Adoption/foster session at homeschool conference.....Yes or no?

[Ottakee]

Someone recently suggested that a friend and I start speaking at homeschool conferences on adoption/foster care. Between the 2 of us we could speak in adopting from foster care, adopting a child of another race, homeschooling an adopted child, special needs, blending bio, foster, and adopted kids into one family, etc.

 

Those of you that regularly attend the bigger conferences, would you like to see a workshop about adopting (esp through foster care and/or transracially) or is that too far off the tack for a homeschool conference?

 

We are willing if the need and interest is there but if not, we will just continue with our foster/adopt family conferences.

 

If it matters, this would not be tied to any adoption agency and we would not really be discussing the healthy white newborn type adoptions.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Ottakee

[SparklyUnicorn]

I'd have no interest, but I know of many homeschoolers who have adopted or think about adopting so I think it could be interesting to some people.

 

 

[Hilltopmom]

I think people would attend.

We Foster adopted a medically fragile infant and then 2 siblings as newborns. We have quite a few Foster adopt families in our little rural homeschool group.

There's definately a need for more foster parents, & homeschoolers (who often want big families & aren't afraid of driving a big white van) could help fill it.

[HomeAgain]

I would vote no.

 

Homeschooling conferences should be about learning to educate children, not various other family life aspects like cooking or oils or family planning.  It drives more people away when less conferences focus on what they really should be about.

[Guest]

No.

 

TBH, it gives me the willies that so many people associate adoption + homeschooling. Mind you, not the dual acts of adoptING and homschoolING, just the conflation of the two as related actions.

[Rebel Yell]

No.

 

The primary reason I do not attend homeschool conferences is because there are so few speakers and topics on actual HOMESCHOOLING, but there are usually 2-3 lifestyle/health/sales pitch topics every session.

 

If the topic were more focused on how fostering/adopting might affect homeschooling and how to make it all work then I am all for it. Things like the enormous costs and time involved for adoption impacting the homeschool budget and ability to attend outside classes, making homeschooling work for this child or others in the home with any possible therapies or frequent Dr. appointments, strategies/scheduling tips if the foster child is required to be in public school, transitioning a child from previous school system to homeschooling, etc. These are all things I have seen friends struggle with.

 

I think it's wonderful that you're looking for ways to support people. My personal opinion is that a homeschool convention isn't the place for it.

[mom2bee]

Absolutely not. I don't care what aspect of adoption you are discussing, I wouldn't even attend the conference.

 

100% NO.

[Ottakee]

Thanks everyone for your honestly. I had some of the same concerns.

 

If we did do this, we would likely only do the large conferences where there are 5-10 other workshop choices for the given time slot.

[Tap]

Thanks everyone for your honestly. I had some of the same concerns.

 

If we did do this, we would likely only do the large conferences where there are 5-10 other workshop choices for the given time slot.

At a conference this large, sure. 

 

It directly relates to families, is not a sales pitch, and it was a part of your homeschooling journey.  

 

If it were a conference with 2 or 3 options each hour, I would likely say no.   Solely based on the fact that you could be taking a speaker that is more specific to home schooling.  Honesty though, even at a smaller conference, as long as they had open spots that were not going to be filled with speakers anyways, I would say try it out and see how much interest there is.  

[Spryte]

No.

 

And I'm both an adoptive and foster parent. I've been to conferences for both. I prefer to keep them separate for a multitude of reasons.

[Mergath]

It's not something I'd attend, and in my mind having this kind of talk at a homeschool conference helps to perpetuate certain stereotypes about homeschool families. I wouldn't refuse to attend a conference over it, though.

[Catwoman]

The main reason I stopped attending homeschool conventions is because the speakers and workshops were becoming more and more useless to me -- and that's because they were less and less related to homeschooling.

 

I don't need some speaker to tell me how to build my marriage or how to discipline my child or how to do any number of other personal things that have nothing to do with homeschooling. When I go to a homeschool convention, I'm not looking for a life coach. I also don't want someone to lecture me about what religion I should be.

 

But... since the conferences and conventions already offer lots of non-homeschooling lecture topics, I think Ottakee's idea could be successful. It least it's about helping kids, which is more than I can say about many of the other topics I have seen promoted. I would say that I would prefer all of the speakers to focus strictly on homeschooling, but since they already don't do that, I don't see any reason why Ottakee's topic isn't at least as good as any other.

[Catwoman]

A presentation on the specific details/challenges of bringing an older child into a homeschooling family, or laws around homeschooling foster children, or how to balance a family when some kids are homeschooled but the foster kids are required to attend public school, etc., would fit at a homeschool convention.

 

Basically I would want to know that you'd be dealing with issues specific to homeschooling in a particular situation rather than seeing the homeschool conference attendees as an audience for a presentation about fostering/adopting.

I think that's a good idea. :)

[Spryte]

A presentation on the specific details/challenges of bringing an older child into a homeschooling family, or laws around homeschooling foster children, or how to balance a family when some kids are homeschooled but the foster kids are required to attend public school, etc., would fit at a homeschool convention.

 

Basically I would want to know that you'd be dealing with issues specific to homeschooling in a particular situation rather than seeing the homeschool conference attendees as an audience for a presentation about fostering/adopting.

That's the one angle I would find interesting as well, especially the foster child in PS while other kids are homeschooled, as that is a common issue in my state (we can't homeschool foster kids here, they must attend PS).

[TechWife]

A presentation on the specific details/challenges of bringing an older child into a homeschooling family, or laws around homeschooling foster children, or how to balance a family when some kids are homeschooled but the foster kids are required to attend public school, etc., would fit at a homeschool convention.

 

Basically I would want to know that you'd be dealing with issues specific to homeschooling in a particular situation rather than seeing the homeschool conference attendees as an audience for a presentation about fostering/adopting.

 

This. 

 

Otherwise, I'd leave it out of the conference because it isn't related to homeschooling. I expect, from my professional life, that conferences will be applicable to topic at hand. I was sorely disappointed in my first homeschooling conference. 

 

 

 

 

[PeterPan]

Not to point out the obvious, but you'd either be paying for the workshop slot or invited. If you aren't selling anything, you won't have a reason to pay for a booth and pay for sessions to go. If you haven't been invited with some kind of stipend/sponsor structure, then you won't be going on their tab either. And you said the big conventions, but their prices are horrific for vendors.

 

So did a convention organizer approach you and offer to have you come as a featured speaker?

 

So you'd have to have a financially solvent way to do it, fit within the vendor requirements for the convention, and have enough profit built in to make it worth your while. Since it's the conventions that decide who is allowed to vend (and since they allow in all kinds of crazy stuff like aromatherapy and bread and whatnot), they probably would let you in, no problem. But it still goes back to the money and why you'd plunk out to do that. 

 

 

[Dmmetler]

Speakers have to pay to do sessions? I guess I'm used to research conferences, where you submit an abstract and they select talks from those. I never thought about conferences charging speakers more than the conference registration fee.

[PeterPan]

At homeschool conventions, the low price for the attendees is subsidized by the high price for the vendors and ad purchasers. That's how you get crazy low prices like $35-60 for a family and free nights, because the companies coming in are paying $$$.