Just thought I would let you all know that I had a GREAT time at the home school conference last week! I will say though, that I was thoroughly exhausted by Saturday morning, and about dead by that night. The convention center was quite spread out, so walking to the exhibit hall, to coat check to drop off books, to used book hall, to drop off more books, to upstairs and seminars, plus the 10 minute walk to the hotel (thankfully in a skyway!) was quite exhausting. My shins were killing me. Wearing tennis shoes would have been a great idea I know, but of course I didn't.

And Brian and the kids did survive. It's too bad we had such gloomy weather though-in the house all weekend. The vehicles didn't get cleaned :-) ! No super big issues until around the time I hit St. Cloud on Saturday night. They were all pretty tired and crabby for a few days, but I think we are all back into the groove.

Thursday was the high school workshops. They were fine; I think I am getting to the point where I have all the information I can, now I just need to do it. There are still choices about what class, when, and where--but I just need to get started and do it.
That night we hit the mall for a few things and then ate at the Texas Roadhouse. Oh my, we were stuffed!

Friday morning I worked at pre-registration. That was fun; seeing people I hadn't in quite awhile, seeing who came that I knew from this area. I did some shopping at used books and most of my non-main curriculum shopping and got a lay of the exhibit hall land. One full-size suitcase of books filled.
At 3 pm I went to the first of the 2 seminars I was looking forward to. It was for adoptive and foster parents, parents of kids with FASD, ADHD, RAD, learning disabilities. I enjoyed it. The speaker jumped around a bit (he admitted his own ADD), but I came away with some things to think and do.
When that was done, it was back to a little more shopping and checking out new things.

Friday evening was the keynote speaker, Dr. Larry Gutherie. One of my dear friends was his interpreter from a Russia trip 20 years ago. He told the story of a fire that took place before he went on that trip and then talked about the Russia trip itself. Well, I am telling my friend we HAVE to go say hi-he needs an ending to the story! We got down there and have a little visit. Now the cool thing is-he remembers her! Saturday morning he again spoke and shared with the whole convention how emotional the night before was for him...a woman who looked familiar came down to say Hi and said I am H from Russia. (at this point I am bawling just like the night before!). He shared how she interpreted for him on this trip, presenting the gospel over and over again and she wasn't a believer at the time. Well, here it is 20 years later, she has 6 kids, home schools and loves the Lord. Isn't God great?!

Saturday morning I finished my shopping for my main curriculum, loaded up at the used book fair and took extra time to stroll through the exhibit hall. I talked to the Northwestern college guy about PSEO and stopped at a few other places. Ate my lunch and went to a seminar on correction (of children's behavior). By this time I was exhausted and slept through a few parts ;-). After this I went back up the stairs to the seminar I was looking forward to called "How long does God expect me to do this?" Again, I enjoyed it and came away with lots to think about-some actions I need to take. I have spent a few days this week working on those things, and well-that will be another post for another day.

Some of the curriculum wasn't available directly at the convention as they had already run out (which was probably good in the long run-I don't know if I could have carried anymore!). Well, it came last night! And the geek that I am I have been looking through it, planning how to do lessons, and getting excited to start! I have a hard time believing we'll (okay, I'll) be able to wait until August to start it all! Baby #8 may help, but I just get excited for the new stuff! We'll do a few things in the summer-I'd like all the kids to be a little further in math and Cybil will do one of her elective courses, maybe some other "fun stuff". School is just such a part of our daily routine and life, that it is actually more disruptive to stop. Sure, we scale back, but we need to do a little just to bide some time.

The rest of the curriculum will be here by the middle of next week-can't wait to see the rest of it!