Dear Conference Organizers,

How does your child naturally absorb information, and what does their brain do with it afterward? No, it’s not really a black hole in there... Why is Kyle so jumpy and fidgety? Why does Mary always doodle in the margins? Why can’t Carol stop commenting when I’m reading aloud? How can I turn those tendencies around to actually speed up their learning? Why do some of my children focus on details, but miss the big picture, and others can’t find details with GPS and a guide dog? I study best at a neat desk in a quiet room, but my spouse thinks the greatest thoughts in the midst of absolute chaos– how can we be so different, and what do my children need? Getting a handle on all of these aspects makes it so much easier to understand how your student interacts with their homeschooling, as well as why you are reacting the way you do to your student! Come for a fun, lively, fact-filled session that will forever impact the way you teach!

A note to the organizer: This class really digs into the various categories of learning styles with many details and examples. It’s a “meat and potatoes” class with plenty of humor - since most folks, regardless of learning styles, learn best when laughing!

You have a perfectly good curriculum– it worked well for your first child, but this second one just isn’t getting it! Reading your history books aloud works for four of your five students, but the fifth one is doing worse every day. Math takes two hours when it should take twenty minutes, and both you and your student are fed up with it. How do you cope when the curriculum just doesn’t make sense to your child? It’s not as hard as it seems. We always start by trying to fit our students “through the front door” of the curriculum. Come let me show you how to use “the back door,” “the window,” “the crawl space-” or for that matter, “the front yard!!”

“My brother is just weird – I don’t get him.” “She’s doing that just to drive me nuts!” “Why doesn’t he understand what I’m trying to say?” Sound familiar? How can you raise up a child in the way he should go if you don’t understand how he has been designed by God? Knowing how he takes in information helps you know how to present it. Understanding the way she organizes new material and relates it to the world helps you see why her approach to a situation is so different from yours. Once you get a handle on the learning styles of yourself and your family, you can begin helping them to understand and value each other. Get ready to celebrate, rather than tolerate, the differences in your home!
A note to the organizer: In this class, we cover just enough information on learning styles to provide a framework. As the framework is established, we focus (with much humor) on knowing how to help the different learning styles relate to and understand each other!

Parenting isn't boring - it can threaten one's sanity, especially if the Lord has gifted you with a strong-willed child. Are you struggling through those early years of training, with the 45 minute several-times-each-day battles? Have you been praying to the Lord, begging for a little insight - or at least a good idea? Come and be encouraged. Your strong-willed child has been specifically designed to change the world. Your task is to help them learn how to use their stubbornness for good - and not evil! The path is not easy, and no one can lessen the task ahead of you, but the rewards are incredible.
A note to the organizer: This class was co-written by my strong-willed daughter and myself, blending insights from both perspectives. This class evokes quite a response!!

My son is the type of student who hates not knowing what he is doing, and at the age of eight, was still really struggling to get a handle on reading. Those pesky b’s and d’s kept switching around on him, and there were too many letter sounds to keep straight. Frustration at the unknown would assail him within the first few minutes of each lesson, and he would shut down. None of the reading programs I looked at were fitting the bill (or my budget), so I began writing my own system! The more I worked through the process of reading, the more I discovered that our language really isn’t that complicated – 95% of it is actually quite logical and predictable (I was a remedial reading specialist before I had my own children, but I never knew any of this)! Rather you are teaching beginning readers, or trying to remediate a reluctant reader, the concepts I’ve discovered can really help. Come have your own “aha” moments– and see how logical our language really is! I have discovered wonderful things I can’t wait to share with you!

It’s hard enough being a wife and mother – can I really do justice to being a teacher as well? Where do you find the time and energy? How do you deal with those moments of knowing that you really aren’t good enough? Susan has lived life on both sides of the educational fence – spending 11 years as a public school teacher before becoming a mother/homeschooler/speaker/author/professional seamstress/secretary/homemaker. (And she thought life was busy back then – what delightful ignorance.) Come peak over the “fence” and see how homeschooling truly compares to public school. In Susan’s humorous and realistic style, you’ll find peace and encouragement (you don’t even want to know how many times motherhood interrupted the writing of this description). Be assured - your worst day of homeschooling is still better for your children than public school’s best days!

Have you begun to wonder if you can really do this? If perhaps you are doing more damage than good? Or perhaps you are considering rather or not to begin homeschooling but it seems overwhelming? Come and hear encouraging, practical thoughts from a (gasp) former public school teacher who now homeschools her own brood of four. God does not make junk, nor did He give you the wrong child! If He has put it on your heart to homeschool, He will provide a joyful way. We’ll cover surprising facts about your ability to homeschool vs. what professional teachers can do, where and how to start in each of the major curriculum areas and where to find the resources you need to make your own homeschool perfect for your family.

Whether you are looking for meaningful projects to engage your beginning seamstress or money-saving ways to use your dusty sewing machine, this workshop will get you started. My no-patterns-needed common sense approach to sewing is all about providing what your family needs– while engaging your beginning seamstress in practical, skill-building projects! We’ll cover the basics of using a sewing machine, discuss types/sources of fabric and thread, and then dive into a bevy of practical, economical, fun projects that teach the basic skills needed for sewing. Specific projects will include table napkins, washcloths, aprons, curtains, patching pants, hemming shorts, repairing jeans, and much more! Get ready to make that sewing machine earn its space! (No equipment necessary for this class.)

A note to the organizer: While not being strictly “academic”, this workshop packs in the participants! There are so many moms who have no mentor/experience in this area, and have just been floundering around – wishing for some direction! There are so many “oohs” and “ahhs” – not to mention “could you pass that around?” – that I truly love to teach this one!

The Psalmist says, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” Think about that – arrows are not decorations, they are valuable, useful tools. The Lord has blessed you with children to raise and teach – so teach them how to be useful members of the family! Starting at a very early age, children desire to be helpful, valued members of the family. This seminar will give you practical ideas for how to organize and delegate your household chores to those willing toddlers and more capable older children – starting on Monday. Become the manager of your household, rather than the servant – and avoid the daily battles with burnout and crabbiness that come from trying to do it all yourself.

I am always looking for ways to save my family’s budget, and I wondered – could extreme couponing really work? The answer is a conditional “yes”. You can save hundreds of dollars per year on products you actually need and use, but it has to be done with wisdom and perspective– which I am here to share! I’ll divulge all the secrets, tips and tricks I’ve learned for buying with coupons, as well as the hidden pitfalls, traps and snares that stores lay out for the unsuspecting. More than that, though, there are wonderful ways not to even need coupons… I never have to buy bread, toilet paper, laundry detergent, disposable diapers, cleaning solutions, air fresheners, or toothpaste– I’ll show you how to do the same! This is my ultimate How-To-Pinch-Pennies class! Even Steve and Annette Economides, known as “America’s Cheapest Family”, have told me that I do more to save money on groceries than they ever have!

All good homeschool moms make their own bread from their own freshly ground flour – right? Well, not if it takes all day! I’ve been making bread for 30 years– most of that the hard way and with store-bought flour. Not so anymore! I’ve learned how, in under one hour, to grind my flour and have nine loaves of bread, two pizzas, and two pans of monkey bread ready for the oven– and my family loves the flavor! (After tasting a store-bought cookie, my 8-year old whispered to me that “They must have forgotten to read the cookie manuel.” My eldest son tells me that nothing is better than Mama’s fresh bread with homemade peanut butter. Come and find out how to simplify your bread-making efforts, what bread from freshly ground wheat tastes like (yes – we have taste-tests), how filling up your family with nutritious home-ground flour will reduce your grocery budget (we save $40 per week), how to use fresh wheat in your own pancakes, muffin, cookie, and cake mixes, and how to store wheat cheaply in rodent and weather-proof containers. Did you know that freshly ground wheat provides so much nutrition that your family will only need 1/2 of their normal amount of bread to be filled and satisfied? This is particularly useful if you have boys!!

“What’s for dinner?” Of all of our chores, preparing meals is the least forgiving. It can’t be put off or done at a “more convenient” time – or can it? This workshop will give you the tools to bring the beast of meal preparation under control – on your schedule. Topics will include an in-depth look at once-a-month cooking, bulk cooking techniques, co-op cooking, cooking by sales, food preservation (dehydrating, vacuum sealing, & long-term food storage), and meal planning. I believe in specifics, so you will walk away with my favorite freezer recipes, a knowledge of how to adapt your favorite recipes for freezing, and a list of great books/software/resources to get you going on Monday! Once you’ve experienced the savings in time, energy, money and peace of mind, you’ll be hooked!