Convention - post mortem

OK, it's Tuesday morning, and I should be planning out my day, and completing my devotion - got some great message ideas this morning - but this blog has quickly become my internal sounding board and I want to finish ruminating over this weekend.

A couple of things I didn't quite get to...

1) It's clear that homeschooling dads are present and active in this movement. I saw fathers everywhere - at least a 30 to 70 dad to mom ratio, which if you consider the fact that probably all of them (the dads) were full - time workers, is pretty darn good. I know the stereotype is still of the stay at home mom teaching the kids, while Dad swoops in to "rescue" the kids from the boredom of day to day curricula, but obviously dads like Charles and I see this as more than 'mom's world.' We are intensely concerned about our kids, which brings me to my next point....

2) Dads as primary home school teachers is a secret, small, but growing need that may hold the key to the true growth of family learning becoming an unstoppable force in society. Why do I make such a bold statement?

Because if it is true, even in 2008, that men continue to hold the majority of powerful and influential decision positions in government, church and institutions, then I can think of no greater testament to the power of home schooling than the sight of full time working men LEAVING their professions to be full time teachers at home.

Chris and Naomi at Joe's Crab Shack

Think about it. The 60's and 70's were the so-called liberation years for women to escape the home. We were (and are still) bombarded with the message that women should put their careers first. 20 years later, now the movement is in the 'you can have it all' phase where pre-K is government run and women's groups are promoting any thing and everything that DOESN'T involve the equal partnership of marriage and family. Moms are debating their choices to give up careers to have children late in life, only to find the society either punishes them for leaving work, or chastises them for staying at home. It's literally a no - man's land.

So where does that leave the men? Are we simply enablers, designed to bring home enough bacon so Mom can concentrate on the schooling? Or is it something more, like the fact that men are now entering their liberation movement? Haven't we also been shackled to the corporate chair? Haven't there been enough movies where the main character realizes, almost too late, that sacrificing family for career is a no-win situation?("Family Man" and others like that) So when, I ask, will the men of this country make the radical step that Moms make every day and come home?

Charles related a group at the convention called "Bringing Dads Home". I checked out their site at bobandtinafarewell.com and found they are using home-business opportunities to help dads have an income and still be at home. We discussed ways we can market ourselves and use what we are good at to make money. (I mean, how much corporate experience is used to make money for others, guys? Let's get selfish for our families and use that commercial sense for our own wealth building and not for distant and unconcerned CEO's!)

I know the majority of dads will never have the wherewithal to stay home full time. But the method does not matter, only the goal of having the family unit essentially unified in learning, growing, and sharing life. If that was the primary goal of every dad, I believe the social ills in our country would virtually cease. There is no substitute for the relationships
built when Mom and Dad make God their source and home their sole responsibility.

- Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father.
Proverbs 17:6

Thanks again, FPEA, for a wonderful convention and I and my family will be back many a year.
And to anyone reading, look for opportunities to be around people like the ones I met this weekend. They will help you be more in tune than ever with the strength and dedication you need to be a real family man or woman. Look to the links for more resources I found during our time in Orlando.

Looking unto the hills,

homeschooldaddy

Convention...Day 1 (well, Belated Day 1)

Good morning, world.

My last attempt to post was foiled, but that's fine, because everything I was writing was really just a log of stuff that happened yesterday.  I wanted to keep a direct log of our activities leading into the homeschool convention, but I can do that anytime.   Right now, the sun is reflecting off the windows opposite my screened patio outside our hotel / condo.  The temp is about 74 and breezy in Orlando, and I've had two hours to study sermon notes, read, look at the kids sleeping, fix cinnamon raisin bread toast and coffee, listen to John Mayer, and overall, get a wonderful start to my day.  

No matter what else I learn, or spend this weekend, the last two hours makes it worth it. 

Now, as for the convention, all I can say is.....whoa.   Thousands of people like me, crazy enough to think their main priority is their kids?  People of every culture, hundreds of vendors, myriad approaches to learning, enough free stuff to fill two more suitcases?   That's what we're experiencing.  And that was only two hours. 

We spend the first hours Friday enduring a timeshare sales presentation that came with our great rate on the resort we're staying at (ok, so maybe we were more interested then I'm letting on, but I'm a Dave Ramsey listener and if he knew we considered a vacation home, he might send dogs after us.) Then it was off to the convention.  We had to park about a mile away, but the resort hired shuttles which arrived immediately and dropped us off right at the entrance.  We were famished from the sales presentation - perhaps they've learned hungry people make more impulse decisions - but food was provided right at the front, so we joined several other families camped out on the lobby floor, munching on pizza and chicken nuggets.  

The flood of people coming through the lobby at 1:30 seemed to indicate classes were starting, but my wife and I weren't quite ready for classes.  This was her first introduction to how big homeschooling has gotten, and I didn't want to overwhelm her with educationalese. So we went straight to the exhibit hall.  Within minutes, we had Naomi fitted for a violin, Marcus playing in a chess tournament, Miki and I speaking with a speech therapist, and the kids looking through microscopes.  Now THAT is what I call limitless learning. 

Perhaps this first time, I shouldn't feel guilty if we don't make it to any classes.  The experience of the first day was enough to re-energize me that we are among friends and that the kids are truly benefiting from our choice to homeschool.  Even though I haven't met any other homeschool dads, I'm among people that feel the way I feel about their kids, and that is infectious and invigorating.  At the end of today, I'm sure I'll feel even more that way.  And yes, I will put specifics about curricula and strategies eventually in this blog, but right now I'm just absorbing the moment.  And a great moment it is, a blessed moment that I give God praise for.  

Looking unto the hills,

homeschoooldaddy (acp) 

On the eve of the convention...

OK, it's not a total vacation, but it's the closest we've ever got.

Tomorrow we attend the Florida Homeschool Convention in Orlando, FL. After much wrangling and soul searching, we've decided to take the kids along. Not because we didn't want them, but because we really didn't know when our next opportunity to be on a trip alone would be. I'm glad now, because we can share the discoveries with our kids immediately, instead of coming home with a load of stuff and throwing it at them willy nilly. I'll try to keep a log of our activities to help someone see into what caught our attention and why.

Today's homeschool stuff involved Marcus calling up his Virtual School teacher on his own - I've never seen him so focused. It almost makes me wonder if I should set up a website and teach him virtually from the other room... maybe he'd pay more attention to me (just kidding).
Naomi struggled through upside down multiplication, which reminded me that she has to keep reviewing old material. She just does better when she's taking a slower pace, but I have to keep her moving to avoid her getting frustrated.

Our life lessons came from our high gas prices. I've been monitoring our gas usage closely, as my 1999 Mazda practically bleeds oil. The tank was on half, and I had the tripometer on, which showed 147 miles traveled since last fill-up. I took a quick look at the manual to see the fuel tank capacity, then asked Marcus and Naomi to figure out the miles per gallon. Both at first missed the operation needed - division- and I had to walk Marcus through dividing decimals, but he got the estimate pretty close. Naomi of course bemoaned the whole exercise. She did better on my other family learning project - changing the thermostat to a digital programmable one instead of the classic twist knob version that was originally in the house.

I took off the original casing so they could see the vacuum tube with the bead of mercury inside, then promised 5 bucks to the one that could identify the liquid. Marcus and Chris went ballistic into Wikipedia, but Naomi calmly looked into the tube and did some observation of the whole. She prefers the systematic approach rather than the home-run hits that the boys relate to educationally. She'll make a great researcher or chemist one day because of her keen sense of putting pieces together to make a whole. (Marcus got the five dollars though.)

Time to rest up for the trip... see you in Von Trapp Disney....

Looking unto the hills,

acp