Interested in making science fun and engaging? Come and see how to experience science as a verb and learn how to build models that move, inspiring the natural creativity and curiosity inside everyone. Part presentation (for parents) and part activity (for everyone). We’ll design, build, and test straw rockets, innovating together! All ages welcome. For a more advanced and project-only workshop, see C-17 or D-17.

Developing parental skills of observation without judgment. Accepting that our children are often different from us. Living with children from a sense of discovering who they are rather than determining who they should be. Working to guide them and connect with them through their natural gifts. How this affects our homeschooling. Undertaking and learning about their interests which we may not share.

Using carefully selected comic books as educational materials. Ways to learn from purchased, online, and homemade versions. Resources, including ways of creating your own. Second half of workshop is a hands-on activity where people of all ages create their own comic books.

Why and how children learn best in their homes. Helping children learn from daily life and carefully selected learning resources and activities. The importance of play. Meeting kids’ (and parents’) social needs. Disadvantages to formal preschool.

Why challenge the Baraboo ordinance outlawing raising chickens in the city, especially when others had failed? Researching the issue and finding out what to do. Networking and developing grassroots support. Enlisting others to help make the case before a public hearing. Using the media to gain support. Effective ways of interacting with both supporters and opponents in person and in writing.

Some thoughts about free range chickens in a factory chicken world. Our society rewards discipline, conformity, academic intelligence and specialization. We remember who won the 100 meter dash but forget the name of the decathlon winner. Unschooling is a unique way of approaching human growth and development. It might be right for you and your children, then again it might not. A facilitated group discussion open to all curious minds and hearts. Also F-5.

A continuation of A-7. Come to as much of either or both workshops as you want to.

Education can and should be enjoyable . . . for both students and teachers. In this workshop you’ll learn from a 21-year homeschool veteran how the award-winning Sonlight Curriculum inspires the love to learn, builds family bonds, equips students to thing, and shares a strong missions focus. See how Sonlight’s comprehensive packages are flexible enough to teach one student or a houseful with the best books and complete lesson plans. Your kids will love to learn, and you will love to teach - guaranteed!

Hands-on demonstration showing parents how to teach total Bible by drawing one page for each Bible book.

How do you find time to spend with your children? What do you enjoy doing with them? How do you prepare (to increase the likelihood that things will go smoothly)? What do you find most challenging? How do you share responsibility for homeschooling with your spouse?

An overview of the purpose and benefits of documenting your homeschooling experiences and activities. Finding a method that suits you and meets your needs. Ideas for simple records that save time yet are meaningful and retrievable for portfolios, credentials, college applications, etc.

Explore ways to connect with people in the context of food preparation, for example by cooking large batches of food with a group of friends, swapping meals, sharing a cookbook, having potlucks, participating in a community garden, etc. Along the way, learn more about food and cooking and make feeding your family easier and more enjoyable while expanding your social life.

Why we must take responsibility for protecting our freedoms or we will lose them. Importance of knowing our rights and exercising them as individuals and as a group. Dealing with public officials and professionals in education, health, and social services. How what one family does affects us all. Educating others and working together.

An overview of the college admission process, including tips and suggestions based on homeschoolers’ experiences. How homeschooling prepares teens for college and how they adjust to the experience. Considering the option of delaying college for a year or two.

Meet in lobby of Gruenhagen Conference Center. Weather permitting, walk to a nearby athletic field to play soccer, Frisbee, and other games participants bring. If the weather is unsuitable, go to Connections for games and conversation. Adult coordinator present.

Come and learn about birds of prey, their anatomy and behaviors and their role in our environment. Meet some one or two live representatives of the bird species.

Participate in making a sheet of paper by hand. Discuss the forces involved. Play an interactive game to explore forces more. Learn about Newton’s 3 laws. Explore how forces affect motion. Discuss connections between forces, energy and work. Aimed at 12-14 year olds, but all ages welcome. Presenter is from the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton. Limit 50 youth.

Tell some stories about your travels to an appreciative audience and enjoy hearing about others’ adventures, like a special time with grandparents or a camping trip. Or have you visited a foreign country? Bring pictures and souvenirs and tell your story.

Develop core strength and become more fit through taekwondo. Learn how to warm up and do basic kicks and bag work. Also learn taekwondo terminology and a few Korean words. Kicks develop core strength and are very vigorous, but you don’t have to be in great shape to learn them. Wear loose, comfortable clothes and plan to be barefoot. For ages 8 and up, including adults. Limit 20. Also D-18.

Learn basic hand sewing quilting techniques to create a small wall hanging to take home and enjoy. Ages 10 and up. Limit 20 youth. Please bring $5.00 to cover the cost of materials.

Join a group of homeschoolers ages 6 and under to learn and play a variety of easy-to-learn, fun-to-play movement and thinking games.

Use pipe cleaners, wool fleece, yarn and embroidery floss to create whimsical animals that make great play companions and gifts. Come twist, wrap, and wonder at the character you create. Appropriate for dexterous 7 year olds and up. Limit 10 youth. Also A-17.

See F-16. Also F-16, A-20, C-23, D-20.