OCHEC homeschool convention 2009

i went to the OCHEC (oklahoma christian home educators consociation) homeschool convention this past weekend. it's always the first weekend in may. my children are 6 & 4. i first went to the convention when my son was 3. he wasn't even ready for kindergarten, but i wanted to check it out. i was so glad i did. i have heard many people say when you walk into the room where the many, many vendors are, they get a little overwhelmed. i can understand it. there are a LOT of people in there, pushing their carts & strollers, holding a huge armful of books or babies, walking around trying to find just the perfect curriculum for their children. that is why the officer and i made the decision to go that first year, before we had to do any deciding on what to purchase, to get a feel of things.

when you register online, it's $10 cheaper than at the door. $35 will get you, your husband, and your children registered for the convention. it is held all day friday & saturday. you can get a one day shopping-only pass. it cost $20. they give you a couple of parking coupons for $1. we had to pay $6 when the lot was full, so the $1 parking coupon is a great deal. the convention has a keynote speaker who speaks both mornings. there is a break for lunch and the afternoon is filled with all different kinds of seminars. i found that the first year i attended (when my son was only 3) a lot of the seminars didn't apply to me. i had an idea of what i wanted to do anyway.

however, there is a wide variety of seminars. it varies year to year, but they try to have something for everyone. here are a few of the seminars that were available:

1. labeled and struggling academically
2. building character and work ethics in children
3. scheduling, planning, and record keeping
4. learning from dad
5. nutrition 101
6. preparing sons for life: the mom's part (i went to this one and will be posting a blog about it soon.)
7. high school
8. courtship and dating: breaking the cycle
9. what does a relaxed day look like?
10. philosophy of education

they try to have classes specifically designed for dads and moms. they offer a character first workshop all weekend you can sign your children up for. they attend the character first workshop while you attend the other workshops. if you miss any of the workshops, you can order a cd of the workshop.

this year they had something new - student entrepreneurs (yes - i spell checked that word). along with the other vendors, many homeschool students had booths to sell stuff they made. there was jewelry, decorative boxes, wall quotes, knitted items, and all kinds of other things. i thought it was great. i bought a scripture for our wall.

there were a ton of vendors. many of the vendors sold curriculum that covered most subjects such as sonlight, rod & staff, bob jones, abeka, konos, cornerstone, classical conversations, and my father's world (which we use). other vendors sold just a particular subject such as math u see, saxon, physical education of kids, holy cow science, and arts attack. there were colleges, health food advocates, museums, and radio networks represented. there were several activities a homeschool student could participate in: band, choir, driver's ed, art, and youth & government. other vendors offered software to track record-keeping, memberships to the homeschool legal defense, and other stuff i had no idea about. of course there were many, many book and school supply vendors. i spent a lot of time shopping and taking it all in. i knew what i was going to purchase before i got there: my father's world for 2nd grade and alpha math u see.

i bought more school supplies (have i told you about my fondness of school supplies??). i bought the princess & the kiss book for my daughter. i stopped by miller pads & paper and bought large reams of construction paper (the 9 x 12 size), a large alphabet foam puzzle, and grease crayons. here's their website: http://www.millerpadsandpaper.com/ - they have great prices.

my aunt & uncle always have a spot reserved to sell their books about raising chickens and raising/milking goats & cows. they sell lamplighter books and the curriculum they have used. they have 6 kids and have homeschooled them all (3 are in college now). the picture below is my aunt and her daughter. they offer family farm & dairy field trips for groups. prices are $3/person with children under 2 being free. you can watch them milk the goats & cows, help gather eggs and feed chickens, and see/play with the other animals (puppies, kittens, and ducks) they have. you can also do a chick hatching project with them. you pay them $25 (and a $75 damage deposit that is returned once all equipment is returned undamaged) and you will get everything you need for incubating eggs, caring for the chicks for up to a week after they hatch. they also provide all the learning materials you will need . when you are finished, you call them to set up a time to return the equipment and chicks. if you live in the metro area and are interested in any of these things, you can contact them at familyfarm@akinacres.net. (akins: if i got any of that wrong, i'm sorry!!) they also have a website you can check out: http://www.akinacres.net/

that's about the best overview i can give you without you actually attending. if you think you are interested or might be interested in homeschooling, it's worth attending to see all the different teaching options you have available. you can go to http://www.ochec.com/ to find out more about homeschooling and the convention. if you live out of town, the officer and i often make it a date weekend. we ask grandparents to watch the kids for the weekend, while we attend the convention. (THANKS GRANDMA KATHRYN!!!!)