Jacob's 12th Birthday

My oldest son turned 12 on Wednesday.

Where has the time gone? I surely do not know...

I don't know when or why this tradition began, but the kids love to make their own birthday cake. They get to choose the flavor and icing and away they go. This year Jacob chose yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I wish the photo below showed the detail better...my perfectionist son can't even frost a cake without being totally perfectionist about it...it was quite tasty though!

I couldn't believe that I timed my camera perfectly to capture this expression on Jacob (below). For a few weeks I had been telling him that this wouldn't be a 'normal' birthday. 'With paycuts at Kenwood, we just couldn't afford to get Jacob a big gift this year.' Which he seemed to be completely fine with. Another of our traditions is that the birthday kids gets to choose where we go out to eat that night for dinner. All day long Jacob had been saying we were going to Outback Steakhouse, but when Jon got home he changed his mind and said he wanted to go Johnny Carino's. We hadn't been there since Jacob's 10th birthday when Aaron and Sera came for a visit. When I found that out, I decided to have Jacob open his gift before we left (Johnny Carino's just happens to be right by the Lego Store)...I got him a Star Wars Pocket Model Trading Card game and the surprise was a Lego gift card attached to it. Jacob was not expecting the gift card AT ALL and was shocked when he opened it. I LOVE this picture of him. It made me think about Matthew 7:11 "If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" It was so fun to surprise Jacob in this way. I pondered how much God must enjoy giving us those extra little surprises that we do not expect.

So, with Lego gift card in hand, we headed to dinner. And OH MY GOODNESS! It was incredibly yummy. Next time you go to Johnny Carino's, order the Fire Sticks! Truly, you will not be sorry. They say they're a little spicy, but none of us thought they were. Delicious!After dinner we indeed headed to the Lego Store so Jacob could purchase his heart's desire. I meant to take his picture as he was paying for it, but was talking to several of the employees and missed it. So I took his picture just outside the store.

We left the mall to discover that God had a birthday present for Jacob, too...

It might be a little hard to see, but it was a DOUBLE rainbow! Gorgeous!

The 4 Deadly Errors of Writing - Part 2

Continuing on with the last two errors of writing...

Deadly Error #3: Withholding help - "If I help my child too much he won't be learning." Haven't we all thought this at one time or another? Or, how many times have our children said, "I don't know what to write about," and we respond with, "Be creative...just make something up." In other words, "Be - like - God." Ouch! Did that make you flinch the way it did me in this class by Andrew Pudewa? His solution to the "I don't know what to write about" problem is to let them know it's okay to use already existing ideas. Have our children had enough life experience to pull something out of thin air and write about it? If we were told to 'just make something up,' would we struggle thinking of something? Mr. Pudewa's advice is to provide content through a 'source text.' Let them re-write an existing story. Give them content to work with. We should teach HOW to write before we charge into WHAT to write. "Helping too much" is deeply ingrained in those of us who were public schooled. Schools have convinced parents not to help their children...Mr. Pudewa says 'this is dumb!' We think it won't be 'fair' if we help too much. "I shouldn't just tell them what to write...it wouldn't be their own work." There is truth to that statement, but we can't forget our goals: to model structure and style, teach through application and develop confidence and fluency. It is IMPOSSIBLE to help a child too much. They will tell us when to stop. "Okay, Mom, I've got it." Children are wired for independence. He used this example...how do we teach our children to swim? We hold them up, show them how to kick and stroke, teach them how to blow bubbles thru their nose. So, why wouldn't we do the same when teaching how to write? There is nothing 'illegal' about teaching by providing examples and options. It is especially important for reluctant writers. How else are they going to learn? (I will have another post soon about Teaching the Reluctant Writer with application to this point and how to use a source text.)

Deadly Error #4: Over expectation - We CANNOT compare our children with others. Mr. Pudewa says this will either lead to vanity or bitterness. Comparing children does not benefit the children - it benefits society. It comes down to this: they are GOD'S children and we don't need to compare them to others. Standardized tests are as meaningless now as they will be in 16 years. (This was particularly comforting to me. All 3 of my children will be tested next month and I have found myself getting anxious about it. I'm not worried about Abbi, but I am concerned about the boys. Jacob, because if he's asked questions that he doesn't know the answer to, he feels dumb (like why don't I know this? If they're asking me, I should know the answer) and he gets teary-eyed. Caleb because he is a struggling learner. He still doesn't know the difference between a verb and an adjective. Do I care? No, because I know he'll eventually get it. He still has many years of education in front of him, and a verb will always be a verb. But I know that when the test results come back, if Caleb is in the 'below average' category, I will feel like I've failed him.) The bottom line is that elementary kids should love learning and believe they're good at stuff. So, we need to allow our children to focus on one aspect of writing without expecting them to do everything right the first (or even second) time. When they've turned in a paper, we cannot say, "You had this word on a spelling test a few weeks ago. How could you spell it wrong in this story?" Spelling, Handwriting, and Composition are very different neurological functions. These activities don't even happen in the same areas of the brain (which was confirmed in the brain class I went to that I'll share about soon). Not that Spelling and Handwriting are not important - they are. But they are very different activities than composition. For many children, writing neatly requires full concentration, so stopping to determine the correct spelling of a word can derail the whole train of thought. We should always look for something to compliment first, before pointing out errors. Success breeds success and we, as the teachers, must be the coach, not the judge.

Writing is an art - we practice, we improve.

Strawberry Picking at Washington Farms

Today we loaded up in the van and headed to Washington Farms to pick strawberries with some great friends. I hadn't been strawberry picking since I was a kid, and this was my kids' first time to experience it. Caleb was not too thrilled when I announced what we'd be doing, since he doesn't care for strawberries. But Jacob and Abbi were pretty excited. We were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon - warm and breezy. Perfect for strawberry picking! We all met at Chik-Fil-A for lunch and then headed to Washington Farms.

I had to laugh at 6-year-old Jessica (in the red, above). About 5 minutes after we began picking, she announced that she couldn't find any strawberries. I had to say, "Are you kidding?! Look behind you, look in front of you, look next to you! They're EVERYWHERE!" I think she was a bit annoyed with my response, but really, they were everywhere!

Above- Tanya with her two boys, Jake and Josh.

Below - Caleb saying, "Look at this BIG one!"Above - Jessica and Bethany

I guess Jessica found some berries afterall!After we filled our two buckets, the kids couldn't wait to clean a few and try them! And oh-my-goodness! They are SO super-delicious!Remember me saying that Caleb doesn't care for strawberries? The above photo is him right after he took his first bite out of one. Crack me up! We got home and cleaned all the berries and got them ready for the freezer. The kids, of course, were sampling as they helped. Caleb ate 5 more and decided they're not too bad!So, you may be wondering what I'm going to do with all my strawberries. Tanya asked me if I'm going to make jam. Jam? Me? I don't think so. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "Come on, Amy! You make your own bread for goodness sake. You even grind your own wheat!" I know...but jam? Isn't that, like, an all day event? With my bread-making, I can get it made, have it happily rising in pans AND have the dishes done and counters wiped in 45 minutes. And that includes the time it takes me to grind the wheat. Maybe next year Abbi and I can attempt jam. I guess I should try it at least once, right? For now, my strawberries will go in our breakfast smoothies.

The 4 Deadly Errors of Writing - Part 1

I got so much out of this class by Andrew Pudewa. I have four pages of notes (and I still couldn't write fast enough) so I thought I'd split this into two posts so you're not totally overwhelmed. Writing is another one of those things that I knew I wanted to work on next year (the other being band) so this talk was extremely helpful. Mr. Pudewa said this was originially called The Seven Sins of Writing, but thought it may turn people off. One, because the number seven sounds awfully daunting...as does the word 'sins.' So he changed it...

So, here we go with the four deadly errors of writing.

Deadly Error #1: Over-correcting - Probably the most common and dangerous mistake. Writing is not like math where it's right or wrong. Writing is about improvement and there are many levels of improvement. Everybody starts somewhere and everyone improves. Many of us might recall the experience of getting back a redmark plastered paper. Did we look at it and think, “Wow, look at all these great corrections. If I carefully study the teacher’s marks and really try to remember these things when I write my next paper, I’ll probably get a better grade. I can hardly wait!”? Unlikely. More commonly a child looks at the paper and each red mark makes him feel: “I’m wrong...I’m bad....I’m stupid...I don’t know anything...I’ll never be able to do this...etc.” Or perhaps we received a paper with no corrections or comments but simply a “C+/B-” at the top and no explanation as to why the poor grade. That’s another cause for hopelessly thinking: “I’m lousy at this and have no idea how to do better.” How then to correct?

Think of “editing” rather than correcting. Every good writer has an editor (and few good editors are accomplished writers). Every child needs an editor, and parents often need to know what that means. The difference between a mom and an editor is that an editor gives corrections without a lecture attached. An editor does not give grades; he helps prepare a piece for publication. He is an assistant rather than a teacher. With children, your goal is to help them produce a finished product they can be proud of and teach by “editing,” not “correcting.” So, you should only mark on your child's writing assignments if they are going to correct and revise it. Otherwise, your comments and lectures on what they should've done differently will not get through. (Think back to Charlie Brown and how the adults always sounded muffled...that's how your corrections will sound to your child.) Unless you require revision, write positive comments on their paper, give it back to your child and be done with it.

TEACH AT THE POINT OF NEED (this was a big one for me). Instead of correcting, choose a particularly awkward sentence from the child’s composition. Copy it into a notebook for yourself, and then at the start of the next lesson, create a similarly awkward sentence (be sure it's not exactly what your child wrote so they don't know this came from their paper). Put the sentence on the board and discuss it with your students, helping them to see why it is awkward or incorrect, then rewrite it together. Repeat this process each day or each lesson, using a similar (but different) sentence, until they can consistently correct it by themselves. Children (and adults) are always more willing to correct other people’s errors than their own. By providing them with contrived mistakes to correct, we give them the practice they need in small, focused, non-threatening parts. So, we teach at the point of need, without stomping all over our child for every awkward word or construction (which can wipe out the student’s motivation).

He recommended several editing helps: Editor in Chief by Critical Thinking and Great Adventures in Editing were the ones I heard and wrote down. There were 1 or 2 more that he mentioned.

Deadly Error #2: Unclear Assignments - Perhaps the most frustrating problem for children, whose basic nature it is to want to know exactly what is expected of them. Boys especially, crave concrete instructions - "tell me what to do" as opposed to "let's work on it." We need to communicate as precisely as possible what we want our children to do. How long do we want their paper to be? We must give clear guidelines. We cannot say, "make it long enough to cover the subject." This is too unclear because it is vague and open-ended. Tell them how many paragraphs you want (if you tell them how many words you want, they will likely count their words and add as many fillers as they can like 'and then.' It's better to tell them how many paragraphs you want). Be specific about what you want in the paragraphs. A topic sentence, how many supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. (Elementary kids should have 3 or 4 supporting sentences...increase up to 8 in middle and high school.) Or if they're doing a book report, tell them in the 1st paragraph you want to know about the characters, setting, author, etc. The 2nd paragraph would be about the problem that occurs in the book. The 3rd paragraph would tell about the solution/conclusion of the book. Define what you want in each paragraph.

Make sure if the assignment were given to you you'd know exactly what to do.

To be continued with Deadly Errors #3 and #4...I know, the suspense will kill you!

Teaching and Motivating Boys & Girls

Note - I have edited this since first posting...

I added a little tidbit to point #1.

I've had a difficult time trying to decide what to share next from the GHEA conference.  Andrew Pudewa gave such great talks...I decided to go with Teaching & Motivating Boys & Girls today (which we found out was really to be titled Motivating Boys & Other Kids Who Would Rather be Making Forts All Day).  First he talked about the neuro-physiological differences between boys and girls.  If you have boys AND girls, I'm sure you already know they are different.  These days it is politically incorrect to say that boys and girls are unequal, but in fact, they are.  Mr. Pudewa discussed schools where the classes are separated by gender and what a wonderful thing that is.  It frees the students up to learn as they were made to learn.  So, here are some practical differences between boys and girls:

1.  Boys don’t hear quiet sounds. They don’t ignore you. They just don’t hear you.  Mr. Pudewa suggested that if both boys and girls are in a classroom, the teacher should seat the boys on one side and the girls on the other and then stand in front of the boys so they can hear. It has been proven in infants, toddlers and children that girls can hear softer sounds than boys.  It also explains why, when I'm reading aloud to the kids, I have to give Caleb 'the look' because he is tapping or humming or making noise somehow.  But he doesn't hear it!  He usually doesn't realize he's been making noise until he gets 'the look.'  To prove his point, Mr. Pudewa had us all be silent and pointed out all the sounds going on around us...the hum of the A/C, the buzz of the lights, etc. Boys will hear these noises first and it's difficult for them to tune those sounds out and focus on what they're supposed to listen to. Adults (most of them) are accustomed to tuning these sounds out.  Boys can't do it yet.  (Saturday morning we had to stop to get gas before arriving back at the conference center.  Caleb asked if we were near the airport and I said, 'yes.'  He commented on how he could hear the engines of the planes...I hadn't even noticed until he made that comment!)  Mr. Pudewa said many boys don’t do well in school because they cannot hear the teacher. He also suggested that if our sons cannot sit still to do math, have them stand up at a counter to do it. 

2.  Boys optimum learning temperature is 68 - 69 degrees. Girls is 74-75 degrees. Note to self: keep heat low this winter and have Abbi and me bundle up.

3. Boys tend to track speed and motion because their eyes have more m-cells which are connected to rods.   Girls have more p-cells connected to cones which track color and texture. (This has something to do with how/where the retina is attached to the brain...it is different in boys and girls.)  Because of this, boys and girls actually see the world differently.  Boys see verbs in black; girls see nouns in full color.  Have you ever given a drawing assignment? Typically boys will try to draw action...a bird flying, a rocket exploding, a volcano erupting (and they will usually draw in black).  While girls will typically draw nouns with lots of color...a horse, a rainbow, a horse, a flower, a horse, a horse, a horse.  Kids draw how they 'see.'

4.  How they handle emotions like being upset: Boys stomp around and make lots of noise. They need to stand up if they are upset because they think better on their feet, moving around. (Which is why men pace and women do not.)  So don’t make them sit down to talk about it. They can’t if you want them to work through it. If a girl is upset, you have to go find her first. He suggested that you can usually find her on the couch with a blanket pulled over her head. Her bedroom in our case. No need to search for a boy unless he took off on his bike.

Next he talked about the Science and Art of Motivation: Children are NOT lazy...children are NATURALLY industrious.

A.  The Three Laws

1.  Children LIKE to do what they can do (as do adults).

2.  Children WANT to do what they think they can do.

Example - Mr. Pudewa WANTS to speak in front of a full coliseum of 20,000 +.  He would love to be on Oprah.  Why?  Because he thinks he could do a good job in front of a huge audience.

3.  Children HATE to do and will refuse to do something they think they cannot do.

He told a story here about a snowboarding adventure he had and why he will NEVER go snowboarding again (unless he was paid a 6 figure sum).  This is the same reason I will never go skiing again.  I did it once, hated it, was terrible at it, was miserably cold the whole time and I will NEVER go skiing again.  I'll hang out at the lodge and have hot cocoa and coffee ready for the ones who do enjoy skiing, but I will never be on skis again!  But when we're trying to get our kids to try something, what do we say?  "I'm sure you could do this if you would just try."  I can testify that this is not a good tactic.  For myself and for my oldest son.  I remember as a child when my parents would try to get me to try something new.  Whether it was food or an activity.  They would say things like, "Amy, I know you'll like this," or "you're missing out on so much fun."  All I wanted to say was, "Will you please back off and leave me alone!  I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!"  And my wall would go up and I would not try whatever it was they wanted me to.  Well, my oldest son, Jacob, is just like me in that regard.  My husband, Jon, will try to get Jacob to try something new and I can see Jacob's wall go up the more Jon pushes.  Jon is one who will try anything once, no fear, let's go have an adventure, so he doesn't understand this part of Jacob (although he is trying).  But Jacob is a watch-and-see person (just like me).  We have found that if we ask him to try something new and he says 'no,' we let it be.  And usually, if we haven't pushed, he'll see everyone else having fun and decide to join in.

B.  The Four Forms of Relevancy

1.  Intrinsic - something is interesting just because it is.  For boys this will be knives and swords.  For girls this will probably be horses.  He commented that knives and swords are universally interesting to boys. “They will invent them if they've never see them.” How many moms can attest to that? Keep swords and guns out of the house, and a boy will invent them out of a stick!   Boys need to learn interesting, relevant, and applicable information. They see no reason for anything else. Mr. Pudewa said the most important motivator was to teach things that are intrinsically relevant. Those things are naturally interesting.  We should go in-depth with something our children want to learn more about.

2.  Inspired - something that is not too interesting to me, but a loved one is interested so I become interested from them.  This is where the importance of mentors comes in. For example, Mr. Pudewa has NO interest whatsoever in Science.  He thinks science is a waste of time and incredibly boring.  So, should he be the one teaching science to his children?  Probably not.  Especially if one of his children is particularly interested in science.  He needs to find a mentor/teacher for that child who will be knowledgeable and inspiring and encourage that child in his interest.

3.  Contrived - create a game to learn boring things (like grammar, multiplication tables, etc.)  Saying things like, "Do this or else..." leads to suffering and will likely not be motivating.  Boys, especially, need a game with positive and negative results, otherwise they might decide it’s not worthwhile and decide to opt out. For example, after a writing assignment, have your child go back and find all their mis-spelled words.  Pay them a certain amount for each one they find.  But if there are any they don't find, take that much away and if they don't find any they must pay you $1.00.  The rewards must be physical, not mental or emotional (for boys).  Mental or emotional rewards will probably work for girls. 

4.  Enforced - using force, threats, 'you must,' and fear

C.  The Two Secret Weapons

1.  Communicate you love your children and are grateful for them.  Smile, humor, laughter

2.  The emotional bank account - give way more compliments than criticism

HOW YOU LEARN IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT YOU LEARN

The Profound Influence of Music on Life

As I was getting ready for the GHEA conference, I pulled out a notebook so I could take notes at the classes and guess what I found? All my notes from last year's conference! As I was looking through my old notes I was thinking, "Oh yeah...I remember that!" So, in an effort to RETAIN and implement everything I learned this past weekend, I thought I'd rehash my notes here.

Friday evening Andrew Pudewa gave a talk called The Profound Influence of Music on Life. It was incredibly inspiring and he was, as usual, a delight to listen to. What's interesting is that I've been wanting to put the kids in band for over a year now. I played the flute for years as a child and I loved it. It was part of who I was. I still love music and I really want my kids to have that same love. They took piano lessons last year, but I've been praying about finding a homeschool band nearby for them to participate in. There's just something about each instrument playing it's own part and putting it all together to create something beautiful. So this talk was especially meaningful to me.

So, going off of my notes here, let's see if I can figure out all these little pieces and make them make sense. Mr. Pudewa is very passionate about music and talked about how parents say things like, 'wouldn't it be nice if we had some extra money and we could afford music lessons for little Sally.' He said music instruction isn't 'nice.' Music education is absolutely critical! Why? Because learning to play an instrument 'stimulates and stores in the brain a perfectly ordered set of information through three sensory pathways simultaneously.' Learning to play an instrument is about as multi-sensory as you can get. You see the music, you hear it and you play it so your brain is making 'exponential neuro connections.' He said if possible, his advice is to scrap all the math and phonics and 'formal education' for the first few years of school and focus mainly on music instruction (and of course, all the kids in the audience cheered!). Then, when you start formal academics, your children will not only learn faster, but their brains will be performing at an optimum. Interesting, isn't it?

Mr. Pudewa told us about several experiments performed by David Merrell back in the 1990's involving mice and the effects of different kinds of music. In the first experiment, he got 72 mice and divided them into three groups: one to test a mouse's response to heavy metal, another to the music of Mozart and another group that wouldn't listen to any music at all. Mr. Merrill played music for 10 hours a day and put each mouse through a maze three times a week that originally had taken the mice an average of 10 minutes to complete. Over time, the 24 mice that had no music cut about 5 minutes from their maze-completion time. The Mozart-listening mice cut their time back 8-and-a-half minutes. But the heavy metal mice added 20 minutes to their time. Mr. Merrell even had to cut his project short because all the heavy metal mice began to kill and eat each other. So, if you think the music you listen to doesn't effect you, think again!

Another experiment he shared revealed that human attitudes change with music; hostility, fatigue, sadness & tension decrease with classical music, but dramatically increase with “grunge rock.” And another showed that college students improved their IQ scores after listening to Mozart, when compared with relaxation music and no music.

Mr. Pudewa also told us about an experiment done in a preschool. Preschoolers were given an IQ test and then for six months, 20 minutes per day, one group of children had free-play, one group had singing time, one group had computer time and the last group learned how to play the piano. After 6 months, the group that learned how to play the piano increased their IQ scores 46% higher than the other groups! Astounding, isn't it?

There were many other experiments that he shared with us and all had fascinating results. Mr. Pudewa read an article about a group of Chinese students who were studying Mozart's compositions mathematically. (He referred several times to how music and math are both perfectly ordered and music is actually very mathematical.) This group of students came to the conclusion that THERE MUST BE A GOD because no human brain was capable of creating the music Mozart did without help from a Creator. And they ALL converted to Christianity! Incredible!

Closing remarks: What is the purpose of art? To bring the mind of man closer to the mind of God. How do we know the mind of God? By His two books: The Bible and Natural Creation.

When art imitates nature, it brings the mind of man closer to the mind of God. When art violates God, it leads to disorder and chaos. 

There are 3 elements to music: the melody - which connects our minds, the harmony - which connects our heart and emotions, and rhythym - which connects our body.

How can we judge if music is good? Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8. And we can also flip that around. If it is NOT true, if it is NOT noble, if it is NOT pure, etc...then it is probably not good.

So, remember how I said that I've been praying about putting the kids in band?  Should we do it?  Can we make the time commitment?  Can we afford it?  Well now I'm thinking we can't afford NOT to do it.  I did some checking around last week and couldn't believe how affordable band is compared to piano lessons.  If you're thinking about homeschool band for your kids and you live near me, check out Grace Notes Homeschool Ensemble.  This group meets in Lilburn and there's another band that meets in Cumming.  I also found bands in East Cobb, Jasper, and Stockbridge. 

GHEA in review

Jon and I (and the kids, of course) attended the annual GHEA conference this weekend and had a wonderful time.  We started Friday morning out at the Used Book Sale.  There were a few things that I REALLY wanted to find there...I started at the History tables, but had no luck finding the one gem I was hunting.  So I got over my discouragement and moved on to the Science tables.  There were two books I was desperatley looking for...to no avail.  I must say here that I have never had trouble finding things on my list at the Used Book Sale.  So, you can imagine my frustration and discouragement.  But, I kept telling myself, "It's okay.  There will be other book sales.  And there's always Ebay."  And then, I found it.  It's been on my list of 'wants' for two years now because I'm too cheap (I mean 'frugal') to pay full price for it.  And there it was, in excellent condition, calling to me.  I couldn't believe it was still sitting there.  I mean, this is a gem of a book.  So I reached across three people (which, in hindsight, was probably pretty rude) and snatched it into my empty, longing arms.  What was my prized find, you wonder?  Story Starters by Karen Andreola.  A good friend of mine has this book and I've coveted it for a long time.  That was all I needed to renew my zeal and continue my search in the Used Book Sale.

So, I moved on to the Readers tables and had a little better luck.  Still, though, the selection wasn't nearly what it usually is.  And the crowd was much smaller than normal.  But with each book I found and crossed off my list, I was filled with more hope and satisfaction.  We left with a suitcase full of books and the check I wrote was astonishingly small.  (Just ask Jon...he was extremely happy with the deals I found!)  Jacob was able to find a Lego set and a spy kit that looks interesting (yes, at a used book sale).  Abbi found a great American Girl book that is actually a telescript.  She also got one for her best friend and hopes they can coordinate a play this summer.  Poor little Caleb searched high and low for a book about rocks.  He looked through every single Science table with no luck.  Well, he did find a few Geology books, but they weren't 'cool.'  He left the book sale just a little disappointed.  

After the Used Book Sale, we were STARVING, so we headed out to the van for our wonderful homemade lunch of sandwiches and apple slices.  I knew we'd have to go out for dinner that night and I just couldn't fathom spending $20 on lunch too.  (That's where my cheapness, I mean 'frugalness' comes into play.)

We went back to the conference center and headed to the Vendor Hall.  Those of you who have experienced it know the feeling...'where do I begin?'  We decided to start with a walk-thru so we'd know who was where and what booths we wanted to come back to.  In the middle, we came to the Championship Chess area and the boys asked if they could stay there to play chess.  So we left them there and continued our journey.  By the time we finished our walk thru, it was time for the first class to start, so we rounded up the boys and headed off.  The kids program, Little Patriots, didn't begin until 5:30, so the kids got to attend some of the Friday classes with us.

This post is getting longer than I intended, so let me just say, the classes were AWESOME!  I know some people didn't attend the conference this year partly because they hadn't heard of most of the speakers, but WOW, did they ever miss out.  We went to three classes taught by Andrew Pudewa.  I will share my pages of notes with you in coming posts, but he was terrific!  He knows his stuff...writing, music, kids.  He was a great, entertaining presenter (which was important early Saturday morning).  If you ever get the chance to hear him, go!  I also went to a class with Rebecca Powell that was just for mom's, while Jon went to her husband's class.    The last class I attended on Saturday was with Brain Balance, and it was fascinating!  We recently (and finally) discovered that Caleb is a struggling learner and are using some techniques and resources from Dianne Craft to help him (which I will also talk about in a coming post).  I went to this class to try to learn more about the way  Caleb's brain works.  Wow...the brain is just fascinating.  I've recently been on a U.S. History kick (thanks to the kids curriculum) and have been reading various books about it.  The more I learn about our history, the more things make sense in our present state of politics.  Now I feel a brain kick coming on.  There is just not enough time in the day to learn about everything I want to!  

Before I sign off, and just so you're not feeling bad for me, I found those two science books I was desperate for at a vendor booth for more than 50% off!  And 10 minutes before the vendor hall closed for good on Saturday, Caleb found an awesome Geology book that he is most excited about!  YAY!!