VA residents:How did you do at 2010 Northern Virginia Home Education Conference

[Ellen_TX]

Okay did you get to go to all the seminars? :grouphug:

Did you drool at the cool curriculum? :drool:

Did you plan?

 

Was it too much information?:willy_nilly:

 

Did you hang out with friends child free?:party:

Did you get good deals from vendors? :hurray:

Who was your favorite speaker?:001_tt1:

Did you get amazing steals at the used curriculum fair? :thumbup1:

Did you spend way too much?:leaving:

 

 

Come on dish people.......

[Tweed]

I didn't attend any of the seminars. There didn't seem to be anything I really wanted to hear, especially since I had my ds (11) & dd (10) with me. I will say that I think all homeschool conventions should allow children because I spent at least twice as much having them there. "Oooh, mom, look at this!"

 

The kids and I were completely charmed by the author of Chester Comix. What a nice man! He really spent a lot of time talking to the kids, and they've been drawing their own comics since we came home.

 

It was a good day. We got lots of cheap art supplies from Miller's Pad, I got a couple of extra discount prices on some things I wanted, and all the literature! It was in history heaven. The only thing I was bummed about was not finding any vendors who sold Biblioplan. I really wanted to take a look at it.

[MariannNOVA]

I didn't attend any of the seminars. There didn't seem to be anything I really wanted to hear, especially since I had my ds (11) & dd (10) with me. I will say that I think all homeschool conventions should allow children because I spent at least twice as much having them there. "Oooh, mom, look at this!"

 

The kids and I were completely charmed by the author of Chester Comix. What a nice man! He really spent a lot of time talking to the kids, and they've been drawing their own comics since we came home.

 

It was a good day. We got lots of cheap art supplies from Miller's Pad, I got a couple of extra discount prices on some things I wanted, and all the literature! It was in history heaven. The only thing I was bummed about was not finding any vendors who sold Biblioplan. I really wanted to take a look at it.

 

I thought that Bentley Boyd (chester comix) was, as you wrote, positively charming and a pleasure to speak with. My DH spent alot of time talking to him (the RFWP booth where I sat for two days was just a few steps from Chester comix). He was fascinating (Bentley, not my DH :tongue_smilie:). His website is www.chestercomix.com - I would LOVE to see his products in say Barnes and Noble -- my kids, my dh and I LOVED his books.

 

I was disappointed that a few pieces of curric I truly wanted to 'see' were not there -- I did speak with folks who commented that attendance numbers were down from last year AND last year they thought attendance was moving towards poor.

 

The used curriculm was worth it for me as I picked up fiction that my kids will enjoy, Singapore Math materials that were a great buy....but otherwise, well, just well.

 

I will add that I spoke with more than a few folks who were looking for 'large' vendors who tend to be mainstays of conferences such as this (and i wouldn't know if they are correct as this was my first - but what they said made sense) and those large vendors weren't there -- I observed that there is likely a large percentage of h-schoolers who use materials from these large vendors and if they will not be in attendance, their customers will not be there either.

 

I wanted to look at Biblioplan also, and a few other things and they were not there.

 

My kids (dd9.5 particularly) spent literally HOURS at the Odyssey Learning Booth (dennis Bach, Joan Bach) - PLAYING games - many of which now live in our house - ;). I am TAKEN with these games -- the kids (and I) have to think to play -- www.odysseylearning.com -- excellent website, quality products.

 

NASA was well worth the visit -- dh knew many of the individuals there and my kids loved it! I was disappointed I did not have tien to go to Sue Patrick's (?) work box booth. DH purchased the ANTS program from that booth - I did speak with the woman (cannot recall her name, but she was fascinating to speak with), he purchased something from someone else that will arrive this week with the kids names on peg thingys and chore cards hang on the pegs; the Chantilly Music store folks were wonderful -- they had patience beyond belief with DS who was able to get in his hours of guitar playing that he would have done at home using their guitar. TEACHING TEXTBOOKS' booth was staffed by a volunteer who is local and I recognized her dd from a local private school - my dd9 spent ALOT of time at their booth and is in the throes of his first crush with the volunteer's dd who is entering high school.

 

DH still has to complete his information dump to me -- he is a Business Development VP and this a product that he only sees when it is delivered to our house via UPS or USPS or FedEx. Thankfully, for me, he has tons of experience setting up and breaking down booths at trade shows or I would still be there trying to figure out which tablecloth to put on which table. :tongue_smilie:

 

I learned SO much volunteering at the RFWP booth for two days -- if my kids ask me ONE.MORE.TIME if we are going back next year, I am going to scream.:glare:

 

I bought NOTHING except for about $25.00 worth at the used book store - I barely had time to eat lunch - that's how busy I was WHEN it was busy. My dh and the kids bought ALOT. I did want to purchase curric, but the things I wanted to see weren't there - except for RFWP, but I won't need another level of that till November or so. Oh, and I wanted to purchase a Lesson Plan Book BUT I will just go to the teaching store for that.

 

My 'blanket' observation is that the 'large' vendors must be in attendance for the attendance numbers to be 'up.' The smaller 'boutique' publishers must be in attendance for the purchaser who will spend more than the average attendee. There is a dearth (this observation was made to me more than any other by women who stopped by the RFWP booth) of quality materials OR any material at all for the middle and high school levels particularly regarding Language ARts (including writing).

 

I met some very, very, very nice people via the RFWP booth. The h-schoolers who purchased for their younger children have such enthusiasm and such energy - the h-schoolers who purchased for their middle and high school children are well-read, have done their homework (no pun intended) and I admire them enormously.

 

Just my .02

 

Mariann PS -- and If you stopped by to say hi, I cannot tell you how much that meant to me.:)

Edited July 11, 2010 by MariannNOVA

[delaney]

Maybe it was too close to the time they had the big one down in Richmond?

[Ellen_TX]

Maybe it was too close to the time they had the big one down in Richmond?

:iagree:I think that three week window is very narrow for homeschool conference. Maybe if they had this one first it would draw more people.

 

I got most of what I was looking for but was not thrilled by the used curriculum sale. From Texas when there is a "used" sale they use a space four times larger than the area they set aside Saturday morning. I found some deals but wasn't Wowed.

 

Dh and son had a blast! It actually helped us decided what math program to use because ds could sit and use the material. Kelly at Right Start Math spent an hour with us just getting the right fit for us.

 

Oh the art supplies were yummy but I am on paint probation. (I got deals at an art store going out of business a few months ago.)

 

I was please to met Sue Patrick of workbox fame. She has happy when my ds thanked her for making such a cool system.

 

The ladies from NASA were AWESOME! I had to make my dh sit and eat as well. Great goody bags too. Nice presentation.

 

My ds and several kids turned the empty space by the food court into balsa wood plane test area. He wants to go back!

 

Jason from The Virtual School was very nice. He explained building virtual teaching environments and allowed my son plenty of time to explore.

 

Odyssey Learning was a big hit as well.

Edited July 11, 2010 by Ellen_TX

[Mom0012]

I skipped it this year because I went last year and was disappointed in the number of vendors. I guess I've gotten totally spoiled by the HEAV convention. I went to CHAP earlier this year instead of HEAV and it was good, but still not on the same level. I love the used curriculum fair at HEAV and there are always a number of speakers I want to hear. There was nothing for me at CHAP in either of those areas. The main reason I attended the NoVA one last year was to hear SWB speak and I did really enjoy that.

 

Lsia

[Rebecca VA]

I was there for about 30 minutes yesterday afternoon. This is what I did:

 

- Stopped at the K12 booth to ask questions;

 

- Purchased a book sequel for a friend's child. He's reading "The Peleg Chronicles" (written by a homeschool dad) and was impatient to get the second book of the series;

 

- Picked up a brochure from Kirov Ballet School in D.C.;

 

- Waved at Regan and Amy Barr of Lukeion (they were both talking with customers and I didn't want to interrupt);

 

- Looked over Rod & Staff's new Bookkeeping course (yay!), and

 

- Asked about RS4K Physics for older kids (still in the works).

 

I was super-tired and didn't want to stay, so I went home after doing all the errands on my list. I didn't see SWB at the Peace Hill Press booth, sadly.

[Ellen_TX]

I skipped it this year because I went last year and was disappointed in the number of vendors. I guess I've gotten totally spoiled by the HEAV convention. I went to CHAP earlier this year instead of HEAV and it was good, but still not on the same level. I love the used curriculum fair at HEAV and there are always a number of speakers I want to hear. There was nothing for me at CHAP in either of those areas. The main reason I attended the NoVA one last year was to hear SWB speak and I did really enjoy that.

 

Lsia

I think we will be hitting HEAV next year.

[sleepymommy]

I had hesitated about going to the NOVA conference this year, the presentations just didn't jump out to me as something I needed to drive 2 hours to see. But I really did want to see the RFWP materials, so we made the drive. ETA: I just went to the shopping portion, not the seminars.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by all the newer vendors there, I thought I had read, researched and learned about just about every curriculum that was interesting to me and found several others that I had never heard of that I really liked.

 

I spent way more than I intended, not much in the way of great deals, but saved on shipping for some things I had been planning to buy anyway.

 

I was disappointed Rainbow Resource wasn't there this year. There were a few things I had planned on purchasing there.

 

MariannNova, it was such a pleasure to meet you! Thank you for your thorough explanation of the MCT materials. I am so excited about using it with ds1 (as soon as I can convince him that he is not actually a noun!:tongue_smilie::lol:)

[MariannNOVA]

I went on Friday only (drove in from MD).

 

I didn't spend too much $$ at all because I already have everything I need. I mainly went to hear some speakers and to check out whether this conference will replace me attending the big curriculum fair in Frederick MD next year. (probably will but still not sure - wish there were more vendors)

 

I really liked the low crowds because I got a chance to check out thoroughly some things I was interested in (Illuminations). I thought the low turnout was due to it being Friday.

 

I liked that there were lots of classical resources.

 

I bought 3 geodes from Tobins Lab, two planners from Rod and Staff, and Sue Patrick's book.

 

I listened to two speakers: Dari Mullins (using projects to enhance learning) and Sue Patrick (Custimize your Curriculum). I have to say that Sue Patrick totally inspired me and I had an A-Ha moment listening to her. I love the way she revamps the curriculum to make it kid friendly if it already isn't. She uses educational posters to make review games. She was just a fount of neat ideas. She didn't even talk about the workboxes during her lecture. I ran to her booth afterwards and when I saw pictures in the book (the workbox book) of some of the things she showed in her talk I bought it. I am so glad I did because I thought I got the workbox thing by reading umpteen blogs but the whole system makes more sense to me now and I think it will work much better using it like she wrote it instead of the way we were doing it. Her lecture was like Part B to the workbox idea. How to present your lessons and review that are clear and fun. I see now that the curriculum I have chosen is not appealing to my child and that I don't have to get another curriculum, I just have to tweak what I have. I am so excited to do our school in a whole new way.

 

Mariann, I stopped by your booth to check out the MCT products but you were speaking with someone. I was helped by an adorable little girl who tried to explain MCT, lol.

 

:lol::lol::lol: Thank you! I will tell her that you said that. When it was busy, it was crazy busy. DD11 thinks that she just has to tell someone that 'Paragraph Town' is THE BEST and the sale is made! ;) I did try to brainwash her..........er..........I mean explain to her a little more about MCT outside of her MCT experience.......but now I cannot imagine for the life of me why I even tried.:tongue_smilie: I'm sorry I missed meeting you.

[MariannNOVA]

I had hesitated about going to the NOVA conference this year, the presentations just didn't jump out to me as something I needed to drive 2 hours to see. But I really did want to see the RFWP materials, so we made the drive. ETA: I just went to the shopping portion, not the seminars.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by all the newer vendors there, I thought I had read, researched and learned about just about every curriculum that was interesting to me and found several others that I had never heard of that I really liked.

 

I spent way more than I intended, not much in the way of great deals, but saved on shipping for some things I had been planning to buy anyway.

 

I was disappointed Rainbow Resource wasn't there this year. There were a few things I had planned on purchasing there.

 

MariannNova, it was such a pleasure to meet you! Thank you for your thorough explanation of the MCT materials. I am so excited about using it with ds1 (as soon as I can convince him that he is not actually a noun!:tongue_smilie::lol:)

 

Tina: Thank you! I was so happy that we had chance to meet and to talk; and your DS' response about being a noun is to me the quintessential statement regarding the different way that boys and girls learn......and I have taught in the classroom on and off for 20 years! :lol::lol: