First Ever Homeschool Convention

Everyone was kind of disappointingly normal.

We did count denim jumpers, but I think we only saw seven. And a half. We may need an official denim jumper definition. For instance, does it count if it's denim, but a different color?

This being a Christian homeschooling convention, I smiled politely and said nothing when Señor Gamache explained that his program would teach my children to present the Gospel in Spanish. And once I ended up in a scary section with books entitled such things as "Breaking the Addiction of Rock Music." Nooooooooo! Run away!

But other than that, it was, well, normal. Normal people. Normal salespeople. Who would have thought? I even found a table selling a secular character curriculum.

No Waldorf folks, though. Heh heh.

I bought Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level 1 Chemistry. This looks very easy, but nice. It took up half my budget for the day. The rest of the money went to a science kit from Treasure Box Press, and some books from Championship Chess.

I didn't go there planning to buy chess materials; I wasn't thinking about chess at all. However, Championship Press has some fantastic materials for teaching chess to young people. I bought a book that will teach us games to learn how to strategize with each piece, and then a book of opening attacks and defenses. I think that for Griffin's next birthday I will buy him their chess set and the book for preschoolers.

I bought the Treasure Box Press science kit for Griffin as well - he's been begging to do experiments. This is a very simple one involving kitchen chemistry. I want to love this company. Unfortunately, so far I am not impressed. The directions for the two experiments we've tried so far are completely wrong (as in, there is no possible way the experiment can work using those directions). The remaining activities are more crafts than anything else. At least it contained a box of baking soda. Griffin can be happy for hours with baking soda and vinegar.

My big surprise of the day was La Clase Divertida. I have heard quite a bit about this program, and dismissed it as not being for us. I watched part of a DVD lesson at the convention, and, Gospel lessons notwithstanding, I am sold. My kids will love this. It's certainly not the most solid Spanish program around, but they will love it. The DVDs involve Senñor Gamache teaching a lesson to a group of kids. You learn a little language, and you also hear stories about hispanic cultures and mythology. You top that off with crafts and cooking Spanish foods.

Even though they won't learn a great deal of language, my kids will enjoy Spanish. Since they will tell you they hate Latin (they really don't, they just say they do), it would be nice for them to be actually enthusiastic about a language. La Clase is mucho dinero, though, so it will have to come later.

Next year I'm bringing $200. Then I can buy books.