This past weekend my family and I experienced our first homeschool conference together.  It was a pleasurable experience.  I learned some new things while I was being edified in other areas.  If you have never been to a homeschool conference before and are considering attending one I would recommend Teach Them Diligently.

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Top 20 Moments from Teach Them Diligently Nashville

1.  Seeing our friends.  We moved last month so it was nice to see friends from our old town.  The girls were in pure bliss.

2. Experiencing the convention with my husband.  Vic has always let me do my thing when it comes to teaching the girls so it was nice to have him involved.

3.  It felt like a vacation.  Although we only stayed one night, it felt like we were there for several days.  We came home exhausted.

4.  Devouring a pizza that I couldn't taste.  The walking and sitting in workshops must have made me extremely hungry.  Vic and I both agreed that the pizza may have been good, but we couldn't taste it because we were too hungry.

5. Being edified in the area of motherhood.  I struggle at times with being a stay at home mom. There are so many things that I want to do so being surrounded by women who choose to stay at home really does something for the soul. 

6. Being edified in the area of being a wife.  It was nice to hear Rachel Carman talking about loving on your man during her Have a H. E. A. R. T. for Your Children workshop. In her talk about having a heart for your children, she emphasized enriching your marriage.

7.  I was blessed during Sonya Schafer's (www.simplycharlottemason.com) talk.  I had never been to her website before, but after her talk I feel the need to check out some of the things she has to offer.  Her talk was the Five Gifts of Intentional Parents. This talk edified me in homeschooling.  Sometimes I wonder if I am on the right path.  Are the choices in line with God's desire for us?  She really helped confirm that we aren't off, and also gave me new things to implement in our doing life together.

8. Getting tips in areas that I had really been praying about just days before such as praying with my girls.  We pray together, but they often say they do not know how to pray alone.  During the Real Refreshment Retreat, I met another mom that actually lives in our new town and she shared Praying in Color with me.  It's funny because I have prayed this way by myself, and I didn't know that it was a book or anything.  Well, I implemented it with the girls this week.  So far it is going well. 

9.  Notebooking!  It's funny when you go somewhere to learn something, and you realize that you are already doing it.  Most of the time I don't realize that what we do has a name.  When I went to the notebooking workshop, I realized that we actually implement in our learning.  I did get some new ideas from Jeannie Fulbright such as investing in higher quality color pencils.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of that since most of our other art supplies are higher quality. I also got a better understanding of what notebooking does for retention and confidence.

10.  Laughing with my husband.  So we went to a workshop that just wasn't for us so we decided to leave a little early and check into our hotel.  Well,  I thought it was a good idea to go out the exit closest to us.  Wouldn't you all think that was a marvelous idea? This exit took us to the back end of the Opryland Hotel.  I mean it was just concrete walls and employees.  You know, we couldn't go back into the talk because it was already rude that we had left out so all we could do was keep moving forward.  Luckily, an employee spotted us and led us back to the guest side of the hotel.  He said, " No one has ever kept going, but you guys did."  That was our adventure and we were laughing for quite a long time.

11.  The children's event was nice.  It was a little rocky in the beginning because of it being the first conference for the season, but once things got settled it went well.  The girls talked about all the things that they learned, and how they really enjoyed Incrediworld.  They even told us they wanted to go back next year.

12.  Our family was not only blessed by the scheduled events, but also by the unscheduled.  In our new state, we have new regulations.  One regulation is being under an umbrella school or registering with the school district.  This was causing me a little stress because Illinois has new regulations what so ever.  So just a little change felt overwhelming to me.  I contacted the district because I didn't want to be illegal, but no one called me back.  I contacted umbrella schools, but I didn't feel comfortable paying several hundred dollars for just two months especially since funds are limited now.  Well, I went to Home Life Academy's booth at the convention because a mom in the notebooking workshop recommended them.  I'm not going to make this a long story, but what I will tell you is that they included the rest of this year in our registration for next year.  So we only paid for the upcoming school year, but we are now legally homeschooling for the rest of 2014-15. 

13.  The girls enjoyed spending time with their friends, but it did my heart good to spend time with my friend.  Even though it has been less than a month since we saw each other so much has changed.  It was really good catching up, and praying for one another. 

14.  I can't forget about the curriculum when it comes to a homeschool conference.  We decided to change the girls' math program to BJU Press. The explanation and color in the text was the primary reason.  After five years of homeschooling, this was our first curriculum selection together.  I would have changed simply because Vic offered his opinion, and that isn't something he normally does when it comes to our books. We ended up not changing after talking a bit more about why we wanted to change, and decided we could just implement some of the techniques to our current curriculum. {Updated:  We have officially switched to BJU Press and both of my daughters really like it. Check out our first review.} 

15.  The convention was at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort.  The environment was beautiful.  I loved the greenery and the sounds of the waterfalls.  If you ever get to visit, I don't think you would be disappointed.

16.  Making a new friend.  Some people think that I am outgoing, but I am not really.  I just tend to make myself available.  I decided long ago that I wouldn't let my introvert personality hold me hostage as far as meeting new people.  So I don't.

17.  Learning that a safe is not a microwave.  The safe was right above the refrigerator, and my mind automatically assumed that the safe was a microwave.  It didn't go so well when I tried to microwave some oatmeal.  My lovely husband and daughter asked where is the microwave.  I pointed to the safe, and I learned that it was not a microwave :)

18. Even though we are still in the midst of adjusting and finding employment getting out did our entire family some good. It gave us time to connect.  It gave us time to be refueled. It just gave us time to just enjoy ourselves without pressures.  It was really a beautiful gift from above as if He knew we would need those days during this time.

19. Bible scripture memorization. I've mentioned before that I didn't have any scriptures in my heart when I became an adult. God gave me music.  I always had songs to lean on.  Since I didn't have scriptures, I see the importance in giving that to my daughters.  They do know some scriptures and pieces of others.  After attending Sonya Schafer's talk, I decided that we would implement her method for scripture memorization. We started it on Monday, and the girls look forward to it.  They remind me which feels good because they desire His word as much as I want to share it with them.

20.  Just being with my family and enjoying God's abundant blessings.

Do you attend home school or mom conferences? 

Be blessed,