The summer our daughter turned five we made the official decision to homeschool. While we were excited about our new adventure, we were also terrified. We were now responsible for the next eighteen years of our children’s education. Their ability to read, figure math problems, socialize in the world, and all other aspects of raising our children was now, completely in our hands.
The day I realized how many choices there are for homeschool curriculum I sat on the floor and cried. I cried because it was expensive, I cried because I had no idea how to choose a curriculum, and I cried in fear I would buy a curriculum we all hated. If we hated it I knew we would have to spend money on another one. Money I knew we didn’t have. Not only was there zillions of curriculums to choose from there was as many methods of homeschooling as there was curriculum.
The Holy Spirit reminded me to breathe, pray, and breathe some more. I started praying and then talked with my husband about the education skills and life skills we wanted our kids to have. Once we compiled our list of goals for our kids we began praying God would direct us to the perfect curriculum.
A good friend told us about the MACHE conference in the cities. When we looked at MACHE’s website to find out information about the conference we discovered there were speakers presenting on topics that spoke directly to many of the concerns we had about homeschooling. We also discovered that My Father’s World (one of the curriculums we were seriously considering) would be there. We would be able to ask them our many questions in person. Plus, we wouldn’t have to pay shipping if we bought their Kindergarten curriculum right at the conference.Being able to speak face to face with the vendors has helped us to get a better idea of various curriculum before we actually bought it. This has saved us time and money, both precious commodities.We registered immediately for the conference, booked our hotel, and found someone to take our kids for the weekend.
We registered immediately for the conference, booked our hotel, and found someone to take our kids for the weekend. The pre-conference was amazing and answered our beginning homeschool questions from what are Minnesota’s homeschool laws, what teaching style should I use, to assessing our relationship not only with our kids, but within our marriage and as a family.
2016 will be our sixth year going to the homeschool conference! Each year is powerful, encouraging, and gives us all the tools we need to tackle our school year. We take classes on organizing our home, teaching with Nerf guns and shaving cream, and how to discover our kids learning styles. My husband took classes on how to be involved even though I would be doing the majority of the teaching.
We have committed to making the conference a priority every year. We use it not only to gain new tools for our homeschooling tool belt, but we also use it as a time for my husband and I to reconnect. We go on great date nights and get time to talk without interruption.
The MACHE staff is on hand to answer your questions, calm your fears, and encourage you on a journey worth embarking on! Homeschooling is one of the best choices we have made for our family and the conference has helped us every step of the way!