Preparing for the NC Home Educators Conference

I have been doing some reading and some homework to prepare for the NCHE conference coming up at the end of May. I have about a month to prepare as I am hoping to be able to purchase some curriculum at the ginormous book fair this year. I have managed to attend the past 2 years without purchasing a single thing. That. Is. Amazing. The temptation is so strong to go ahead and invest in this or that so one feels prepared. I am trying hard to NOT purchase the wrong thing only to have to buy something else later. The book 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum has been great so far. There is a workbook style approach in the beginning of the book so one is really pressed to consider WHY homeschooling is their choice and then sort of forces you to set the priorities for your teaching. Things like budget, how many kids you have, time restrictions, confidence level, philosophy and your teaching style/your learning style and those of your kids. When all was said and done, I scored high marks for Charlotte Mason-style education and the Classical style of education. This was not a surprise but more of a confirmation of the direction I wish to go. Currently, we are using the Calvert School curriculum and while it has served us well, I find that I do not like the rigid structure that does not make it a very individualized course of study. But on the other hand, I am a beginner and I wanted the "hand-holding" that comes with Calvert. The teaching manual is very thorough and I find that each morning I am not scrambling to find the things we need to focus on. However, Calvert is expensive and I would like to spend less. (tuition for the complete Calvert Kindergarten curriculum is $693.00). Now that I have done the "homework" in the "100 Picks" book, I can begin to narrow down the curriculum choices for each subject James will be tackling as a kindergartener next Fall.

In addition to reviewing curriculum in "100 Picks", I ordered The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. They are a mother-daugher team writing this book together, tackling different chapters from their own point of view, and I find they make a great argument FOR the classical education approach. It is a thick book so from now until the conference, I shall be very busy reading. I also have The Early Years: A Charlotte Mason Preschool Handbook and Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education. The Charlotte Mason resources I have help a new homeschooler prepare their lessons/day/week/quarter/year. While there are some books associated with a Charlotte Mason education, I would be free to choose what I wish in order to teach reading, writing, spelling, grammar, math, history, science, geography, Bible, foreign language, etc each day. This would make it possible for me to include concepts of a Classical education.

I will be reporting about any purchases I make at the conference in early June. :) Wish me luck!