Last March, I attended a homeschool conference.

I love hearing from speakers, vendors, and friends at these events. We’re surrounded by books, ideas, and such creativity when we go to a conference.

Sometimes I’m challenged to change, and sometimes I’m encouraged to keep going with what I’m already doing. Homeschool conferences can be the support we need in an often lonely world of homeschooling our children.

My friend who is in her 4th year of homeschooling said to me that just walking in the building gives her peace to know that she is not alone! Finding community is not an easy task. Finding community when you’re the salmon swimming in the opposite direction of the river’s current makes for an even greater challenge.

I find this same peace when I meet fellow homeschoolers.

Homeschool Conference Offers Variety and Opportunity

Over my eight years of homeschooling, I have attended seven different conferences at four various locations. Each one has been an excellent experience.

One of my favorite parts is the vendor hall! I love seeing what’s new, looking for treasured finds, and simply meeting people and making connections.

The variety of speakers at a conference can be alarming sometimes, and the messages they bring vary from speaker to speaker.

At the last conference, I sat in a room for a morning session that encouraged memorization as the staple learning method in the elementary years. Later that afternoon, I sat in the very same room where the speaker told us that memorization is not the vehicle for true learning. Lol!

Contradictory advice for sure.

I’ve been in the game long enough to know that one size (method, book, curriculum, style, etc.) does NOT fit all. Each of my children learn differently. In fact, this varied approach to learning is one of the very reasons I homeschool. My child doesn’t have to fit inside the box. Instead he can live outside that box, and only his imagination limits him.

Homeschool Conference Inspires Hope & Creativity

Conference sessions inspire me! The speakers are passionate about what they are sharing, and this communicates both hope and confidence to me as the listener. I can glean from their strength and passion.

I can still remember Durenda Wilson speaking to the moms one evening about staying on your course, no matter if your closest relatives and friends critique you or advise you to change. God has given YOU and your husband the responsibility of nurturing and raising YOUR children as they grow. God will show YOU what to do. Stay the course. That was a pivot point for me in a difficult time of my life.

I can remember another moment with Stacey Farrell this past conference. She was encouraging us to inspire our young writers. I felt showered with confirmation upon confirmation that my approach to writing with my children has been right on track.

• Inspiring them and encouraging them in their imaginative stories
• Being careful not to fill their papers with red correction marks
• Letting them write freely

As I write this blogpost, my eldest is sitting alongside my daughter, editing her novel on the computer. They are giggling, discussing, fixing mistakes, and having such fun together. This is learning at it’s most organic state.

I was also inspired in my blog writing! Not only am I learning how to teach my children, I’m being inspired in my own work as well. That’s what we call a “Win. Win!”

Homeschool Conference Prepares Us for the Hard Work

At the conference, each of my kids were able to attend workshops as well! My daughter really enjoyed a novel writing workshop on Saturday afternoon. Though the speaker only expected a few attendees, the room was filled with children and adults with only 5 handouts to share.

She took notes in her notebook and soaked in all of his teaching about preparing for your novel. She began writing that very night on the computer; developing the setting, the weather, the conflict, and the characters with descriptions, histories, relationship connections, and more.

As often as she can, she’s been sitting on the desktop adding to her ideas. She’s currently on chapter six in her novel, and she’s loving the entire process.

The best way to learn is to practice and play.

This is hard work! Yet, she sees this as play and fun. Brilliant! May she continue on, working hard, imagining, creating, and changing the world.

Homeschool Conference Creates Community

Every home is uniquely designed. Every family is special and created with purpose. Every individual is valuable, exclusive, special, and most wonderfully made.

Because of our unique designs, each homeschool will look different from the other. In our uniqueness we can start to solo out, maybe get disconnected from the “group.” Conversely, we must strive to develop a community that encourages each other to step into our unique styles and purposes.

Conferences create an opportunity to find people, both similar and different from yourself.

I sat on the bench at the playground next to a mom. She asked me one question: How many children do you have? This led to another question, and another…. This is how it begins.

I’m excited to see how this new friendship grows. Will I see her next year at the conference? Or maybe sooner? How can I encourage her? How did she encourage me?

She sat with our families the next day for lunch. Simply doing life together. She set off to find a new Math curriculum for her boys. I hope she found answers to her questions in the vendor hall. Along the way, I hope she found direction and confirmation in her homeschooling and most of all hope for her homeschool and her family.

Conference Vendors at PAACH 2024

Check out these great vendors that attended the PAACH Homeschool Conference last March!

HSLDA
HSLDA’s Generation Joshua iElect
Apologia
Teaching Textbooks
RightStart Mathematics
BJU Press
Classical Conversations
Homeschool Adventure by Stacy Farrell
Generation Cedar by Kelly Crawford
CIBAD Speech & Debate
Heppner’s Legacy

Conference Speakers from PAACH 2024

Here’s a list of the speakers from PAACH. Each year has a new variety of workshops and offerings. I look forward to learning from these ministries and families as they share their homeschooling experiences with us.

Davis & Rachael Carman
Kelly Crawford
Stacy Farrell
Andrew Linder
Liz Scott
Brian & Carla Estell
Allen Brokken
Rachel Anderson
Nancy Bjorkman
James & Arkasia Cox
Daniel Currier
Carlos & Jessica Gonzales
Robert Herrmann
Sheryl Kaiser
Scott & Kristina Meyers
Cassie Sheehan
Philip & Emily Wegman
Isaac Wofford
Kirk Smith

Find more information about each speaker and the workshops they offered on the PAACH website!

Conclusion

I’m so grateful for homeschooling conferences. These events builds such hope, creativity, and community in our homeschools. Likewise, they encourage us to remain strong in our goals and to love our families more.

Are you planning to go to a conference this year? Where will you go, and what are you looking forward to? The speakers? The vendors? Meeting friends? Please comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

I hope you take the opportunity to attend a conference. We all need to be encouraged and challenged in our journey, and this experience can be the support we need in an often lonely world of homeschooling our children.

Keep Walking Friend,

Christina