New to Homeschooling or Want to Learn How to Homeschool?

July 27, 2017 – 10 AM to 4 PM

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 KidsZone program while parents attend the Homeschooling For Excellence 101 Conference. Parents will learn how to homeschool! Topics included but not limited to:

• 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. Learn how to homeschool!

Speakers

Randi St. Denis Randi St. Denis, Director of Home Educators Encouragement Alliance, 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 teaches parents how to homeschool in Alabama!

Jennifer Henn Jennifer Henn surpassed her own childhood learning struggles and has homeschooled for 12 years. She has a unique perspective on how you can school while learning yourself and when you’re short on energy. At one point Jennifer’s health required her to stop homeschooling. During a three year period, her children were schooled by other moms, attended public and some private school. Jennifer desires to mentor the homeschool parent through her testimony of leaving behind perfectionism and embracing reality.

Guest Speaker (Late Sessions): Thomas Clark Thomas Clark is a life-long teacher of Mathematics and Science with more than 49 years of classroom and tutoring experience at all levels, from elementary through adult. He began his career with twelve years of classroom teaching, including a full year of graduate study, and then served for five years as the State Mathematics Supervisor for the Indiana Department of Education. While there, he was responsible for curriculum development, statewide in-service, textbook adoption, and consultation for all public and private schools in the state. Those opportunities and the valuable knowledge he gained, enabled him to join the Indianapolis Public Schools as the Supervisor of Mathematics, K-12, overseeing staff development efforts and supervising the implementation of curriculum. Seven years later, Mr. Clark was promoted to the position of Director of Curriculum Development for all areas, utilizing his rich background in mathematics, science, art, music, language, and athletics. In subsequent years, he was commissioned to author several Mathematics resources for the Houghton-Mifflin Publishing Co., and for the Addison Wesley Publishing Co.

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
    • 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.
  •   Growing Into Homeschooling – Jennifer Henn
    • Whether you are considering homeschooling with a five year old or bringing your older child home from public or private school, this class will go over homeschooling basics. Many people feel intimidated to take on the task of homeschooling. Jennifer will cover how to get started and what your expectations should be. She shares tips on organization, how much time to spend schooling and how to enjoy your kids. She’ll also go over: What does the law require? What do I need to teach? How do I know if I’m doing enough? This will be an informative workshop with an opportunity to have your questions answered.
• 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.
  • Socialization – Jennifer Henn
    • Seasons of life require different life skills. When schooling your child at home, you decide the who, what, where and when of their social life. In homeschooling, you’re able to utilize the opportunity for real-life examples. In public school children become peer dependent and mostly socialize with others their own age.  Kids that are home-schooled enjoy people of all ages and have more time to spend on their personal interest. In this class Jennifer compares public school socialization with homeschool socialization. She will also explain co-ops, hybrid schools, al a carte classes and cyber school.
• 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 curriculum, record keeping, and other programs to help all students.
  • You own your curriculum, it doesn’t own you – Jennifer Henn
    • You own your curriculum, it doesn’t own you- This class concentrates on making the best use of your curriculum and the world around you. Your curriculum should guide, teach and help you. However, don’t let it box you into doing things one way. Jennifer will teach you how to: Plan field trips, Incorporate projects into your lessons. Create a unit study where each child studies the same topic. These tools will grow your child’s executive function and use a variety of learning styles. It’s not as hard as you think!

• 4:00 PM – Primary HS101 Sessions Adjourn – Guest Speaker Tom Clark continues the day below – Join his sessions at your convenience
  
  • 4:00 PM – The Seven Laws of Teaching at Home – Thomas Clark
    • Are we, as parents, sufficiently equipped to teach our own children? Admittedly, we have had little, if any, “formal training”, or “certification”. How can we be confident that our children are going to be well-educated? This informative and entertaining session with Tom Clark, is based on, and adapted from, the respected work of John Milton Gregory, and will focus on effective strategies of instruction which are understandably simple, educationally sound, and ethically founded. Veteran homeschoolers, and newcomers alike, will discover some new ideas, reinforce existing practices, and be encouraged to continue the homeschooling commitment.
  • 5:00 PM – Homeschooling Math Without a Plan? You’ve Got to be Kidding! – Thomas Clark 
    • This workshop is designed to help parent-educators understand the scope, the sequence, and the logic of mathematics instruction from pre-school through adult. Join Tom Clark, founder of VideoText Interactive, and author of “Algebra: A Complete Course”, and “Geometry: A Complete Course”, as he takes you on a sometimes humorous journey, describing all levels of arithmetic and all mathematics courses encountered in high school and college. In addition, considerable attention will be given to identifying the “why” of the study of mathematics with an emphasis on the development of concepts, instead of rote memorization.