I went to the SETHSA Home school conference this past Thursday and Friday. Conferences are a time for information OVERLOAD, they are a time for encouragement and sharpening and they are a time for buying lots of cool stuff! Well this year I got it all, I got information overload, I got encouragement and lots of sharpening and I didnt actually buy anything but I found lots of cool stuff to buy!
I heard speakers I had heard before... who I love and respect but I also had the chance to sit in on some new speakers. My favorite OR possibly lease favorite was David Hazell. He is the found of My Fathers World and has very successfully home schooled 6 children. I went to his workshop titled, What every Christian needs to teach their children in the 21st Century. I sat down in the chair, settled in for his talk and he began speaking... HE TOOK MY IDEOLOGY AND TORE IT TO SHREDS. I just sat there stunned. I didnt really understand what I was hearing for a while but he made some VERY valid points. Dont get me wrong, I didnt agree with him 100% but he made some really, really valid points! I bought the CD of the workshop because I felt like I needed to hear it again and I wanted Dave to hear it of course. I also went to another workshop he gave which was titled, Blending unit studies, classical education and Charlotte Mason all into one. Another very good workshop but still I felt raw when leaving!
So the other workshops I went to I heard a lot of the same line of reasoning- not because I think every workshop holder has the same idea but because God was trying to get a message to me! I really felt convicted and God brought that same line of reasoning to me again and again! It even happened twice when just talking to vendors out in the expo. So like I said at the end of the two days I felt raw, I felt slightly more defeated than when I got there but in a very different way! Does that make sense?
Okay onto the olive oil... yet there is a reason for the title! I also went to a workshop give by Hank Tate (a very important person in home schooling around these parts! He and his wife were instrumental in the beginning days of home schooling and they started Sethsa (South East TExas HOme Schooling Association). Anyway, the workshop was for support group leaders. Becky and I went hoping to gain some valuable information to take back to our support group. I learned a lot! I am feeling good but I am also feeling like we might not have a support group for long. ---Brenda or Jennifer I know you are reading this prior to hearing like the rest of the group, but understand I am blogging my personal thoughts :)
What I mean by that is I dont really know if the majority of our groups wants a support group... I think they just want a play group. I have wonderful, great and big ideas for a support group but I dont wanna run a play group. I dont want to take the time away from my family, home making, home schooling etc for a play group.
I want to HELP home schoolers. I want to support the moms, I want the moms to support each other. I want to actually be a support group- I just need to finish defining what I think that is and see if anyone in the group agrees! Or at least design the type of support group that most people agree on! So between now and June 29, which is when we have a moms planning meeting for the group I am hoping to really pray and get ready for the meeting. There has already been a lot of change in the group and I dont think people are ready for more change but as the group grows, we have to change and grow with it! It really cant be helped... so sorry back to the olive oil. Hank Tate said during one really trying time in his life with some groups he lead the Lord showed him about olive oil. Olive oil has medicinal properties, it is the best product, the best part of the olive! what do you have to do to GET olive oil. You have to press and squeeze it out of the olive. The olive is crushed in order to make the oil but the final product is pure and good! So we too are put through the crushing. Now I know Hank Tate didnt come up with this I know that the Bible talks about this concept but when Hank put it in the context of leading the support group, my eyes were opened! Just as God is pressing and squeezing me HE is doing the same thing to the support group! It was a very enlightening time for me!
So all in all the convention was good and good came from it. I am still mulling over some things I am being convicted about, I will get back to you later about them!
3 comments:
I am interested to hear what those workshops had to say that tore your idealology to shreds?!
I think it would be really nice if the group had more support to it. Especially for beginning homeschoolers. I have a friend who is driving all the way to the woodlands to get "smoothing the way" support. I think that is sad, we should have something closer.
That being said, I also enjoy the field trips, but we aren't really as interested in the gym days so much. I suppose we are more interested in the homeschool support angle.
Maybe there is a way to find a balance.....?
I live in the Friendswood area (southeast of Houston) and have yet to find a support group. We've just made it through our first year of homeschooling, which we did virtually isolated. I had a friend who also homeschooled, but her husband's job transferred them at the begining of last year. I am also interested to hear what SETHSA was like. I planned to go, but a fussy baby kept me from it. We have a church family that we really connect with, but have yet to connect with other homeschoolers. Maybe I just don't know where to look! The few homeschooling families that we have met seem to want to just keep to themselves. I have learned to trust the Lord more this year-so that is definitely a plus!
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