2019 Conference Schedule

Date Night with Dad, an informal time of fellowship, board games, and even an optional movie will be available for dads and kids while moms are at An Evening of Real Refreshment.  Bring your favorite snacks and board games to share, and meet other homeschool dads and their kids in the Radisson Hotel’s second floor Michigan Room! (Dads will be responsible for their own children during this time of casual fellowship.)

Exhibitor Workshop – Institute for Excellence in Writing

Institute for Cultural Communicators What if the quietest, most ordinary student at your homeschool table is actually called to highest levels of leadership? How will you provide him or her practice and experience leading and influencing other students – and adults? We know from the story of David – the child you least suspect may be called to be a mighty leader. Discover ordinary steps toward extraordinary leadership, and learn seamless and easy coaching tips for busy homeschool moms – and dads.

Exhibitor Workshop – Master Books

Exhibitor Workshop – Free College at your fingertips – College Prep Genius – Jean Burk

Exhibitor Workshop – More than Leadership – James Muffett & Aimee Chauvin SSI LEAD

Exhibitor Workshop – Not Your Grandma’s Bible Quizzing Les Johnson – Teen Bible Challenge

• Want your teen to take more initiative around the house?
• Want to reduce the “Drama” level in the family?
• Want to get your pre-teens, teens, and young adults excited about character healthy living?
Join “America’s Parenting Doctor,” Dr. Steve Scheibner as he reveals seven practical steps to raising the behavior bar in your home. A Character Matters session will begin the process of moving your young people from ordinary to extraordinary.

Although it’s so easy to get caught up in our role as “MOM,” the greatest gift we can give our families is to show them how much we love fulfilling our primary role as “WIFE.” The Wise Wife session is jam-packed with practical ways to focus on becoming a wife who brings glory to God, delights the heart of her husband, and models a Christian marriage for her  children. Being a godly wife is serious business, but you’ll get plenty of time to laugh as Megan shares some “What the Heck!” differences between men and women. Come be challenged and refreshed in your most important role!

The education of our children at home looks a lot like our lives, fluid and ever changing.   Being gracious with ourselves and our children through  inevitable expected and unexpected circumstances determines the health and happiness of our homeschool and our families.  There is no failure, only living with grace.

We live in an increasingly high tech world, yet we need high touch experiences to live and grow as humans. The pull of technology is unavoidable and frightening. The best tools for education and evangelism hold great potential – both for learning and for losing reality. It is possible to bring these worlds together; and dangerous when we don’t. Our children’s future depends in large part on their capacity for integrating these worlds well.

This workshop addresses some of the challenges associated with teaching struggling or atypical learners at home in the high school years. Do you have questions such as “How do I award my child with special needs a diploma?” or “What do I do since my child with dyslexia can’t read typical high school level material?” Faith discusses alternative coursework, specialized curricula and learning materials, assistive technology, transcript options, possible graduation guidelines, high school programs for special learners, and post–high school options. She also offers tips for navigating the process of applying for testing accommodations for College Board tests.

Are you ready to help your child become a REAL WRITER – one that identifies themself as a writer, enjoys writing, and is able to build a writing stamina that keeps them going?! The Literacy Ladies will help you go beyond teaching the mechanics of grammar and punctuation and help you get your kids to craft beautiful writing. They’ll talk about what it looks like to be comfortable putting an effective writing workshop into place – where your children can both grow and develop skills of a successful writer of multiple genres and fall in love with becoming real writers at the same time. Katie and Krista talk about setting it up – developing a writing workshop environment with a variety of supplies and inspiring mentor texts. They’ll talk through effective teaching methods that can be individualized for every writer – teaching writing strategy mini lessons with mentor texts, providing time for highly engaged choice writing, conferencing with your writers, and designing guided and modeled writing lessons to meet them where they are. They’ll also be sharing exciting and engaging writing resources with all attendees for FREE – with every attendee getting a FULL YEAR of writing prompts (at whichever grade level you choose)!

There is only ONE secret ingredient to giving credibility to a homeschool transcript. If you don’t know it, author Jean Burk will share the answer in this incredible lecture. Discover the insider criteria that Harvard uses to judge applicants and why summer break needs to be more than just a vacation. Learn the differences between AP, Dual Enrollment, and CLEP courses and the pros and cons of adding them to your schedule. Find out about the 3-Tier credit plan, so you can correctly build a portfolio that will impress any admissions counselor. If your kids are planning to go to college, you cannot afford to miss this engagement.

There is no one who can build up my family like me. As we live and learn together lets be intentional our relationships in the family. Understanding each other and working on speaking and listening leads to healthier interactions among all members of the family.

What is a classical education? Studying Latin? Learning logic? Reading The Iliad? Although Andrew Pudewa does not claim to be the expert extraordinaire on the subject, he has been exploring this idea of classical education for the past twenty years and has witnessed the frenzy, the skeptics, and various views of what actually defines a classical education. In this talk, Andrew shares his personal journey, some observations, and his conclusions that have enriched his own teaching at home and in many communities across North America.

Every family struggles with sin, hurt, and brokenness. The Christian family is in daily need of the grace and mercy of God. In this breakout, Dr. Rob Rienow will equip you with Scriptural approaches to help your family grow in forgiveness, deal with conflict, and heal from past hurts.

The best way to find out if something works is to try it. Yet, year after year many homeschoolers spend money on materials they know very little about. This workshop will present a method to help you locate and select the materials that will best fit you and your children’s needs.

Join us for this hands-on workshop that will show you what matters and what doesn’t when it comes to evaluating your students’ writing.  Using actual student samples, we’ll review how to spot some of the most common (and most “deadly”) writing errors, how to correct them, and how to teach your children to recognize them also.  Workshop includes a grammar reference folder, grading rubrics, and other handouts to take home.

TLC & Teen Program

Would you like to build a stronger relationship with your teenager, and encourage them in their faith? In this breakout, Dr. Rob Rienow will share common causes for spiritual struggles in teens, as well as proactive biblical principles that parents can use to encourage their sons and daughters to grow in their faith and love for God.

Are you teaching ABEKA at the kitchen table waiting for your freshly baked bread to cool, or are you screaming through McDonalds on your way to soccer practice yelling out spelling words on the way? Regardless of how you’re “doing” homeschooling, do you want to ENJOY this season of life, raise enthusiastic learners and bring your family closer than ever before? Do you want to AVOID burnout, battle fatigue, and the infamous “Yellow (school bus) Fever”? – If so, then come hear Mary Grace Braatz speak about the benefits of focusing on the “WHYs” of homeschooling, (as well as the pitfalls of focusing on the “HOWs”). Learn how to stay refreshed, renewed, and excited about all of the life-changing rewards that homeschooling brings to you AND your family!

Children like to do what they can do, they want to do what they think they can do, and they hate to do what they think they cannot do. If you want excited and enthusiastic children who learn well, you must understand these key laws of motivation, and focus on the essential requirement of relevancy. If it matters, children will learn it, and if it doesn’t, they won’t. This session will enlighten you with specific ways to find and create relevancy for children, even when they have no apparent interest.

Math is so much more than memorizing rules and facts. With a unique and humorous approach, Steve demonstrates how to use hands-on manipulatives to illustrate important math concepts such as place value, double digit multiplication, fractions, algebra, exponents, squares, square roots, and factoring trinomials.

In this workshop, Faith defines what dyslexia is (and what it is not), discusses the different types of dyslexia as well as levels of struggle (mild, moderate, severe), and then offers hope by sharing the types of necessary teaching methods, research-based interventions, and programs that you can implement in your homeschool. Faith offers hope and encouragement in addition to tricks and strategies to add to your teaching toolkit!

In this session, you will gain ideas for homeschooling children who have a history of trauma. Karen Strachan has homeschooled throughout the past 20 years. She and her husband have fostered 40 children and adopted 11 – all who have experienced trauma. She will share with you her experiences in educating her children and strategies for their academic growth.

College entrance tests are here to stay but students now have a new option that doesn’t include the dreaded SAT or ACT. The Classic Learning Test (CLT) is quickly being adopted for entrance and scholarships by colleges across the nation. Families will love this test because they will find that the test’s content isn’t at odds with their core beliefs; the exam’s approach represents traditional values that families adhere to by reconnecting intellectual pursuit and virtue. Learn insider information since the CLT partnered with College Prep Genius as the ONLY test prep company they recommend!

Keeping up with the clutter, mess, and chaos in the homeschooling years is a lot like running a three-ring circus! Given by a mother of 9, this session is for families of any size. Delve into ideas, routines, and strategies to keep the stuff AND the people in some semblance of order. Also included are concepts for developing a happy homeschool day.

Our children are growing up in a world that doesn’t understand what it means to be human. Our culture screams that gender doesn’t matter, humans are merely evolved animals, and we can be whomever we want to be. How can we prepare our children to live out a biblical understanding of what it means to be human? In this session, participants will engage in a variety of practical activities they can use to begin instructing their children in a biblical view man. Handout

Are the “Terrible Twos” eating your lunch? Need help managing your homeschool day with toddlers in the house? In this workshop, Megan draws on her many years of homeschooling experience with 8 toddlers in tow to help you craft a plan for success. Find out how to use “self-control practice” to help your toddler become an integral part of the family team. Intensely practical, this session will help you transform the terrible twos into the terrific twos!

How can you help your kids learn facts quickly and without struggle? What do you do when your student needs a “brain break”, but you don’t want to completely derail your school day? How do you get your kids eager to wake up and see what exciting thing you are doing for school today? Teaching with Games will show you how to have fun and learn at the same time. This workshop is geared towards kindergarten-5th graders, but many games can be adapted to students of all ages. Attendees will be taking home several games, so they can start having fun right away.

God created your family for a reason! He created your family to make a difference in the world for Christ. Through this message, Dr. Rienow will walk through the Bible to show how God can use the generations of your family to advance the Gospel and the build the Kingdom of God.

Join Mike Winter and a few of his four daughters for a conversation around raising godly women, protecting them from a predatory culture and preparing them to thrive and survive as students, workers and hopefully mothers in our world.

In the last few decades, childhood has largely moved inside. With so many great opportunities that vie for our child’s time, it’s easy to consider time outside as a frivolous use of time. In this session, you will learn how “just” playing outside offers a myriad of developmental benefits to your child, benefits that will extend through adulthood. It’s worth your time to play outside!

Over the years, God has brought wonderful people along side of us at just the right time. We need this ongoing support from this community of faithful people. From supportive family to therapists to Special Olympics to Joni and Friends Retreats, we are so thankful for the faithful friends who have walked with us on our journey.

In this session, Faith discusses the ultimate goal of reading instruction: comprehension. She also explores various types of thinking and processing skills required for proficient comprehension. Faith shares tips, techniques, and strategies for developing the vocabulary of very young, as well as good habits of mind in order to lay a solid foundation for comprehension with our wee ones (up to age 5).

TBD

How do you know they know what they know? You ALWAYS need to know exactly what your student knows. Discover simple resources to guide your students from where they ARE in any subject, to where you want them to BE. Practical tools tested in thousands of homeschooling families over 35 years help you diagnose, project, guide and evaluate every aspect of your student’s education from Bible to biology as they grow in competence and character.

Beginning their homeschool journey with their daughter’s 7th-grade year, Tara understands the unique challenges that come from transferring a student out the public school system. The older the child, the more it feels like jumping into the deep end of the pool. We’ll share some common mistakes, the challenges of the middle years, and tips and tricks for getting a strong start.

Giving our children a Biblical lens for the world around them isn’t just a high and lofty goal – it needs to be presented and taught in the most comprehensive way throughout each subject. This session also explores why character must come before academics, and outlines steps to help children tune in and listen.

Scripture teaches that Jesus is the truth for all people, in all cultures, and at all times. Yet, our culture continually bombards our children with its philosophy that truth changes from person-to-person. How can we make a compelling argument for the existence of absolute truth and train our children to discern truth from falsehood? In this session, participants will explore answers to these questions and engage in strategies for implementing truth-education in their homes. Handout

If we homeschool simply to achieve high academic marks, we are squandering the opportunity to influence our children for Christ. Character healthy leaders are those children who have learned to elevate virtues above feelings. If we spend our homeschooling hours simply on academics and activities, we may win the praise of man, but we risk losing the hearts of our children. In our few short years with our children we must focus on the first things first and character is always the first thing! In this conference, Megan, a homeschooling mother of eight, will challenge your homeschoolers to use every opportunity to teach their children to serve God by loving others and to love others by faithfully serving God.

Do you enjoy making magical moments with your children? Are you “craft challenged”? Then run, don’t walk to Learning with Lapbooks. Reinforce and teach any subject with lapbooks. Lapbooks link many innovative learning methods to help your lessons come alive at any grade level. All ages enjoy designing these treasured tools. Lapbooks offer a fabulous record of the timeless learning shared between you and your child. Join Shelly and see just how lapbooks can enhance your homeschool, bring meaning to difficult concepts, and capture the attention of your kinesthetic learner. At the workshop, you will understand how to tailor lapbooking to your specific need from PEMDAS to grammar to science to religion to geography and everything in between. Workshop participants will assemble a lapbook and take home additional supplies and handouts to begin making magic right away.