HS conferences: what workshops are helpful?

[daijobu]

I am about to submit my workshop proposals for our local homeschooling conference, and I want to find out what you found valuable or not valuable about conference events you've attended.  Be as specific or general as you like.  My expertise is math, so I'll probably submit a couple of ideas related to math.  But I may also branch out and discuss homeschooling without screens.  

Any advice regarding topics, handouts, style, format, time of day, length of presentation, whatever you like or dislike is helpful.  When you thumb through a program, what catches your eye and makes you want to attend?  

[wendyroo]

I would love a workshop about infusing more math into everyday life.  I once went to a presentation by Shelagh Gallagher about Problem-Based learning, but it turned out just to be a sales-pitch for her book series. 

I really wanted ideas about challenging kids at all math levels to solve smaller, real-life problems.  ie Should we stick with the "regular" driveway plowing service this winter or upgrade to unlimited plowing?   Something like that requires kids to figure out what information is important and how to find that information, formulate the problem, and then solve using whatever math skills they possess (algebra, bar models, graphing, guess and check, etc).

I especially like problems that can be broken into steps of various difficulties: determine how much paint to buy can involve a K'er measuring walls and windows and labeling a diagram, a 4th grader multiplying, subtracting and adding to find the total wall area, and a 2nd grader reading the paint can and figuring out how many gallons will be required.

[2_girls_mommy]

I go to conferences every year. Yes, most workshops are people selling products, but the best speakers lay out some how tos in their workshops that you can take with you that day, even without buying their curriculum if you don't need it. 

 

My most useful ones have been: something for newbies on laws, general info about the language and types of homeschooling back when I started. 

 Preschool education at home, practical how to provide an enriching environment, how their brains work and what benefits them. I sent to the same speaker at our local convention ten years between my kids for a refresher. Her info about how their brains and bodies work and practical info was amazing. 

Educational how tos like Andrew Pudewa. You walk out of his workshops ready to implement new methods the next day. Of course, SWB if you can get her is amazing on any topic.

Special needs workshops on different issues, therapies that are recommended, and how to implement at home after further research. So many of us come across learning differences as we go and need guidance into where to go. Workshops from local doctors, therapists, homeschool providers have led me to sone much needed help and products over the years. These are always well attended at ours.

And I still like some good encouragement, not necessarily all educational workshops too. This is a long journey. Hearing from good speakers who are in the trenches too or who have been there done that can be so helpful. 

🙂

 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

Oh, and along the lines of the homeschool 101 type workshop, I think a you can homeschool high school workshop should always be there too. So many people worry when they get close to that age. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by 2_girls_mommy

[Momto6inIN]

I've found different ones helpful in different seasons of life. Nitty gritty how to's about teaching math conceptually and breaking down the writing process and setting works of lit in context. Big picture encouragement you can do this cheerleader type talks. Practical how to keep your toddler/preschooler occupied without losing your mind ideas.

Specifically thinking about math, I'd attend one about what to look for in your kids work to know they are developmentally ready for algebra. E.g. are careless mistakes with negatives and fractions ok if they can still explain the process to you? What about neatness and keeping their work in a column vs all over the page? 

[prairiewindmomma]

Who is your target audience? 

Honestly, if I were to attend a math conference session right now, I would want:

1. demonstrations of low floor/high ceiling problems that show us HOW to help our kids develop the vocabulary to explain how they are tackling a problem. I think too often homeschoolers fall into just working on assigned problems in a text without developing deeper thinking

2. examples of games that we can bring to our lessons, and resources on where to find more

3. strategies for things to try when kids hit walls, as an example with multiplication: lattice multiplication, area model multiplication, etc.

4. encouragement that even "non-mathy" moms can teach high school math.  I got my oldest through calculus.  It's possible.  I see *SO MANY* moms drop out of homeschooling after 8th grader because they feel under qualified. There are all kinds of good reasons to send a kid "out" for high school, but it shouldn't be done out of fear, IMO.

I am 100% over product demo conference sessions and 300% over (😂) theology focused conferences.  Look, I'm a faithful lady who prays and reads her scriptures and is highly involved in churchy things, but I really want homeschool conferences to offer practical help and support. 

15 years ago, the most valuable sessions for me were on the special needs track (dealing with sensory behaviors and sorting out learning disabilities)  and on how to teach multiple ages at once.

[Momto6inIN]

7 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

4. encouragement that even "non-mathy" moms can teach high school math.  I got my oldest through calculus.  It's possible.  I see *SO MANY* moms drop out of homeschooling after 8th grader because they feel under qualified. There are all kinds of good reasons to send a kid "out" for high school, but it shouldn't be done out of fear, IMO.

I am 100% over product demo conference sessions and 300% over (😂) theology focused conferences.  Look, I'm a faithful lady who prays and reads her scriptures and is highly involved in churchy things, but I really want homeschool conferences to offer practical help and support. 

X 1000 for both points

[kbutton]

I love the homeschooling without screens idea. 🙂 

Overview for high school math courses for moms that need a brush up and are trying to figure out how to teach it (as in a session for algebra, a session for geometry, etc.). I would want to hear about the order of topics--when order matters and when it doesn't. I felt very confident switching up elementary math topics when we got stuck and needed to take a break from a concept, but when it came to algebra, I assumed things would build. Then I realized there are still a lot of discrete concepts (at least early on). Knowing how to skip something and come back later when you've beaten your head against a wall is a BIG help. An overview of graphing again--so much of my graphing of math in algebra made no sense to me, but now, I can look at it and feel like I can ask the questions I didn't have words for in high school. Where the math goes with science--what kind of math concepts you need in chemistry, physics, etc. How to help your kid get the concept down and not just formulas--learning math vocabulary. I swear the vocabulary alone would be so helpful. I didn't learn math vocabulary in school much at all. 

Middle school math--this could go two ways. One for shoring up the elementary math one more time, and another for the kids who aren't necessarily ready for a full on algebra course but are very good at math. I think that shoring up the elementary math talks are currently more readily available.

I am not against courses that pitch a product if I know ahead. The worst is when the session seems to be something universally applicable, but there is a cliffhanger that involves getting their product. There are potential products that I might have used and now refuse to because of this kind of session!!! I do think there is value in having a session aimed at discussing a specific product if it's a niche product vs. one of many lit programs. (For instance, we use some intervention materials that are meant to be used with student-appropriate literature, and knowing the overview of the product and how it achieves what it does is invaluable.)

Special needs stuff is generally helpful, but it is hard to know where to focus given that kids are kind of all over the place, but if you specialty is math, it would help narrow things.

Math "tricks" can be cool--like 101 ways to take a math concept and use it to it's full extent from early math to high school math. I think Mr. D or someone gives a talk on factoring that does something like this. But there are quite a few little concepts I've picked up using Singapore math that are widely applicable and really helpful. When I was using Dimensions Math with my son, it as interesting to find out how to solve square roots (and cube roots, etc.) without resorting to guess and check. My son's math tutor was delighted to find out about this, and I haven't met other people who know how to do this. But it's so useful and so common sense if you play with factoring numbers down to their primes. Those kind of things are really powerful, I think.

In fact, a whole session on how to avoid guess and check would be nice. It's like the math version of sight words that really could be taught with phonics, IMO, and I HATE it. 

I would also attend a session on how to reliably and consistently solve number pattern problems in algebra. I stink at it.  

On 2/10/2020 at 12:01 AM, prairiewindmomma said:

1. demonstrations of low floor/high ceiling problems that show us HOW to help our kids develop the vocabulary to explain how they are tackling a problem. I think too often homeschoolers fall into just working on assigned problems in a text without developing deeper thinking

This too!

I think most conferences are going to dictate the length of your sessions. I would totally do a long session (with a potty break) for certain subjects though, such as an overview of algebra for rusty moms.

In the program, titles that match the actual content help. 🙂 

 

[kbutton]

Oh and a session on what a function is and why it matters--seems like you go through the motions without understanding it. By the time it could make sense, you're about done with relevant high school math (or at least it was the case in my high school).

[cintinative]

It might be useful to talk about things like how to pick a math curriculum, when should you switch curriculum, pitfalls of switching curriculum, and maybe a 101 series on the different approaches to math.