Conference Day 2 & 3

Even though I have posted some pictures of the last day of conference, I thought I would fill in what we did in the middle.

Some back story so y'all can understand some stuff :0) We have homeschooled our children right from the get go. Thankfully, our conference was always in the city where we lived. We never had to travel more than 20 minutes to get there, and we always were able to sleep in our own beds. Well, that all changed two years ago when they decided to move the conference to another city. The new city is an hour away (in good traffic) and would not be the easiest for day trips. However, T's company have property in the new city and we are able to stay at one of their property's. We are SO THANKFUL for this! We leave a day before the conference starts, this way T can work that afternoon and the next morning before we head to the conference.

So back to this year! I posted about the first night, and we enjoyed seeing who/what was new or a repeat. We didn't purchase too many items. Just some spelling, cursive practice, & construction paper, as well as some fun, easy to read books on the "history" of our great country. We also perused a new Math program for Luc. We were just a bit disappointed as to the fact a couple of our favorite vendors were not in attendance this year.

Friday, conference always starts early (8:30am) for me anyway ;) and it goes all day (8:30pm). this year, there were no sessions that we wanted to attend early, and so T was able to get some more work done and I was able to get some sleep. Yay! for sleep! We attended sessions led by Paul David Tripp, Dari Mullins and Steve Clark. They always provide such encouragement and practical help with parenting/schooling your children. Plus, we purchased the bulk of our curriculum for the coming year. It is hard to believe that come Fall, we will have an 11th grader, 10th grader, 7th grader and 3rd grader. Is anyone interested in teaching cursive and multiplication? Feel free to let me know!

Saturday we attended more sessions and came away with more ideas/helps with day to day life in a homeschooling family. It really is a blessing to go and listen to these speakers. Now, if they could only get some comfortable chairs! All those hours sitting....not so good for the back!
As I mentioned, Saturday was also graduation. It was really nice to see how graduation works and to be a part of "Miss's" special day. Thanks for inviting us!

Last but not least, we have to thank grandma for her willingness to keep the children for us. They always have a great time with her and she enjoys having them. THANK YOU, GRANDMA!!!

Weekend Update

Here are some pictures of the weekend. I hope to have more time later and will update you with more then. Beth is waiting to see these! Enjoy!

Congratulations, Girls! Woo-hoo for the Class of 2009!

Conference Time

Today our state home school organization begins its yearly conference. T & I will be attending the entire event, ending with graduation. A friend will be graduating, and we are very excited for her. We haven't attended a home school graduation in way too long, and I for one am excited! It is hard to believe that in just two short years, we will be having a graduate.

Tonight the conference begins with an open time (4 hours) for shopping/getting acclimated to the site and a worldview mini-conference. It is always a good time of checking out what is new and exciting!

To Count or Not To Count

I am here: New York

2 of my children are here: South Dakota

Should I or should I not start counting the days until they return? 

ugh!?

Or as my 8 year old said, hug?!

So from here to there:

HUG, HUG, HUG, HUG!!!!

(one from all of us)