In this session, Rebecca helps parents develop two effective communication skills: asking and listening. As parents, we must be diligent in formulating questions that will lead our kids toward answers that reflect Christian thinking. At the same time, we must actively pursue listening skills that keep us focused on what our children are truly revealing with their words. Close relationships are built on a foundation of candid conversations. Learn how to keep your kids talking, sharing, and thinking as they grow from toddler to teen.
Tried it and failed? Never tried because you knew it would be too big of a battle? No time for them even if you wanted to? Do any of these questions describe your experience with family Bible time? Join Steve, father of eight, as he shares about the Maxwell family’s favorite time of their day. Steve will give practical advice for achieving success in family Bible time that he guarantees will work.
Homeschooled young men have incredible potential for success in their lives – both spiritually and vocationally. There are tragic pitfalls that might appear innocuous on the surface to be avoided. In addition there are basic elements crucial for success in the spiritual world and in the business world. The goal of this session is to explore how the different aspects of a young man’s life will affect his future. Young men of any age who can sit quietly are welcome to attend.
This is a workshop that addresses the issues and developmental stages necessary to comprehend both spoken and written language. It will address strategies to assist children in building expressive and receptive language skills as well as writing skills. Parents will be given real strategies to improve their child's use of language.
This talk will look at why cultivaing a love for good music is not just an optional add-on to a child's education. We will lok at the benefits of classical music in particular, and talk about practical ways to cultivate a love for this great msuic. Begin by attending this interactive workshop.
This session is for any mom who feels stressed and fatigued from the many demands of life - especially parenting! What causes Mommy Burnout and what can you do to prevent it? Fortunately, Mommy Burnout is as easy to treat as it is to diagnose. The remedy rests on the choices you make.
Cooking, cleaning, family life, social life, church, finances, and homeschooling: all these words describe the average homeschooling mom. Such a combination can appear to be too much to handle, and may make new homeschooling parents hesitant to even begin. But it doesn’t have to be too much! Whether your child is entering pre-school or high school, you, as parents, have an incredible opportunity to train your children in God’s “real world.” As Christians, our “real world” should be defined by our Biblical worldview, as well as a balance of real life responsibilities and “real world” Christianity. God has a plan to help you combine it all!
In this workshop we will equip parents on how to instruct and mentor their teens to wage the battle against the explicit content that bombards us in today's world. This workshop is excellent for parents whose teens are entering adolescence. God's call on this generation of youth is to raise a banner of purity to counter the explosive rise of inappropriate sexual content in our culture today. In this workshop we will equip parents to wage the battle against sexual promiscuity that we face everyday. Topics discussed will include courtship versus dating, media discernment and enhancing communication with your teen.
Together we will go through the “training” and “forcing” of certain stylistic techniques, such as sentence openers, dress-ups & decorations, into our writing when we are young to EXPOSE and TRAIN students how to be fluent in these elements. This “training” helps the students, so when they become independent writers, they are able to find their voice deciding what techniques work well for them!
What do you do when your learning style is vastly different from the learning styles of your children? By implementing a few simple strategies, parents who have different learning styles than their children can teach them effectively and inspire a love for learning.
This powerful session shares the joys and outcomes of our vital priority – keeping our children’s hearts. Rebellion and immorality are common among teens even within the Christian community. What can parents do to direct their children toward godliness rather than worldliness? Tried and true lessons from parents whose children have not rebelled – this topic represents perhaps the greatest challenge every Christian parent faces.
Cloistered within our churches and homes, we have denied our children the adventure of missional living because we’ve kept them safe. Safety, however, is no substitute for strength. Dynamic, on the edge, radical Christian living would be so appealing to our kids, but they have to first see it in us. As mothers, we have a unique opportunity to show our kids the authenticity of the Christian life and the reality of a walk with Christ on a daily basis. Can everything we do come to rest on a point of focus that consistently calls us to connect others to Him? Don’t miss the mission!
Where are you headed? What will the outcome be
for your children? Do you have a family vision?
Most Christian families today lack vision causing
them to be adrift in a tumultuous sea of decisions
regarding raising their children. Without vision,
families are often shipwrecked. Join the Maxwells
for this practical session as they discuss the value
of a family vision, how to develop that vision, and
how to use it to direct the family.
Our children are precious gifts from the Lord but sometimes they can interfere with our human plans. Many homeschooling parents are in distress because they find their little ones seeking attention at all the wrong times. As the father of six children, David Hazell, along with his wife, Marie, have found creative ways to prepare these young “sponges” for school while keeping them creatively occupied at times when the parent needs to concentrate on other tasks. The workshop is full of practical suggestions for educational toys and common household items that can be used to educate and occupy young ones. Homeschooling with young ones can be easier than you think!
Homeschooling isn’t just about doing school at home—it’s about making time for things that matter. Rather than just piling academic lessons onto your already overloaded life, you can create a home-centered life that nourishes the spirit and makes learning a part of everyday living. Come and learn the seven principles that will help you maintain focus and create a healthy, happy, and balanced learning lifestyle.
How did our Founding Fathers graduate from college at 15, 16 and 17 years old? This practical session focuses on how students can maximize their study by incorporating a souped-up version of the dual credit method into their homeschool schedule using the curriculum they already own. Topics covered include: the foundations of effective learning, helping your children better understand their purpose and the college major that best matches, and earning college credit while still in high school. A shortcut to life or graduate studies, save thousands of dollars and years of time and launch your student years ahead of the pack. Learn how you can earn a college degree before your high school graduation! It’s true.
It is not easy to be a dad in today’s environment with so many competing time demands. However, there are tools and techniques available that can help a father to balance those demands and to provide a vision for his family.
This workshop is geared toward fathers to assist them in leading their families well. We will explore how to: create a vision that motivates the entire family to action and cohesiveness; see each family member as an individual with specific hopes and dreams; exhibit behaviors that draw a family closer; eliminate behaviors that split a family; become a servant leader.
What is the most important subject in your homeschool? It ought to be Bible study. Children learn God’s Word sitting at their parents’ feet, but teens learn God’s Word by sitting at the Master’s feet. By the time your children are teens, they ought to be spending part of each day on their own with the Lord. But don’t stop at studying! Learn how to encourage your children to make God’s truths real and applicable to their everyday lives.
Are we concerned only for the academic well-
being of our children? The Bible tells us to
remember the children not yet born. Do you
realize it is possible to even teach a pre-schooler
in a way that will help pass on a Biblical legacy to
future generations? Imagine your grandchildren
being raised outside of the church. The time to
start impacting your future generations is NOW!
Give your children the tools to carry their faith to
their children and their children’s children. Be
inspired to focus on establishing a family legacy
that will affect generations to come for the
Kingdom of God.
What homeschooling mom has time to teach plus do all the housework in the home? Most families would agree that it is important to have their children pitching in to help by doing chores. However, striving for the achievement of that goal is another matter. In this session, Teri discusses a biblical basis for chores, the multitude of benefits chores bring, the inherent pitfalls of chore implementation, and how to make chores as stress-free as possible. In addition, you will be introduced to a new concept in a chore system. From preschoolers to teens, each person can be a contributing member of the family while gaining life-long personal benefits that prepare him for life.
How do you prepare to homeschool a child who has difficulty learning and paying attention? Should this child be tested? Learn about resources to help you and mistakes to avoid. Whether you are considering homeschooling a struggling learner or already homeschool and either suspect or know of learning problems, this workshop is for you.
“Is it possible for my child to transition to classical education even though he missed an earlier stage of the Trivium?” This is a common question that parents who are considering classical education often ask. This class will focus on key ways to provide a classical education to students who are pursuing this form of education later in their educational career. Parents will be provided with clear systematic steps that will assist them in making this transition. Various curriculum aids, online resources, and reading lists that aid in supplying the grammar of history in half the time will be provided. Success stories will also be shared to encourage parents and to remind them that a classical education will foster a life time of learning. Don’t miss this opportunity to transition today.
The middle school years are a time of great transition, for you and for your child. Sharing candidly about choices, friendships, and the American culture, Rebecca reveals the five dangers lurking on the 'tween scene. She advises moms and dads to combat these dangers by building the remaining years of parenting on a foundation of these forgotten virtues - reverence, modesty, charity, meekness, and fidelity of heart.
Homeschooling families are often concerned about whether their sons will be adequately prepared to earn sufficient income for a one-income family. Beginning with age three and working up, Steve shares specific ways a parent can start equipping a son with the character and skills needed to eventually be a successful single-income wage earner. Learn these principles from a dad whose two oldest sons purchased homes debt free. The session has been very helpful for parents of daughters as well.
Pastor Rich Powell, a veteran homeschooling dad of 14 years, moved his family from the comfortable ministry of a suburban church to the rough-edged mission field of the inner city. In doing so, he and his wife were forced to discern their true motivation for homeschooling and how it matched up with Christ’s call on the Christian family. Are you out to raise safe kids or strong ones? With the frankness of one who has "been there, done that," Rich challenges today's homeschooling parents to live what they believe.
A student who can sound out a word but can't remember the word in the next paragraph. A student who cannot spell simple words yet has been taught those words multiple times. A student who can spell words on a spelling test but misspells words as he writes. A student who can't sound out words fluently. These are all symptoms of weak cognitive skills, not IQ but cognitive skills. Learn the difference between IQ and cognitive skills and how both impact a child's ability to read. The workshop will describe all seven cognitive skills used for learning to read. Parents and educators will be provided with strategies to help the struggling reader with cognitive development and techniques to work around cognitive weaknesses.
All learning is founded on one key—the ability to take in information and then remember it. Unfortunately, most students are never taught how to effectively learn. Each school year, students spend countless hours studying, only to have the information seemingly disappear when they need it most. Whether a parent or a student, in this interactive session, you will learn how to use study tools such as speed reading and memory techniques to exponentially increase your study potential! Discover practical ways to implement memory tools such as the “peg” system and mindmaps in academics, work, or everyday life.
Universally, homeschooling moms face a daunting
task as they fit school into already busy days. In
this session, Teri shares practical, proven time-
management methods from her book Managers of
Their Homes: A Practical Guide to Daily
Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families.
How does one schedule school time? What about
schooling with babies and toddlers? Are you
struggling with keeping up in areas such as
laundry, dishes, or housekeeping? Move from
chaos, stress, and disorganization to peace,
contentment, and productivity.
In today’s society, our children are bombarded by peer pressure, self-centered ambitions, and harmful cultural expectations. It is very difficult to protect their precious minds as dangers lurk all around them. Even the best kids can be side- tracked from God’s purpose. Biblical directives guide us to raising kids with eyes on Him and His work. New homeschoolers have the opportunity to do this from the start! But even veteran homeschoolers can know it is never too late to adjust their course. Learn how we can insulate our children from evil and equip them to battle against it.
Most dads truly desire to lead their families in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. But how is that learned since many men have not had a good role model to follow? How are we to responsibly lead our families without being a dictator or being so soft as not to lead at all? In this session you will be given practical, biblical suggestions for how you can support and facilitate your wife in her role as a homeschooling mom. Often there is no better way to convey your love for your wife.
There is really nothing scary in the transcript preparation process! Come and learn about the three basic sections in a transcript, and how to collect and record nformation in a professional format. Whatever kind of homeschooling you’ve done, traditional or non-, you can create a transcript that accurately records your student’s achievements. Remember, it’s easier than you think!
Knowing exactly what NJ law requires can keep you out of court, keep social workers from taking your kids, and keep you from becoming a doormat for your local public school system. Social workers can make the bravest men tremble when they say, “Let me in your house or I’ll take your kids.” How you respond to that initial contact with the social worker could determine whether your privacy is protected, or whether your kids get hauled off to a foster home. Understanding your rights, and how to assert them, can make the difference. Home School Legal Defense Association Attorney Scott Woodruff will share his insights from helping NJ families with homeschool legal issues for 12 years. This workshop will educate you, arm you, and help you homeschool without fear.
Because Teri, a mother of eight, has walked the homeschooling path since 1985, she knows first- hand the struggle for a meek and quiet spirit. From her intense battle with depression, anger, and worry, Teri gives practical insights into becoming a gentle mom with a quiet heart that any woman can take and apply to her individual circumstances.
Today homeschooling parents have a great opportunity to raise their children in a way that truly can change the world for Christ. What are the keys to accomplishing that? Classical education is often defined by what was taught to children long ago. The better question is: what did classical tutors intend students to know once they were educated? What would these tutors teach our children today if they were in our homes, in our culture, with our language, and with 21st century knowledge? Learn the difference between the Greco-Roman model and Hebraic model of classical education and help determine the right kind of education for your family. How can we put our children on the path of a Biblical worldview right from the start?
Is your child tired of struggling with academics? How do you help your child keep going when schoolwork is so hard? For grades 4 through 12, Kathy Kuhl homeschooled her son, who has extensive learning and attention problems. She shares lessons learned, victories won, and principles to develop character and help your child press on.
During their teen years, homeschool students have incredible opportunities to start, run, and build successful businesses. You will not only be earning income but also learning invaluable life skills. In this practical workshop, given by a brother and sister team, Christopher (29) and Sarah Maxwell (27) share how you can start your own business. Both Christopher and Sarah have real-life experience with a variety of businesses. The workshop will cover issues such as: What type of business should you start or avoid? What are the legal and tax ramifications? What skills do you need and how do you acquire them? Plus much more. You’ll come away with specific ideas – and hopefully a big dose of motivation – to start your own business! Don’t waste your teen years – do something beneficial!
Want to know how scouting dovetails with your goals as a homeschooler? Eric Maynard, homeschool dad, established a faith-based Boy Scout troop where dads can carry out their mission of training up their sons in the ways of the Lord. Learn why scouting might be perfect for your boys and how you can start a faith-based troop of your own.