Conference Tips

I went to the Northern Virginia Home Educators Conference last Saturday, and really enjoyed it. They have some great speakers and you can find great products and resources in the exhibit hall. Next year I want to try to go on Friday and Saturday.

This is the second year I've attended, and I thought I might share some things I did that made it more productive, at least for me. There is a lot of stuff going on at the conference, and it can get overwhelming. (This is a regional conference, so I can only imagine how overwhelming the state conference could be.)

Research curriculum choices before you go to the conference. If you're looking for specific materials check on-line and note the price and all the books, workbooks, readers, etc. included in the program. This is especially helpful if you will be buying anything at the used book sale or one of the used book vendors. Last year I purchased a reading curriculum from the used book sale and didn't realize that I was missing one of the student workbooks until we'd actually started lessons in September. This year I had my list handy, so when I found the math curriculum I'd planned to use at a used book vendor, I knew that the teacher's manuals were a good price, but the student text and workbooks (which were written in, make sure you check for this when buying used) were being sold for the same price as a new book. (If it costs the same amount, I'd much rather have a new copy.) I was able to pick-up the Latin curriculum we are going to use at the vendor's booth, and save on the shipping costs of ordering online.

Make a list of what your children will be studying. There are vendors selling books, manipulatives, coloring books, science experiment kits, unit studies, lap book kits, games, and many other supplementary materials.

Don't buy anything your first time around. I mean walk around the exhibit hall one time before you purchase anything. You might see books, games, and science kits about plants--you probably don't want to spend a hundred dollars on materials for one science unit. By delaying your purchase you can decide which resource(s) would be the best choice. Also this gives you a chance to compare prices. For instance, I wanted to pick-up a handwriting curriculum for my youngest son. If I would have purchased at the first or the second booths I visited that had the curriculum I would have paid too much. There was a third booth that had the curriculum for almost $2 less a book!

Decide before you go whether you will listen to the speakers or just want to visit the exhibit hall. There is usually a discounted entrance fee for just visiting the exhibit hall, where the curriculum vendors are set up, but I enjoy listening to the speakers. I have gotten some great ideas about time management, teaching strategies, curriculum development and choices. It is also nice to know there are other people with the same concerns and challenges you are having. Whether it be a curriculum that doesn't fit your child's needs, an experiment or project gone awry, or a feeling of burn-out or being overwhelmed. It is at the smaller speaker sessions where you have the opportunity to hear the speaker and other audience members share their experiences.

If you are interested in more information about the Northern Virginia Home Educators Conference, visit their website at http://www.novaconference.net.

National Air and Space, Udvar-Hazy Center

This week the boys and I went to the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy center in Dulles, Virginia. (The Udvar-Hazy center is a satellite of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.) It is essentially a huge hangar with lots of airplanes hanging from the ceiling or sitting on the ground. There is a room on space exploration, where a space shuttle is on display. There is also an observation tower where you can watch planes taking off from and landing at Dulles Airport. They have an IMAX theatre, a gift shop, and a McDonalds. Free guided tours are offered regulary.

This is a great field trip for older students. My 5 year old got bored fairly quickly. His favorite part of the museum was "walking on the cat walks"--the raised walk ways where you can see the planes that are suspended from the ceiling. When someone asks him about his trip to the museum he doesn't even mention the planes. I liked the pre-1920's flight displays. This collection featured the old planes, but also china and collectibles with images of hot air balloons, famous aviators, and planes. My ten year old liked the supersonic jets--the Concorde and the Black Hawk. He was interested in how the planes could go that fast and how much it costs to develop, build, and buy fuel for the planes.

At home we've been discussing the science of flight. At the NoVA Homeschool Conference last weekend I was able to pick-up some free literature from the NASA booth. I also purchased a lap book kit on flight, it includes information on the history and science of flight.

The National Air and Space Museum's website features a lot of great resources for teaching about the history and science of flight. In the Teaching Resources section there are lessons entitled Milestones of Flight, How Things Fly, Embracing the Impossible (using primary resources to understand the way attitudes changed about flight in the early 1900's), and From Airmail to Airlines (exploring different careers in commercial aviation). There were more lessons, many of which were related to space exploration. The great thing is most of the lessons reference displays at the museums in the introduction for teachers, but can be used without going to the museum. There is an Online Activities section with games and videos. There are also two Electronic Field Trip options.

If you are interested in planning a trip to either the museum in DC or the Udvar-Hazy center or want to learn more about their teaching resources, visit their website at http://www.nasm.si.edu.

Virginia State Parks Trail Quest

My boys and I enjoy going on day hikes. (The boys enjoy camping too, but Mommy likes running water and electricity when she's getting ready for bed.) We are lucky to live in a state with a wonderful state park system and to live fairly close to several state parks.

My oldest son and I just signed up for the Virginia State Parks Trail Quest program. This program is to encourage people to get outside and enjoy what Virginia State Parks have to offer. When you sign-up you are encouraged to print a list of parks. Then when you visit a park you collect that park's secret code and submit it online to earn pins. My oldest son loves collecting patches and pins.

This program in and of itself is not educational, but many of the state parks offer great educational programs and getting outside to observe nature is a wonderful learning experience.

If you're interested in learning more, visit www.virginiaoutdoors.com/getoutside/trailquest.

Northern Virginia Home Education Conference

The Northern Virginia Home Education Conference takes place in about two weeks, on July 9 & 10, at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA. They have tons of exhibitors, many interesting workshops and demonstrations, and a used book sale. I went last year, and I must admit that it was a little overwhelming. I definitely suggest that you take along a list of topics your child will be studying, so you can weed through all of the information that is available at the conference. I left the conference with so many pamphlets, papers, and books; all interesting and excellent materials, but not all of it useful to me and my sons.
I'm looking forward to going again this year; and sharing my impressions and any really useful information I learn here.
For more information about this year's conference, you can visit their website-- www.novaconference.net.

Out with the old, in with the new

I'm recommitting myself to this blog--I've gone at least 6 months without posting. But, my new goal is one posting a week. We've finally wrapped up 4th grade for my oldest son. Just last week he completed his CAT test. We are still awaiting the results to be submitted to the school board to show he is achieving at a satisfactory level.
Each year as we wrap up one school year and I prepare to begin the next, I am thankful for the fresh start. It's an opportunity to evaluate what worked and what didn't from the previous grade. My son thinks of summer as a respite from structure and work. I think of it as a time to explore new curriculum and materials, a chance to plan our schedule and activities, and an opportunity to dream of the perfect homeschool year to begin in September.

So Its Been A Month

Actually it has been nearly 2 months since we started lessons. The time has flown by and it is already time to start compiling my first quarter observations.
Last year I typed a progress report each quarter (after about 9 weeks of lessons), and I think I will do that again. I included the topics we'd covered, a critique of our progress, books we'd read, field trips we'd taken, and any other information I'd felt was pertinent to the learning process. I didn't give my son grades, but for each subject area I assigned him a progress label, such as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Progressing. It actually helped me a lot to look back over the work my son had completed, reflect on what we'd done, and decide whether we'd met our educational goals in each subject. I then could use this information to make any necessary changes to our curriculum map.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Last week we went on a field trip to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. This was a really interesting trip. You get to tour the facilities where they are actually making paper money. We saw them printing $50 and $100 bills. We saw workers loading "paper" into the machines to be printed and the printed sheets into the machines that inspect the money. We saw other workers repairing one of the machines that prints final details onto the bills. We also saw them inspecting the money under special lamps with magnifying glasses.

The tour begins with a video on the entire process of making money, from printing the background color to the money being monetized by the Federal Reserve. You are then joined by your tour guide who takes you along a special corridor that has been constructed for you to walk through and be able to view a portion of the printing and inspection process. Your tour guide explains the process to you and tells you lots of interesting facts, like that they print over $900,000,000 a day at the facility and that most of that money goes toward replacing old, worn money. The tour takes only about 45 minutes. The tour ends at the gift shop. After our tour, we ate lunch at the Department of Agriculture's cafeteria, about two blocks from the BEP tour entrance.

This was an informative and fun field trip. Even the younger children, who might not really understand the concept of money, were interested in watching the machines and the BEP employees. The older children (and adults) learned that making money is a very complicated process. They also learned about the security features that are designed to discourage counterfeiting. (Actually my kids didn't know what counterfeiting was until we went on this trip.) I felt that the tour was a little rushed. At each of the 4 "stops" on the tour you only had a couple of minutes to watch what was going on in the manufacturing process. There were also wall displays along the tour that you didn't have time to look at because you were being rushed along because the next tour was right behind you. Our tour guide was very nice and tried to take time to answer our questions and accomodate us, but the overall tour schedule didn't allow for her to take very much time at any stop along the tour.

We went with our field trip group and reserved a group tour space, but they do have public tours throughout the day. The tour is free. If you are interested in more information visit www.moneyfactory.gov.