hospital gift shop where I met Marge, Heidi, and Katie for lunch one day.


I was blessed to meet Carrie from Keyboard Classroom. Paperboy will be her next guinea pig product tester to improve his typing skills. Look forward to an upcoming review of Keyboard Classroom.  I'm excited about this opportunity, and it may be in the interest of marital harmony that the Gman will be my next student.


I have so much more to share about MassHope, look more conference fun next week.
Thanks for stopping by,
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1 comment:

Linda said...

This vendor sees no need for an apology! You gave me a package of tissues with your blog sticker on it!!! AND I got a picture with you!! You made my day! :-)

Glad you came by the booth on Saturday...it was REALLY fun meeting you and getting to chat!!

Blessings,
Linda
The Homeschool Apologist
The Joyful Journey