Christian Heritage Conference

We had heard a lot of great things about the Christian Heritage Homeschool conference in Redmond WA, so we decided to check it out this year.  Another deciding factor was that the keynote speakers were Voddie Baucham and Ted Tripp, a power packed duo.  We decided to go up early Thursday and try to visit the Pike Place Market.  The biggest challenge was navigating the streets of downtown Seattle and finding a parking spot for our van, which is too tall to fit in most of the garages.  Here we are at Pike Place having a snack of bratwurst.
One other note about the trip up.  We were barely into WA when we stopped at a rest area, and another large van pulled in next to us.  A bunch of kids hopped out as our kids were running circles trying to get some energy out.  As they were leaving they stopped and asked us if we were headed to Redmond, not sure what gave us away??  ;-)  Maybe it was the stereotypical white van, or the fact that we had a bunch of kids, or that they were running around a rest area on a Thursday during the school year at 10am.  We also met a family in our hotel that was from Canada, that has come down every year for 7 or 8 years, and it was closer to a 4-5 hour drive for them.

The conference is held at a large church in Redmond, and all the main sessions were in this large auditorium.  This is a picture from a session that I went to with the kids to hear about God's creation and all the unique attributes that God has given his creatures, attributes that could not have come about by evolution.

Our neighbors were also at the conference and apparently they found our van.  If you look closely right below the window you can see they are not Beaver fans.  The Beaver plates probably gave us away, because there were a ton of white vans similar to ours.

Here are the kids during a Friday afternoon session.

Gracie finally passed out, and slept through the whole session, which she needed badly.

Evan with his leg propped up on a stroller.  If you had not heard, the day before we left for the conference he tore his ligament at his ankle while wrestling with his brother.  So, it was tough for him to get around at the conference on crutches, and his foot was still really swollen.

Ethan and Evan with George Washington.  The kids were encouraged to ask him questions.

Mia with George.

The digital zoom on the Iphone is somewhat limited.  Friday night a family friend played a piano piece during the evening session.

Ethan talking to Paul Revere about his midnight ride.

The girls are still smiling, that is good.

The final session Saturday night had a choral piece that is all students.  They practice 3-4 times during the two days of the conference and then sang Saturday night, and they did a number of pieces.  Pretty impressive to throw that together in such a short period.

After the last session Saturday we headed to 5 Guys for dinner before we hit the road.  Everyone enjoyed their burgers and fries.

Part way home at rest area stop, Gracie climbed into Emma's seat, she is a little big for it now.  We had a good drive home, little traffic, clear night, but Emma cried for a good portion of it.  We pulled into our place around midnight.  Next time it might make sense to stay one more night.

We were very thankful that one of our neighbors daughters was willing to take care of our animals while we were gone.  And for our family that watched Obadiah the Guinea Pig.  We really enjoyed ourselves and it was interesting the different feel this conference had from the one in Oregon.  We got to visit with friends from church, as well as other people we don't see often, and we met new folks from various places.  

First Day of School

Well, we officially started our school year today. The kids were excited. Ethan's words were, "I'm so glad to be back to schooling," while he was surrounded by his books for the year. We didn't take off the whole summer. The kids worked on math and reading and a whole lot of nature and science while outside. Learned some swimming while swimming in our pool, how to snap green beans and can them, and so much more. It was a busy summer and HOT at the end but we are so excited to get back to a normal routine once again and start getting into our books more. We started out with a yummy pancake breakfast. Did the kids weight and height check and took pictures. Then started school work. This week and I'm sure for the next few we are taking it half speed. Just getting a feel for our new curriculum and what to expect. Also it gives me the time to figure out how long it will take for things to get done. So much fun. Just a glimpse of what this year will be like. it should be really interesting with Lily Mae in the middle of everything. YIKES!

Homeschool Christian conference

The 24th and 25th of June we took Ethan and Lily Mae with us to the Homeschool Christian Conference at the Convention Center. Ethan was so excited to go this year as it was his first year to join us. Dave and I have loved going every year for the last 4 years. We have gone by ourselves or with a baby but we finally decided that Ethan was at the age where he would start enjoying it with us. There were even seminars for kids this year on Dinosaurs and creation and how to identify the rocks that he finds and Noah and the flood and so on. He even went to few with Dave and I and came away with some good wisdom and ideas. Of course his favorite probably was playing with the things that Timberdoodle had out on their tables for kids to play with. It not only is a great time to look at things, and spend time talking about our goals for our homeschool but we love the speakers that have been there. We get so encouraged in the whys of homeschooling. 4 years ago Voddie Baucham was one of the main speakers. He touched our hearts and gave us the vision for homeschooling and why we should. In the years between the speakers where good too but the last two years it has been more of spending time in the curriculum area figuring out what our family would like to do and how we want to teach our children. This is our fourth year now and we have finally figured it out for us. We are so at home with Heart of Dakota and have already been loving it. It is such a Christ centered curriculum but very thorough. I can't wait for the next books in the years to come. I have been enjoying the books as much as the kids have been. Our days are so much fun and I am not stressed out any more about what I am missing or if I'm doing enough for the kids. The Lord has taken me on a whirl wind the last few years and I have learned a lot about our children and myself. Anyways, after the conference on Friday night, we took Ethan out for his birthday dinner since we already had him, babysitters for the other two (my parents), and we needed to eat. So he chose Red Robin. Our kids love this place. I'm sure that Dave, Mia and I will be back in a few weeks.