Date/Time

Thursday, July 26, 2012 – 10 AM to 4:00 PM at the Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta

Cost

• Individual registration – $60 Online / $75 at the door
  
• Husband/wife registration – $75 Online / $90 at the door

Homeschooling for Excellence 101 registration automatically includes registration for the Southeast Homeschool Expo. Return Friday and Saturday for the Southeast Homeschool Expo and additional workshops – no additional charge.

Optional KidsZone Program: Choose one, two or three days, July 38-30.  Your children ages 4-12 can attend their own child sized homeschool conference while you attend Expo events. Alternatively, children are always welcome with their parents anywhere at the Expo.  Click here for for details:  Kidszone.

Worldview Teen Track: Have older children?  Students 13-18 years (parents welcome, too!) get energized and equipped to succeed in highschool.  Click here for details: Worldview Teen Track.

Homeschooling for Excellence 101

Many parents considering or just beginning to homeschool would like to have personalized help. Homeschooling for Excellence 101 is a one-day conference where homeschool parents can get individualized answers for their own personal situations from other seasoned homeschooling parents. Children ages four and up can attend the Homeschool Kids Zone while parents attend the Homeschooling For Excellence 101 Conference.

• Where do I begin?
• What materials should I choose? There are so many!
• How can I encourage my child to learn?
• How will I fill my child’s time – will he be lonely?

The homeschool lifestyle is so much more than just ABC’s and 123′s. It includes a lifestyle that encourages learning all the time and learning together. Bringing frantic, fragmented family lives back together can seem inviting and at the same time mystifying. Not knowing what to do throws parents into a whirl of confusion and concern. Each parent is uniquely qualified to educate their own child. The Homeschooling for Excellence Workshops are designed with extra time and personalized attention for your unique situation. In a friendly and encouraging small group environment, top notch, enthusiastic homeschool parents will share their wisdom and pass along lots of information on how you can make the best decisions for educating your own child.

Conference Speakers

Randi St. Denis, Director of Home Educators Encouragement Alliance (HEEA), is an educator, popular homeschool speaker, and a seasoned homeschooling mom. Using her degree in Educational Psychology, Randi works as a consultant to public, private, and homeschool families; providing teaching expertise and assistance for all types of children. She is recognized as an expert in the technical aspects of learning that allow every type of child, from special needs to gifted, the opportunity to learn well. Randi is also the founder and director of a number of homeschool support groups and advises families and businesses who would like to work with homeschoolers.  Randi and her husband, Hank, homeschooled their seven children and continue to help them as they journey through college. Their children now serve in a variety of fields including accounting, football coaching, advertising, IT administration and a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors.

Rebecca Ingram Powell is a homeschooling mother of three, and a nationally known author and speaker. She is the author of several books including her newest release, Season of Change: Parenting Your Middle Schooler with Passion and Purpose. Since 2003, Rebecca has been a monthly columnist for ParentLife magazine, writing the popular feature, “A Mom’s Life.” Her articles have appeared in HomeLife, BabyLife, The P31 Woman, and other Christian publications as well as on numerous websites including Pastors.com and Crosswalk.com. As the Parenting Contributor for Nashville’s local morning news show, Fox 17′s “Tennessee Mornings,” Rebecca is a frequent guest, dishing out parenting advice and commentary with show hosts Kelly Sutton and Shane Tallant. Rebecca and her husband Rich were college sweethearts and today live in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, with their three children, Danya, David, and Derek.

Conference Schedule

Each Session, you decide which one of two options you want to attend . If you aren’t interested in one, you can move to the other. It’s that easy!

10:00 AM – Beginning Homeschooling: Most Asked Questions – Randi St.Denis enthusiastically helps parents learn how to get started, review the homeschool laws, where to find educational materials, other activities including sports leagues for homeschool children, how to occasionally locate someone else to teach subjects such as chemistry and the value of homeschool support groups. Learn to take the guesswork out of choosing curriculum by assessing each curriculum, determining whether or not you need a curriculum, and what will meet the specific needs of your child and family.

10:00 AM – Relax—Your First Year of Homeschooling is Your Training Ground – Rebecca Powell. Rebecca invites you to “breathe easy” as she shares from her experiences in homeschooling three children. As you begin to understand the homeschooling lifestyle of learning, you’ll realize it really is all about educating your child in the way that he learns best, building new routines and schedules that fit around your school day, and reminding yourself on a regular basis that what you are doing is the best thing for your family. Rebecca offers helpful tips for taking the stress out of homeschooling by establishing relationships with other homeschooling families, maintaining order in your school-day schedule, and remembering to take care of yourself.

11:45 AM – Lunch (on your own).

1:00 PM - Choosing Curriculum Like a Pro - Randi St.Denis. Entering a curriculum hall can be like being run over by a steamroller. Confusion, frustration, and a feeling of being overwhelmed by a myriad of choices sets in. Randi, a homeschooling mom of 25 years, shares her ideas that allow parents to take the guesswork out of choosing curriculum by assessing each curriculum and determining whether that particular curriculum meets the specific needs of their child and their family.

1:00 PM – Beginning Right: Developing a lifestyle that promotes homeschooling togetherness and a family team for success and load-sharing – Rebecca Powell. Mom, you cannot do it all! Once you take on the responsibility of homeschooling, you realize that it is so much more than only academic subjects like Math and Science. It’s also about raising children to be responsible, honest, hardworking, and helpful. It’s about working together with many personalities, strengths, and weaknesses, and finding a balance that promotes a peaceful environment for work, study, and play. While it’s a lovely thought – having children who get along and happily help out at home, it actually takes some effort on the parent’s part to get this to happen. Learn how to move from chaos to peace by promoting understanding, interdependence, and a team mentality.

2:45 PM – Computers Enhance Effectiveness and Enjoyment of Homeschooling – Randi St.Denis. Homeschooling isn’t just with pencil and paper anymore. Now, there is a remarkable array of computer based curriculum materials and other homeschool helps. Randi helps participants understand what to look for and how to avoid getting ripped off when purchasing software programs. She arms participants with specific information and tips to help make wise choices and avoid costly mistakes when choosing materials for their homeschool. Discussion includes a variety of homeschool software programs, computer based curriculums, record keeping, and other programs to help all students.

2:45 PM – Gems for Beginners – Rebecca Powell. What inside tips would a homeschooling mom/teacher of 15 years share with moms who are on the journey to homeschool? Hear a wealth of practical tips, information, inspiration, and advice for what moms and dads should do (and not do!) when they begin homeschooling. Be enlightened and encouraged and entertained… all at the same time.

4:00 PM – Homeschooling for Excellence 101 Conference adjourns.