Finding a Homeschooling Convention
Home Education Seminars and Unschooling Conferences in the US
Oct 24, 2008
Each year, all around the United States, homeschoolers meet to share resources and listen to motivational and inspirational homeschool speakers share their wisdom. Some homeschooling conventions, like the South Florida Homeschool Convention, are hosted by the state's homeschool advocacy group. These organizations exist as a central resource for support groups and as watchdogs for state law.
Homeschool Conventions
Local support groups and independent companies also host homeschool conferences. For anywhere from one to five days, a large church, convention center or hotel are occupied by homeschooling families, going back and forth between seminars by homeschool speakers, classes and activities for children, enormous vendor halls with curriculum demonstrations, book displays and computer labs with the latest educational software.
Unschooling Conferences
As homeschooling becomes more common some of these conventions are becoming tightly focused, for specific homeschooling methods, like the annual Autodidact Symposium in South Carolina or the Rethinking Education Conference in Dallas, Texas, which held their 12th annual conference in 2008 and Life is Good North West, both of which are for unschooling families, sometimes called “life learners.” For several years, Unschoolers have descended upon Sandusky Ohio for the Annual Winter Waterpark Gathering. The Kalahari Waterpark Resort is the nation's largest indoor water theme park and resort.
Unschooling Vacations
Life learners also have the option of enjoying their seminars at sea. In October of 2009, the National group Unschooling America will be hosting the first annual Unschooling Adventure Cruise, in which families will be taking an all inclusive cruise to Bermuda for 5 nights. Unschooling families aren't particularly interested in curriculum, like Charlotte mason families, they tend to appreciate sources of information that aren't “dumbed down,” so there's usually not an overwhelming vendor hall to be concerned with, just like-minded families enjoying conversation, recreation and good food. The select vendors you might find at an unschooling conference are usually holistic, dealing with a wide range of alternative approaches to wellness, intellectually, physically and spiritually, for the entire family.
Religious Homeschooling Conventions
Families wishing to find a Catholic or Christian homeschool convention are in good company. There are state wide and regional religious support groups that plan these conventions and the larger ones draw visitors from all over the country. With family entertainment, child training workshops and parenting practices that focus on biblical techniques, these conventions are ripe for commercial curriculum vendors and often have enormous vendor halls filled with boxed curricula and individual subject programs designed to help a parent teach a child whatever they've deemed important to learn that year. Sometimes veteran homeschoolers will develop a learning product to sell as their family business and offer their services as a speaker, too.
Homeschool Speakers
Depending upon the nature of the conference, speakers at a homeschool convention may be mothers with something special to share, ministers with a message for families from above, or authors of homeschooling books to share their techniques and philosophies with parents. Some homeschool convention speakers are visiting from the world of institutionalized education, and share subject-specific information to help parents teach writing, art or music. Additionally, veteran homeschoolers are popular speakers because they've “been there and done that” either as parents of adult homeschoolers, or having been homeschooled themselves. Second-generation homeschoolers tend to be popular speakers, too.
No matter what kind of homeschool support you're looking for, it might be a good idea for you to attend an annual homeschooling convention. Spending time with motivational and inspirational speakers can help parents get “on the same page” when it comes to parenting and homeschooling decisions. Meeting other families with the same philosophies and beliefs can be an affirmation, and help families feel a little less lonely as they navigate an often counter-culture lifestyle.
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