There were a couple of laugh out loud moments on Day 2 of the Expo 🙂 For instance, one of the lovely TOS MC’s, while introducing a speaker, had her 3 year old giggling in the background – so nice to know that other homeschooled children are normal too!
I’ve really been enjoying the chat box that is open throughout the Expo. Being able to chitchat with hundreds of other homeschoolers is just priceless. Everyone is encouraging and supporting each other, not to mention making each other laugh 🙂
And wow, the speakers we had on Tuesday! And I thought Monday’s speakers were inspirational! Some of the highlights for me…
- Susan Wise Bauer gave us her “A Plan for Teaching Writing” with a focus on the high school years. You can find the slides for this presentation (the entire K-12) on The Well-Trained Mind website. I love that she explained what a thesis statement was, and a non-thesis statement (which she called a “duh thesis” lol). She also had a good little tip: students should have a good thesaurus on hand when writing (a real paper thesaurus, such as Roget’s was recommended). I have heard Susan speak before, and I LOVE attending her presentations!
- Carol Barnier of Sizzle Bop fame, gave us a VERY entertaining talk on learning styles. I’ve heard Carol speak before and I can’t get enough of her! Carol says that sometimes when we know what our child’s best learning style is, we serve the child up the same thing every day to teach them which can rob us of the joy of teaching – learning becomes formulaic. Carol is a big proponent of making learning fun. Carol says, “Our job is to become the seeker & the keeper of the keys to open their minds & grasp the concepts” and she urges us to try different things, to teach in a variety of ways and see what works. I particularly LOVE Carol’s “ditties” and she actually sang and “rapped” some of them for us 🙂 You can listen to Carol’s ditties on the Sizzle Bop website. And guess what? She has a Ditty Bugs CD coming out VERY soon! If you want to be notified when it comes out, join the mailing list on the Sizzle Bop website or stay tuned on the Sizzle Bop Facebook page.
- Maggie & her son Tyler Hogan of Bright Ideas Press (creators of WonderMaps!) gave a chat on being an entrepreneur – whether you want to be one as a homeschool parent, or your tween/teen wants to get started. As an entrepreneur already myself, I got a real “boost” out of this session. You can download the notes for this session by clicking on Entrepreneurs at Home here. I am going to share with you here their 6 Reasons To Be An Entrepreneur:
- 1) Glorify God Using Your Specific Gifts/Talents
- 2) Learn Stewardship
- 3) Develop Character & Work Ethic
- 4) Learn Life Skills
- 5) Develop Talents & Interests
- 6) Make Money
I’m looking forward to today’s sessions for Day 3 and sharing with you what I have learned 🙂
Love, Luck &
Laughter,
