Photographing children with a digital camera. Finding promising places both near and far to photograph nature. Creating a photograph by noticing, framing, simplifying, and then taking the picture. Choosing cameras and lenses. Trade offs between digital and film. Enjoying your photographs: getting prints and enlargements and framing them. Web sites, blogs, suppliers, and other resources.

What are learning styles? Can a child have more than one learning style? How can we determine which theory of learning styles will work best for our children? Explore and compare three popular learning style theories and learn how to use learning style theory to enhance learning.

How is homeschooling a creative activity? Recognizing and supporting different ways of learning and thinking. Tailoring our homeschools to the strengths of ourselves and our children. Encouraging ourselves and our children to think outside the box. Conditions for creativity to occur. Creative problem solving as a life skill.

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.

Learning effective strategies for solving problems is excellent preparation for life. Homeschooling offers its own set of ever-changing problems, from overtly educational (how do I solve this math problem) to indirectly educational (how do I motivate my child to try and solve that math problem), to family relationships (how do I deal with competition between my kids), to practical (what do I do when my computer won’t boot), to dealing with society (what do I do when other kids tease me), etc. How kids (and parents) develop effective problem solving strategies and then apply them to other problems.

How do kids learn academic subjects from non-academic activities like play, sports, etc.? How do we know if our kids are learning enough of the right things? How do we set priorities and balance academics with non-academic life learning such as developing social skills, moral and religious values, a sense of beauty, etc.? How do we recognize, encourage, and celebrate ways of learning that are different from those used in conventional schools?

Some children seem to be or feel “too much”: too sensitive, too intense, too divergent, “too smart for their own good.” This workshop helps parents understand giftedness and explores how to recognize and accept “too much” traits as strengths rather than liabilities. Learn to understand perfectionism, asynchronous or uneven development, and intensity. For more, see D-7.

Discover how to use the garden as part of your year round homeschooling experience. Incorporating science, math, reading and writing. Discovering new, fun foods. Encouraging kids to participate and have a sense of ownership. Celebrating the harvest.

This practical workshop builds on the information presented in C-7. Hear examples of how to live with and meet the learning needs of children who are unusually intense, sensitive, and creative. Share what works and what doesn’t, ask questions, and learn from each other. Familiarity with presented in C-7 recommended but not required.

Hear about the month-long road trip a homeschooling mother and daughter took in a tiny camper. Suggestions for planning a route, choosing places to visit, packing essentials, keeping the trip affordable, finding good food, keeping a record of a trip, and other topics.