Home From Conference

I am home from the SETHSA Conference and I have much that I want to share. I would love to share it all in one post, but I am not going to have time to sit and type as I have much work to do this week. Unpacking for six will consume much of my time, as well as, another busy week. My kids all have VBS this week at church! I am so excited for them. VBS was a precious treasure for me as a child the few times I got to attend. I was not raised in church, so I really looked forward to the one time of the year that I would get to go. I would go to my aunt's house for the week and go to VBS with my cousin. I soooooo loved it!

Okay... re-focusing on the conference. First thing I want to share is a program that I am interested in that goes beyond Chore Charts. And let me just say first that I am strongly considering the MOTC (Manager's Of Their Chores) system, but I saw this one and I am intrigued. See, I don't really want to be going behind my kids forever asking and nagging them about what they have done... Nor do I want to have to check off check marks or put stickers on their charts. I have tried some approaches like that and I simply forget the chart myself then, it does not work out and we are back to square one. I want to make them accountable for their own actions. So, I bought the book for the Accountable Kids system. You can check it out at www.accountablekids.com . Go check it out, if you are interested and I plan to review it somewhat here on my blog after reading the book. The system is quite expensive for multiple children, but would be worth it if it works well. I chose to read the book before I invest any more in it... and I am considering using it a bit differently, too. After reading the book I will know if I can adapt/merge it with what I have in mind or if it needs to be used as it is. The basic theory is that your kids come to their board at the start of the day and as they accomplish their goals they move their cards over. They then go to mom and ask for their "Privilege Card" which they take back and hang on their board. The responsibility and accountability falls on the child and they learn that there are consequences for THEIR actions and without confrontations. If done properly this system encourages SELF discipline. Now couldn't all of our kids use more self discipline!? You can't have too much of that! ;)

You are going to be hearing a lot from me about David Hazell! I know.. I said that last post already, but what I want to quickly share right now is that if you go to his website at www.mfwbooks.com you can buy his workshop CDs super cheap!! I could have gotten his recordings at the SETHSA conference for $7 each, but he has his own on the site for $3.95 each or you can order all SEVEN for only $17.50 !!! I have had a couple of you say that you would love to go to his workshops, so stop waiting for the chance and order his CDs. I went to THREE of the four he did at the conference and I wish I had gone to the other one... Shucks! I missed it, but thank you God that I went in the other three!! Also, I know he is going to be at the THSC Convention in Houston, TX in August. I know a couple of you are going to that, so you are going to get to see him there. Take advantage of seeing him then!!! Seriously, if I end up going to that one I will go to every one of his workshops. :) Well, maybe just the ones I missed, but I might attend a repeat! Hehehe! I just looked and one of the workshops that really hit the nail on the head for me ("Combining Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Unit Studies") is not on his list of CDs. I really enjoyed it and found myself thinking, "Yeah, that's me." after every sentence he said. I was suprised because there is so much confusion for me about "labeling" what type of homeschooler you are. I have not been in it long enough to know what all the methods are, so previously I thought I must not have a category! LOL! Apparently, I am turning out to be Ecclectic which encompasses Classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies, etc.. Previously, I had thought I was for sure not Classical or Charlotte Mason, but he talks a bit about some misconceptions. An example of that would be that some think that to be Charlotte Mason you have to teach your kids to speak French. He explained that CM believed in teaching a second language, but not a specific one. CM lived in Europe and France was a neighboring country, so it made sense to teach her kids French. In Texas you might teach Spanish because we border Mexico or you mighth simply choose a language significant to your culture (Ex. You live USA and speak English, but are Spanish and so you teach your kids Spanish, also). (.... to be continued... goodnight!)