Conference-goers say:
- I expected a lot, but the workshops surpassed my greatest hopes.
- I have never been in a workshop that hasn't helped me in some way. I've attended for 11 years.
- I always get reassurance and support along with information.
Workshops:
May Be of Particular Interest to Mothers
- Any workshop on learning, curriculum, etc.
- Any Connections workshop that you attend with your children
Denotes a Connections workshop.
F-2 Economic and Personal Benefits of Parents' Work at Home
Recognizing the economic and personal importance of work done by families (raising and educating children, preparing food, providing shelter and transportation, caring for the sick and elderly, etc.). Choosing ways to expand our family work rather than working primarily for money outside the home. Both widely-recognized and surprising ways in which parents' spending more time at home benefits everyone.
F-3 Growing as a Family
How homeschooling makes parenting easier. Finding joy in parenting. Communicating effectively with kids. Solving recurring problems. Rescuing a day that's gone awry. Identifying our own needs and finding ways to meet them.
F-8 Living Simply As Homeschoolers: A Discussion
Does homeschooling make living simply easier or more challenging? What are the biggest challenges to living simply? How can we help our children appreciate the value of living simply in our materialistic society?
F-9 Taking the Next Steps in Using Energy Well
Easy and more advanced ways to conserve energy and use it more efficiently. Understanding renewable energy. First steps toward living off the grid. Getting kids involved. Speaker is a homeschooling dad who has worked in renewable energy for 25 years.
F-10 What's a Smart Woman Like You Doing At Home?-
Why being a homeschooling parent is one of the most challenging and satisfying jobs possible. Learning with our children. Pursuing our own special interests without neglecting our family's homeschooling. Finding respect and support in a society that does not value parenting.
A-4 Balancing Structure and Flexibility
Looking for ways to have a more relaxed homeschool? Or thinking you need more structure but feeling reluctant to give up the flexibility you have now? Finding a balance and then adjusting it when necessary. Practical ideas that can be used in any homeschool and that offer both structure and flexibility, including designing your own unit studies, planning your curriculum in reverse, and pursuing special interests.
A-9 Homeschooling Children With Special Needs: A Discussion
Join other parents to discuss topics such as how to begin homeschooling special needs children, tools that help them learn, creating your own curriculum and an environment in which your child can learn, finding social opportunities for your child. Continues as B-8; come to as much of either or both as you want to.
A-10 Making the Most of Your Museum Field Trip
Taking advantage of major and small, specialized museums. Finding out what museums are available. Learning who to contact ahead of time to get preview materials from the museum and arrange for special docents for your tour. Making the most of your time onsite. Becoming a museum volunteer.
A-11 Dealing with Criticism of Our Homeschooling: A Presentation Followed by a Discussion
As homeschoolers we face real, imagined, and anticipated criticism from friends, family, society at large, and sometimes ourselves. How are we influenced by this criticism? What does it mean to us? How can we deal with criticism and prevent it from interfering with or controlling what we do as homeschoolers? How can we use criticism positively to increase our confidence and aid our children's intellectual and emotional growth?
B-4 Believing What You See: Accepting Your Children For Who They Really Are
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.
B-6 Great Vacations in Wisconsin
Wonder if it's worth the trip to the Apostle Islands or Wyalusing State Park? Hear about 20 state historical sites, state parks, hidden treasures and many family friendly places around Wisconsin. The only decision will be choosing which best suits your needs. Booklets, Web sites, maps, and all the resources necessary to make learning come alive on your family trips.
B-7 Growing Through Gardening
Why homeschooling and gardening are such a good fit, what you really need to start a garden (surprisingly little!), and how you and your family can benefit, in many different ways, from growing some of your own food. Whether you've never stuck a seed in the ground or you've been gardening for years, you'll be encouraged to think in new ways about gardening to enrich your homeschooling life.
B-8 Homeschooling Children With Special Needs: A Discussion
A continuation of A-9. Come to as much of either or both workshops as you want to.
B-9 Strengthening Your Family Through Homeschooling
Reclaiming the essential roles parents play in children's lives. Working to ensure that the family (rather than work for pay) is the basic building block of society. Strengthening family bonds by spending time together. Communicating values, principles, and beliefs to children. Maintaining close contact with grown children.
B-10 Parenting Your Child's Heart: A Conservative Christian Perspective on Parenting
How do we measure our success as parents? Is it the parent's job to train the child in order to achieve certain behavior goals? Should you train behavior or the heart of your child? What do we mean by heart? Helping our children examine why they are behaving a particular way is far more important (and time consuming) than simply criticizing the behavior.
C-4 A Homeschooler's Best Resource: The Local Public Library
Books, films, music, magazines, references-in addition to providing materials to check out, your library offers at no charge other valuable resources, including real live librarians, special collections, access to books in other libraries through interlibrary loans, and more. Learn to communicate and work effectively with the staff and use services you never knew existed.
C-9 The Precocious, Sensitive, Intense, Creative (and Otherwise Gifted) Child
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-5.
C-10 Learning to Relax and Trust Our Children: A Discussion About Unschooling and Relaxed Homeschooling
What do you especially like about unschooling or relaxed homeschooling? What problems haven't you solved yet? Can parents really trust that their children will learn to read, do long division, etc. and stop worrying about courses of study, grade levels, etc.?
C-11 The Legislature and Private Education
A conservative Christian perspective on legislative bills and DPI efforts that may affect private schools in Wisconsin. Included will be bills that have passed and movements that are underway to change education in Wisconsin.
D-4 Homeschooling Children of Different Ages
How to keep your sanity while keeping up with curriculums, lesson plans, and records for several children of different ages. Why multiple ages should be an asset to teaching and learning in a family. Discuss the many benefits of children helping younger siblings and participating in family chores. Time for questions and discussion. Speaker is an experienced mother of 6.
D-5 Homeschooling Precocious, Sensitive, Intense, Creative (and Otherwise Gifted) Children
This practical workshop builds on the information presented in C-9. 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-9 recommended but not required.
D-7 The World is Our Classroom, Literally
Join us for a whirlwind trip and see how one family used the world as their classroom. For four months we lived on a floating university, visited 11 countries, 14 different ports, and circumnavigated the globe. See photos, hear stories, enjoy a virtual adventure, and learn about the Semester at Sea experience.
D-8 How Do Families Homeschool When Both Parents Work? A Presentation Followed by a Discussion
How do the reasons that we work for pay affect the way we combine working, parenting, homeschooling, and the rest of our lives? How do we find time and space for the kids and make sure they get what they need? How do we deal with our feelings of pride, accomplishment, frustration, inadequacy, exhaustion, etc.? How do we get help from and give to our homeschooling community? How can we accept compromises when the ideal situation is simply not available? How do we make changes when circumstances change and previous approaches no longer work?
D-9 Introduction to Wisconsin's Homeschooling Law
What the law requires and how to comply. Other Wisconsin laws (such as truancy laws) which also affect homeschoolers. How to protect the homeschooling law from change. How to avoid legal difficulty. Questions from the audience.
D-10 Socialization for Homeschoolers
What assumptions does our society make about socialization? Do these assumptions make sense for us as homeschoolers? How do homeschoolers find friends, participate in their communities, and develop the skills they need to be mature adults, hold a job, handle college, etc.? How can we answer all those questions about socialization?
D-11 Time to Eat: Feeding Our Homeschooling Family
Taking the stress out of the daily task of feeding our family. Discovering ways that cooking and eating can strengthen our homeschool and our family. Practical details like choosing equipment, getting organized, and exploring new ways to save money on food.
More Workshops by Time Slot
Friday, 7:15-8:30 PM: F Workshops
Saturday, 8:30-9:30 AM: A Workshops
Saturday, 9:50-10:50 AM: B Workshops
Saturday, 1:30-2:30 PM: C Workshops
Saturday, 2:50-3:50 PM: D Workshops
More Workshops by Category
- Save $300 to $2,000 per child per year by not purchasing a curriculum
- Save $10,000 to $150,000 on college
- Save $100 to $3,000 a year on food
- Save $100 to $5,000 a year by using the public library
- Save $100 to $5,000 a year on entertainment
- Curriculum
- Basic Subjects
- May Be of Particular Interest to Mothers
- Workshops Fathers May Want to Attend
- Beginning Homeschoolers May Find These Workshops Particularly Helpful
- Workshops for Parents and Teens About High School and the Teen Years
- Workshops Especially for Teens
- People Interested in Unschooling Often Choose Workshops Like These
- Connections Workshops
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