radiobrain Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have totally cross-posted this all over the universe. :D Take the bits you need. Hello! It is that time of year again where I attempt to plug the Great Homeschool Conventions to the gifted/secular community. There are 5 conventions across the country. They all have a different set of people attending and their own different flavor. All my lists are from the Cincinnati event, as that is where I live and it is the original location. please feel free to use my list to help cross-reference one that might be in your area. http://www.greathomeschoolconventions.com/ As you may or may not know, GHC, while being a 'Christian/creationist first' convention, has been open to inviting many secular and gifted specific vendors and speakers. As one of the people who has been lobbying for this for years, I have been quite pleased with their positive response. These conventions are reasonably priced, and I feel are well worth my time and money. I also think it is extremely important to support these vendors who spend a lot of time, effort and money to attend these... when they are still a minority within these conventions. I have gone through the Cincinnati convention list of vendors and speaker/workshop titles, and assembled a rough "gifted/secular/educational" list. This list is not completely comprehensive, I am just going with my knowledge and opinions. There may be more, or some of these might be questionable to you. This is just to give you an idea. I have only listed the gifted specific workshop titles; if you care to see more you should download the whole list here: http://www.cincinnatihomeschoolconvention.com/2011/schedule ELITE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (SCOTT HOBSON) How to Help Your Child Be a Better Learner Logical and Creative Thinking for the Gifted MICHAEL CLAY THOMPSON (Royal Fireworks Press) RFWP.com (National Gifted speaker. Mostly about his LA program, but wonderful to listen and watch) Advanced Vocabulary: Direct Study through Latin and Greek Stems Introduction to 4-Level Analysis Grammar Instruction The Importance of Teaching Poetics Teaching Advanced Academic Writing FOUR-LEVEL LITERATURE ED ZACCARO (ChallengeMath.com) Nurturing a Mathematical Gift into a Passion 12 Math Problem-Solving Strategies That Will Help Students be More Successful on Tests. Challenging Children Through the Study of Real World Algebra Five Real-Life Math Investigations That Will Astound Teachers and Students Dr. SHELAGH GALLAGHER (RFWP.com) Experiencing History through Problem-Based Learning. Concept Development: From Facts to Generalizations in Five Easy Steps Homeschooling your Highly Gifted Child Both Gifted AND… LAURIE WESTPHAL (Prufrock.com) Ready-to-Use Differentiation Strategies for Grades 5 and Below Ready-to-Use Differentiation Strategies for Grades 6 and Up Differentiating Instruction With Menus for Grades 5 and Below Differentiating Instruction With Menus for Grades 6 and Up GERI/Purdue University (Angela Beddingfield) Introduction to Gifted Education Homeschooling the Gifted Learner: Helps, Ideas, and Resources How Will It Ever All Get Done?! MCT does not record his lectures as they are heavy on the visuals. I am not sure about anyone else. Zaccaro's lectures were recorded last year. You can purchase MP3 discs at the convention. Other Gifted/ of interest to gifted vendors/ secular / education heavy Exploration Education Science Logic of English (Pedia Learning, Inc.) Applied Inspirations, LLC Critical Thinking Co. Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University Prufrock Press, Inc. phil4 Professor Carol Royal Fireworks Press CollegePlus! CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS College Prep Genius Teaching Textbooks Homeschool Programming, Inc. Hickory Grove Press/Ed Zaccaro The College Board – CLEP Program Nancy Larson Science Everyday Education/Excellence in Literature/Janice Campbell Learn Differently – Kathy Kuhl School Choice Ohio – Expanding School Options for Families in Ohio Visual Latin WHOLEMOVEMENT GEOMETRY Mr. Science Teacher The Lukeion Project GERI/Purdue University Rosetta Stone, Ltd. Elite Educational Resources Greathall Productions Odyssey Games Brain in a Bag Butterfly Nature Nature's Workshop Plus Elemental Science Peace Hill Press These conventions have around 300 vendors and more workshops than that. it takes a lot to wade through them. My point is that I have personally lobbied for them to get more vendors/speakers like this, and the have listened. Now it is time to support them, and the vendors who are coming to these events. There are several online, e-schools, colleges with booths, I did not list them here, but they will be there. I do not work for the GHC, although I have helped at the RFWP booth and this year I will be helping at the Exploration Education booth as Mr. Grunder can't make it, and no one else could help him. Also, most of the seriously gifted/ classical ed. vendors in Cincinnati are lumped near each other in the vendor hall. That is awesome! So, for the most part you can just go to one area and see most of the stuff you want. However, there are some other booths that you might find interesting scattered all over the place. Don't be afraid to look around or mark these to find if you go. I hope this is helpful! I find that many people are not willing to look through the 64 pages of workshops, or even delve too far into any of the vendors and speakers, if they see too many similar things. But if you notice, this is like a convention within a convention...and if you read the "Convention Philosophy" in the 'about' section, I think the Deans deserve some credit. They get a lot of pressure from certain groups to exclude specific people, and they have firmly rejected this tactic. Thanks for reading this! Feel free to pass any of this info around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 okay, now I want to go to a convention. Sigh. If I start planning now for 2013 ... what do folks do with their tots? Wait for them to grow up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 okay, now I want to go to a convention. Sigh. If I start planning now for 2013 ... what do folks do with their tots? Wait for them to grow up? Last year my family went to Memphis, and while I did convention stuff, DH took the kids to science museums and such. This year, the kids are staying at Grandma's. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiobrain Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Last year my family went to Memphis, and while I did convention stuff, DH took the kids to science museums and such. This year, the kids are staying at Grandma's. :D Some people take their kids, some leave them home, some have them go on field trips like the above poster. In Cincinnati, as the convention is right downtown, there is a lot to do or relatively close... Museum Center, Aquarium, Zoo, parks etc. There is a children's program, but it is keeping in line with the majority of the convention and is very Christian. I don't mean to make you feel like bad. I just want to give people information that is hard to see unless you know to look for it. Then everyone can make their own, personal decision whether to attend or not. ;) FWIW, glancing at the California list...it has half as many vendors, etc. So, maybe you shouldn't feel like you are missing AS much. Edited March 23, 2012 by radiobrain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Our closing date was just moved up by two weeks, so we will almost definitely be living in Ohio by the convention dates. My husband is going to watch the children for a day and I'm going as my "reward" for getting our house in PA all packed up by myself. :lol: I wish the schedule was up, but this combined with the workshop descriptions is incredibly helpful for those of us who don't recognize every name yet. I can't wait!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thank you so much for posting this! I was going to skip it, but I think it's actually worth the trip. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiobrain Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Thank you so much for posting this! I was going to skip it, but I think it's actually worth the trip. :D I just found out that Jon Stewart will be in town on that Friday doing a show at the Arnoff Center a few blocks away. I wonder if they will go to the convention, or think that the people downtown are "normal" Cincinnatians, lol. :D I didn't even list the things that I consider to be educationally valid and decent that are Christian. (I did include a couple on that list above, just 'cause I forgot I was doing my secular/gifted only list). I would say there are at least 15-20 more that would fall under this category... IEW, The Classical Historian, Queen Homeschool (they usually have ALL the Life of Fred books), RAinbow Resource, One Year Adventure Novel (I think that one can overlook his one thing that bugs me), several random e-schools, product booths, and others that I can't remember off the top of my head. I am not quite up to this list right now. All in all, I just want people who would normally dismiss these conventions, as being not their HS cup o' tea, to look beneath the surface. Knowledge is power! Edited March 23, 2012 by radiobrain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaTotaler Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks for posting this list. It does help to narrow down some possibilities. I am hoping to be at the convention if I can finalize transportation details with a friend. If I make it, I will stop by the EE booth to say hello. Ds is thoroughly enjoying the Intermediate Phys Science Adv version this year. Take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Is anyone going? I'm only able to go for one day, I'm going to pick a day that has he most speakers I want to see. Do the vendors offer discounts during the convention? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 We'll be there! So Excited! I noticed the convention was heavy on "gifted" speakers this year. Have you seen any of the ones you listed besides MCT? Any feedback? Time is limited and I hate going to a talk only to realize I should have been shopping instead :) I have a potpourri of the speakers you listed on my schedule but I'm not sure which ones are worthwhile. FWIW we deal with LD too so I am very anxious to hear some of those topics. But I don't need to hear definitions of compacting and differentiating :) We're kind of beyond that in our knowledge of gifted and homeschooling. Low on info, high on "RaRa you can do it" talks are really not worth my time either. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiobrain Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 We'll be there! So Excited! I noticed the convention was heavy on "gifted" speakers this year. Have you seen any of the ones you listed besides MCT? Any feedback? Time is limited and I hate going to a talk only to realize I should have been shopping instead :) I have a potpourri of the speakers you listed on my schedule but I'm not sure which ones are worthwhile. FWIW we deal with LD too so I am very anxious to hear some of those topics. But I don't need to hear definitions of compacting and differentiating :) We're kind of beyond that in our knowledge of gifted and homeschooling. Low on info, high on "RaRa you can do it" talks are really not worth my time either. Brownie Of the gifted speakers I have only seen MCT and Zaccaro. I think talking to the people at their booths might give you a clue as to if they will be good to see or not. Many of the talks tend to be a bit of a product push...however, Shelagh Gallager's subjects look good (especially Gifted AND....) also, Kathy Kuhl is basically a 2E person. However, I don't think her talks (I bought a CD of a few last year) were a bit basic. I think you should just ask what their lectures will be focusing on and make a decision then. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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