Convention Season in Real Life
Homeschool Conventions are great fun for the whole family!
Most conventions will have some fun activities for families. At the Washington convention, they had a huge chess demonstration, so of course my son came to play. He played blindfolded chess with a national chess master – his former employer at Chess4Life. In case you needed to know, blindfold chess is when the player can’t see the board, and the moves are spoken aloud. The goal is to remember where all the pieces are moving throughout the entire game. Can you imagine? As usual, my husband was the person most anxious during the game.
Homeschool Conventions Happen During a Busy Time of Year
Convention season is always such a busy season – and this year was even busier for our family! During one Convention, we actually celebrated my son’s graduation from the Masters Program at the University of Washington. YUP! Kevin’s got a Master’s Degree in Computer Science now!
We attended his graduation on Friday evening, and I was supposed to speak at 9:00 the following morning – Yikes, it’s so hard for me to stay up late! But it was so worth it! ! I was just glad the convention was close enough so I could attend the event! Funny story about getting a Master’s degree – the gown has a hood that hangs in a funny way, and it looks a little like the back of a dinosaur. Especially with the purple color of the University of Washington,it reminded us a bit of Barney the Purple Dinosaur!
Another convention took place over Father’s Day weekend. While conventions are fun, they are also pretty tiring, but we made a Herculean effort, and celebrated Father’s Day in two different states. First Father’s Day was with my older son and his wife in Oregon. We celebrated with my husband’s extended family at the Sassy Onion in Salem.
Immediately after brunch, we drove my mom and dad home to Seattle and then celebrated our second Father’s Day in Washington, with my younger son, much closer to home.
Continuing Education is Worth Small Hassles
In the midst of all conventions, LIFE happens. Between conventions, my laundry was just OUT OF CONTROL! Even off-the-charts household chores are worth the extra effort to attend a convention. Really! It’s worth it! Attending a homeschool convention is one of those important things that we do as homeschool parents.
Your continuing education as a homeschool parent is worth a few Godzilla-sized bad laundry days!
Check Your Family Calendar
I was careful to make sure that my conventions didn’t overlap with my niece’s upcoming wedding, but I totally forgot to think about Kevin’s graduation, until after I had committed. So when you look at your calendar to plan vacations, be sure to consider things like upcoming major life events (weddings, babies, graduation) and consider important holidays (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.) Try to plan around things when you need to, but don’t miss the major life events! I’ve missed a few weddings of close
family friends, and it was really heart-breaking. I’m not going to miss those important things again! And I’m so THANKFUL that I was able to attend my son’s graduation!
Family first, even when my business involves homeschool conventions. For that reason, I take very few convention requests each year, to spend more time with my precious family. If you would like me to speak at your local homeschool conference, ask the convention organizer to request that I speak at their event. I hope I’ll get to see you in the future!
Share The HomeScholar Speaker Information with Your Local Convention
Oh, one last thing…. Congratulations to Kevin Binz on his Master’s Degree! Watch that LOVE OF LEARNING grow!
hi Lee!
Congratulations to Kevin for completing his Master’s Degree in Computer Science! I thought you’d like to hear about my two oldest (whom you heard plenty about when I was a GCC member!). Both graduated this year from college (Class of 2015). The oldest took five years to graduate, as he did a six-month co-op, and changed his major from Mechanical Engineering to Mechanical Engineering Technology. He just finished his last (summer) class this week, and starts a job at a local defense/aerospace firm on Monday! His younger brother graduated with a Music degree, specialization in Theory/Composition. He has always thought he wanted to continue on in his music studies in Music Composition, but had second thoughts this year. Long story short, he may yet go on in music, or may go in an altogether different direction, but he’s not sure yet what he wants to do. So he has decided to volunteer with Americorps for a year. He got accepted to FEMA Corps, so will be doing disaster relief. He did not want to do a “boring” job while he considers his next step. Wish he had looked for a “real” job, but it’s not my decision. How fast the years fly by, right? I enjoyed hearing about your family! =)
Hi Ann!!! It’s so good to see you via blog post! Thanks for the update on your kids – LOVE the “not boring” idea of FEMA, LOL! What a guy thing 😀
Hugs,
Lee