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How useful are conventions in Curriculum planning?


Dolphin
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I am in Oregon, and I almost went to the Midwest home school convention this year but I could not get the money together. Is there a convention of that size closer to Oregon. Would it help with my home school journey? I just wonder if I should make the time early on, I don't want to be 5 years down the road and kicking myself for not going earlier.

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We have a large curriculum bookfair every year nearby (but not near you). It is $5 to attend if you register early. I have found it so, so helpful to be able to put my hands on and look through the various curriculums and speak with the representatives. I have difficulty imagining things until I see them, so it has been so nice to attend this bookfair twice in the last three years.

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Guest Cindie2dds

I felt overwhelmed. The curricula I wanted to actually put my hands on and see wasn't there. I haven't been to one again. If you are trying to decide between different curricula and the vendors are there, or if you want to listen to some of the talks, it could be very helpful. If you have no agenda or plan, I wouldn't go.

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I went to a big one about ten years ago, and a smaller local one maybe five years ago. I'd like to go, but somehow there are always other expenses that need to be paid, and weekends away just aren't that easy to coordinate.

 

I pretty much know my style, look at online samples/reviews, and have enough local homeschooling friends that I can borrow from for a weekend to thoroughly look through something anyway.

 

These days I don't think they are as important as they once were, although I know I'd enjoy going if I could.

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I just got back from the Southeast Homeschool Expo in Atlanta this past weekend. It was my first attempt at one of the conventions. I went in with a list of those I wanted to see, those I wanted to see if I had time and energy, and those I knew without a doubt I wanted to avoid. It was good for me because I am a "touchy-feely" person when it comes to books and curriculum. There were several vendors that I had been interested in and once I got to touch and feel, I was able to finally pin down what I wanted. I avoided all of the classes since most didn't fit what I was looking to learn at the conference and we are only doing K this year. If my preferred vendors had not been in attendance, I wouldn't have gone to the convention at all. I am looking forward to the Jacksonville, FL convention next year since they have a used curriculum sale (Jacksonville is closer) which the Atlanta convention didn't offer. Dh and I talked about attending another convention in a few more years when the oldest is moving into the later elementary/middle grades and our needs change. For now, we have a nice network of other homeschooling families that kindly allow us to touch and feel their curriculum before we commit real money to it.

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I've found the best way to use the conventions is to have it all mostly planned out ahead of time. Then if you have two or three curricula you are trying to decide between, you can then examine them up close and personal. When I've gone with no plans, I've bought curricula we never ended up using.

 

So my advice is to do your research ahead of time, go straight to the booths you plan on, and use that to make your decisions. Then when you've done that, browse the hall and pick up some fun science projects or other goodies.

 

I also like to plan which speakers/topics I want to attend ahead of time. Usually it's only one or two that really get my interest, so I make apoint to plan around them.

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Thank you everyone. I am doing third grade this year, so I think I might give it a miss until he is going into 5th or 6th grade. I am pretty comfortable with the elementary curriculum that I have chosen, and that will be good for these next two years. Maybe there will be a closer convention by then too, but I will definitely go with a plan of attack.

 

Cheers,

Nicole

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In Oregon, you have a secular OHEN one that looked great and a Christian Based OCEAN one. You also have over in Washington, around Puyallup, a nice "WHO" one and then there's one more. Next year, I hope to drive to WA. The year I did a booth there, they had SWB and Andrew Pudewa. Anyone wanna drive over with me next year??

 

:)

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I've found the best way to use the conventions is to have it all mostly planned out ahead of time. Then if you have two or three curricula you are trying to decide between, you can then examine them up close and personal. When I've gone with no plans, I've bought curricula we never ended up using.

 

So my advice is to do your research ahead of time, go straight to the booths you plan on, and use that to make your decisions. Then when you've done that, browse the hall and pick up some fun science projects or other goodies.

 

I also like to plan which speakers/topics I want to attend ahead of time. Usually it's only one or two that really get my interest, so I make apoint to plan around them.

 

I agree, go with a plan! Also, go with a budget for "unplanned" items that you won't go over. For me, the benefit of the convention is for choosing between a couple of different curricula, or occasionally for finding out about something new. The larger the vendor hall, the more overwhelming it is to try to browse--so a plan really helps with that too.

 

I went to Midwest last year, and I had a map ahead of time. I decided a priority list--vendors I absolutely want to get to, vendors I'd like to check out/am interested, and vendors I had a casual curiosity about that I'd get to if I had time. I kind of like a smaller vendor hall because you feel freer to just walk up and down the aisles, but they don't always have everything you want to see--so it can be a toss-up.

 

A plan for speakers is good too, and again I prioritize--that way if I get overwhelmed with info or want to spend more time in the vendor hall, I can. I try to pick a variety--someone for encouragement, someone on a topic I want to know about, some from a curriculum I use--I find that hearing an author in person helps me to use their curriculum--I see where they are coming from more, etc... Plus you can stick around after & ask them questions, or go to their booth to ask questions etc...

 

Often you can also buy the CD of a talk. The recording isn't always the greatest though--I've gotten some that you could barely hear & some that were great, so I wouldn't depend on that method, but use it for ones you just couldn't get to.

 

If you can't get to a convention, try to look at samples online from several different sites--often they have different samples from each other.

 

HTH! Merry :-)

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