Homeschool Convention

Last weekend marked one of the things I look forward to all year - - the homeschool convention!  It is the pinnacle event of the year for those of us homeschooling in Florida. But actually getting there proved to not be as simple as I was hoping.

The convention is always Memorial Day weekend although, in reality, it is really the Thursday - Saturday beforehand.  It does go through Sunday but that is just for graduation for those finishing 12th grade (sidenote - - I think it's cool that if you homeschool through high school your kid doesn't have to miss marching in a graduation - - the convention puts one on).  This was the second year now that we decided to stay at the hotel, the Gaylord Palms, for Thursday and Friday nights.  The convention hall opened at 5:00 pm (although I subsequently found out 4:00 pm) and check-in was at 4:00 pm so I figured we would leave the house after the girls piano lessons finished at 3:00 pm (they are usually Monday but the teacher had to reschedule).  But you know what they say...the best laid plans.

Wednesday evening, Duncan and I discovered an errand I would have to do on Thursday morning that was going to mess up my plans a little.  That night, after doing some packing, I finally got to bed about 2:00 am.  I awoke at 7:00 am and turned my head and thought, "OH NO!!!"  Yup, my stinking left ear was all blocked.  It was the wretched wax again.  I had only gone 14 months in between incidents this time and it couldn't have been worse timing.  When it gets like that, the only solution is to get it cleaned out at the doctor.  I have no primary care doctor to speak of and I didn't want to go wait at a Centra Care so my solution was to go to the family practice in Winter Park that's easy to get into.  But it's in Winter Park, a good 35-minute drive.  I mentally thought about my day - - I had to go do that other errand, the girls had gymnastics at 12:30 that probably wasn't going to happen now, I had to finish packing and getting the car loaded up, needed to stop at Publix to get some food to take with us to the hotel, the girls had piano at 2:00, and so much for getting a little school work done. And now I had to go take car of my ears which would add several hours to the day.  Such bad timing. But God works in mysterious ways.

I got an appointment at 11:00 am so off we went.  The waiting room was really crowded and as I feared, we waited probably 40 minutes to get in.  The nurse called me back and off I walked with the kids trailing behind me.  In a very typical manner which I am quite accustomed to by now, the first words out of the nurse's mouth after "Hello" were "Is school out today?"  She didn't say it rudely, just wondering.  I proceeded to explain that yes, they were out today because of what was happening but it didn't matter anyway because we homeschool.  At that, a big smile came over her face and she says "You do?? My husband and I have really been wanting to homeschool but we just don't know where to start."  Wow.  What an opportunity!  In between her removing the wax from my ears, she and I had a wonderful discussion all about homeschooling, how to get started, the advantages of it, how many kids she had (six) and ages and what she wanted for them, and I wrote down a bunch of websites for her and my name and phone number.  "You know," she says to me, "I really think this was supposed to happen.  That you were to come here so you could share this with me.  Please keep me in your prayers." I looked at her name tag and then said "Luestra, can I pray with you right now?"  She was so appreciative and I tell you, I am amazed at how God turns something that seemed to be such a nuisance like having to get ear wax removed when you are super busy into an opportunity to be a blessing to someone else.  The fact that it happened on the day that I was trying to get to the homeschool convention just adds a little irony to it!  By the way, I have gotten ear wax removed many times now and honestly, this was the best experience I have had with getting it done.  It came out really easily and she even put it in a little jar for me so I can now gross people out with it. So watch out!!

After that happened, I couldn't be frustrated with my day anymore.  We did end up cancelling piano lessons too and then not leaving until later than we had hoped but it was all good.  We finally got into our room at about 5:00 pm and after waiting for our luggage to be delivered, it was closer to 6:00 pm. We were all anxious to get out onto the convention floor to go see all the booths.  Duncan arrived about 6:30 pm and we had supper that I had brought and then he took all the kids to the pool while I walked around until the very last second of it closing at 9:00 pm.  Jennifer and I felt like it was a big tease - - all this buildup and then it's only open a few hours on the first day.  It should go until at least 11:00 pm!

Once we got back to our room, the kids were all riled up so we turned the TV on to the National Spelling Bee.  I've never actually watched it but I have a friend, Shasha, that I worked with for many years at the hospital (she is now at Washington Adventist Hospital in DC) whose 10-year old son was in the bee this year.  He did make it to the finals which aired the last day but finished 22nd.  Pretty awesome!  Click HERE to see the story.  It was down to the last four contestants though when we turned it on which eventually turned into two.  It kept going and going but we couldn't turn it off because you just HAD to know who won!  Eventually all the kids except Calleigh fell asleep so she was awake to see it finish in a tie. I'm hoping that it will inspire Calleigh to enjoy spelling more but somehow I doubt it. But seriously, those kids are really, really amazing.

We were entertained by a magician as we waited in line to check-in.  He was quite good.

The view of the atrium from our balcony on the fifth floor.  You feel like you're outside but you aren't. 

Friday I spent most of the day wandering around the convention hall after the keynote speech.  The keynote was done by a man named Kirk Martin who actually had come to our church last year to talk about "Celebrating Calm" which is basically about raising and discipling children.  Since I had heard him last year and it was similar content, I sent a text to Duncan to come switch with me.  I would stay with the kids while he listened to the talk.  He really enjoyed it (the guy is hilarious!) so it worked out well. Afterwards he took the kids to the pool/water slides while I did my thing although they did come for some of the afternoon to walk around the convention hall some more and take in the sights. In previous years, I would spend Friday attending a lot of the lectures but I always felt like I didn't have enough time to wander around looking at curriculum, teaching resources, talking to folks, etc so I decided to do it differently this year and focus on doing that instead.  I didn't feel nearly as rushed so it was very nice. Also, of course I wouldn't be making any purchases on Sabbath so I wanted to make sure I had it all done before then.  Sabbath would be for attending the talks.

The pool Thursday night was VERY crowded.

Colby going down the waterslide.  It's hard to see but he has a big smile on his face.

Traipsing back to the room on Friday late morning.

Brady really wanted to carry my backpack around for me, I think because it had a long handle that is pushed down at the moment in this picture. 

Actual dead animals that you can buy to dissect.  Really cool, I guess, but I think we will have someone help when we get to this part of our schooling life.

Calleigh found a piano to do her thing.

A larger version of stacking cups.  We ended up buying the regular sized version that comes with a timer.  The girls both love it and are challenging their mom for the title of "Fastest Hands in the East." 

We were all given a free copy of one of Rush Limbough's children's books from his children's series that have gotten excellent reviews.  Rush had also recorded a snippet (which you can see in the background) to say that he was very supportive of home schooling.

The convention wouldn't be complete without enjoying the buffet!  Jennifer, Vasti, Ashley, and I did our usual lunch there and although we determined it wasn't quite as good as last year we greatly enjoyed it.  In the afternoon, Ron and Elaine came by and spent time walking around the booths and then hung out with Duncan and the kids. During that time, Colby and Brady were wrestling in the room and Colby fell into the mirror on the wall which sticks out and hit his cheek on the side of it. When I got back into the room to go to supper, he was just finishing his wailing although his cheek was still severely red but no blood fortunately.  I was able to distract them though with our purchase of some Kapla planks.  Trying to get some more toys that inspire creative play.  After Colby settled down, we left to eat.  We were hoping to go to Tom and Chee which is a grilled cheese restaurant that got it's start from Sharktank but on the way there Calleigh says "I don't like grilled cheese, remember?"  I don't know how that's humanly possible but it seems to be true.  At any rate, there was a Noodles right next door so it was an easy adjustment.  Jennifer, Julia (her mom), the kids, and then Vasti and Abel (who had taken the day off and was staying at the hotel), David, and Jonathan met us there.  As we left, I casually mentioned to Duncan that our meal that evening for six had cost the same amount as my buffet for one that afternoon.  And that's why only I get to go to the buffet and not the whole family!

Trying out the planks

I had to get in the picture to show how high they had gotten it.  Then we did a slow motion video of them knocking it down. 

Colby's cheek a few days after the incident.  This picture doesn't even do it justice. 

This is a change of pace.  Usually it's Colby that's all over me. And now that I look at this, it's NOT appropriate behavior at a restaurant but I do recall there were no other patrons around us, at least.

Enjoying the outdoors after our meal. Notice London all up on Colby on the right! 

The view from our balcony in the evening.  It was nice to just sit out there.  

Many of the speakers and lectures/talks are very spiritual in nature so it worked out quite nicely for Sabbath.  The keynote on Saturday morning was Heidi St. John who has millions of Facebook followers.  Her husband is a former pastor and the two of them (and their seven homeschooled children!) travel around the country speaking about Christ.  I got such a great blessing from her talk. I also attended a few more talks but by the afternoon, I was really worn out and didn't quite make it to the end like Vasti and Jennifer!  But all and all, it was a really terrific time and as I've said before on here, the title of the convention may say "Homeschool" but it should really say "Parent" because that's really what it is.  The fact that they have a bunch of school stuff there is just icing on the cake.

Duncan checking out - - managed to get everything but the duffel bag of clothes onto the stroller. 

He found this note on our door when he got home.  Yup, I forgot to close the garage door when I left which has been known to happen when I'm backed in and not looking at the garage door while I drive off.  But never done when we were going to be gone for two nights.  Thank goodness for good neighbors!

A couple of neat things from the convention that I wanted to mention...First, during the keynote on Friday morning, we had the pleasure of seeing the Annie Moses Band perform.  Yes, I'm sure you've never heard of them and neither had I.  It turns out that they are a musical group comprised of adult siblings (and maybe spouses?) and their dad.  The kids were all homeschooled.  They were very talented with playing the violin, harp, etc and I greatly enjoyed the first song which was "Make His Praise Glorious." Some of you may recognize it as a Sandi Patti song which I also did.  After they finished the song (they only did two songs but were having a concert that evening), the leader of the group, aptly named Annie Moses, told us that their parents, Bill and Robin Wolaver, had written the song. So that was neat!

Secondly, I think I've mentioned on here about how we've been reading some missionary books this year.  It turns out that the writers of the books were at the convention.  I felt a little giddy getting to meet them!  They are a husband and wife team, Janet and Geoff Benge, originally from Australia but now living in Winter Park, Florida.  They have written 70+ books and I highly, highly recommend them.  I took the girls over to say hello and they were really sweet and kind, telling us how they work together writing the books. Janet does a lot of the research and the writing and Geoff does the editing because as Janet admitted "I'm a horrible speller."  That gave me some hope for Calleigh.  Ha!  I told them that they have had me in tears so many times and they admitted that they will often cry writing the books because they are so touched by the stories.  Anyway, it was one of the highlights of the convention for me.

Three of the four we've read this year (we gave Cameron Townsend away).

The convention wasn't the only exciting thing to happen to our family recently.  After being freaked out by driving through a puddle and losing my steering on the van, we knew it was time to take some drastic measures with our vehicle situation.  Either the van needed to be fixed or we needed to get a new van.  The van, a 2008, only had 107k miles on it after seven years so really not bad.  BUT, we were certain that there were other problems with it because it made strange noises when you started it AND it had no backup camera which I've really wanted ever since that little backing up incident a number of years ago.  We decided it was time to trade her in.  At first, we were contemplating getting a used van but honestly, the Honda Odysessey's hold their value so well that there wasn't that big of a difference with used versus new.  New it would be. Duncan's middle name is Research so he had done his homework and we knew that is what we wanted to get.  Off to Headquarter Honda in Clermont on Sunday, May 22.  We looked around and sat in a few vehicles and there ended up only being one van that had everything in it that we wanted and it happened to be red.  So red it would be! The kids kept saying "We really want this one.  This is so awesome." And I kept thinking "Shhh, we don't want them to know how much we like it so that we lose some bargaining power."  But, it turned out to be very easy wagering.  There is a thing on-line called "True Car" or something like that where you can set a price and then the dealer can agree to accept it which they did in this case.  There really wasn't much to negotiate on after that since the price was already $5k less than the sticker price.  We were a little disappointed with our trade-in of $2,500 since we had been offered $3,000 a few months ago when we had been looking.  We managed to get it up to $2,750 but still, it's tough to think you only get that much for something with fairly low mileage.  It is what it is.  We obviously weren't about to sell it to someone.

After we had finished negotiating and moved on to the signing process, our salesman Dennis, a man who looked to be around 60, mentioned how we would get Sirius Xm and this is what happened.

Dennis: "You will get Sirius XM radio for free for three months."
Me: "That's great.  I doubt I'll use it much though because I usually have the kids in the car with me."
Dennis: "Yeah, I have it and I mostly just listen to sports."
Me: "Oh, what teams do you like?"
Dennis: "The Red Wings, the Tigers..."
Me: "You are originally from Michigan, I take it?"
Dennis: "Yes and a lot of my family is still there."
Me: "Well, I went to school in Michigan but it is really small and I'm sure you will never have heard of it."
Dennis: "What was the name of it?"
Me: "Andrews University."
Dennis: "In Berrien Springs?"
Me: "Yes! Wow.  How do you know about it?"
Dennis: "I had some friends that went there.  Plus, I went to Grand Ledge Academy."
Me: "Really?! My dad taught at Grand Ledge Academy!!"
Dennis: "What is your maiden name?"
Me: "Brace."
Dennis: "Bill Brace?"
Me: "Yes, that is my dad!"
Dennis: "He was my PE teacher and I was just thinking about him six months ago...wondering what happened to him.  He took me to my very first hockey game ever."

Holy cow!!  What are the odds of finding an old student of your dad's down in Florida from his short teaching career some 45 (?) years ago at a small private Adventist high school in Michigan??  Very remote I would think.  Dennis explained that he was not an Adventist but his mom wanted to him to go to a private school and that's how he ended up there.  I, of course, immediately called my dad who remembered him and they chatted for a bit on the phone both saying that when the other was in the area, they would get together.  How great is that?!  I took that as a sign that we were meant to buy the Odyssey!

Dennis talking to my dad.

The old and the new...

We got this van two months before Aubree was born so it was always easy to remember how long we had it.  Our new van was purchased on May 22 which was Aunt Sherrie's 60th birthday so that will be easy to remember too.

We took the van in on Thursday to get the rails put on the top.  As you can see, Calleigh was less than thrilled with this.

The finished product.

The one snafu we had with the whole operation is that we couldn't find the title to the Sedona anywhere.  I looked through my files multiples times but didn't even have a recollection of ever seeing it.  Maybe we had never gotten it?  Fortunately the dealer has a way for you to file for a replacement there at the dealership at the low cost of $85. Ha! Yesterday I finally got around to going through all of the papers that Duncan had pulled out of the Sedona glove box and yes, you got it, there was the title.  How it got there, neither of us has any idea! But it makes me so mad that we paid that $85.

I have been enjoying the new features of the Odyssey like the back up camera and self looking doors (although I am annoyed that they don't "self" unlock when you turn the car off) but it's funny how there are little things that you don't think of when purchasing it. For instance, I use a GPS and the kids will watch some movies while I'm yard sale-ing. In the Sedona, I had two cigarette lighters, one of which kept working even when the car was turned off. I would keep the GPS plugged into that one so that it would always stay on.  Well, the Odyssey only has one and it doesn't stay on when the van isn't on. So every stop I make, I turn the van off and the GPS goes off every time and then takes a minute to come back on when you turn the van back on.  Just a small thing but a bit of a pain, nonetheless. Then, because the van doesn't work by putting a key in the ignition but by pressing a button, I suddenly realized, how do you keep the van "on" but the engine off?  Before it was simply turning the key.  But now I don't have a key!  I had to make an emergency text to Duncan who explained you could press the start button without pressing the break. Voila! But...I have yet to figure out how to get to that mode without turning the car off first.  Perhaps there is no way?  Anyway, again, I'm very happy with the new van but these are little things you don't think of when you're trying it out.

Let's see...what else have we been up to?  The Wednesday before the convention we had our year end party at Chapin Station for the homeschool PE class.  Of course, we haven't been in the class very long so I'm sure the party next year will be more meaningful since we will know more people. But, it was still nice to mingle.  It almost ended very badly though.  At one point I noticed Colby going over to these stair type things and I recalled how Brady had gotten a really bad bruise from banging his eye off it.  I made a beeline for Colby and just as I was reaching him, he took his first step, noticed me behind him and said "I won't fa...." Just as he was about to say fall, he fell.  I heard a big clank as his teeth banged off one of the rungs and the fear went through me so badly.  I feel like I can handle some other injury fairly well (maybe?) but I have ALWAYS been so paranoid about one of the kids losing a baby tooth or teeth.  It sounded so bad hitting that rung but by some miracle, there was only a little blood coming out of the gums above one of his front teeth.  After some crying (by Colby) and a few minutes to get up my courage, I felt around in his mouth and the teeth were all still in there and not even loose.  I don't know how that was possible but I said a big prayer of thanks.  We did have to cut the outing short though because Colby kept crying/whining for his binky after that.

Waiting in line for food.

The evil ladder/stairs.

Brady and his injury.  Ironically when I went to find this picture, he had gotten his injury at the same age, down to even the same month, as Colby.  Weird!

The girls recently went for the annual well visit appointments.  All was well with Calleigh staying right on track for where she has been percentage wise and Aubree dipping a little bit on her weight. It is also interesting to me that it has now been more than two months since Calleigh's last vomiting episode. Keeping my fingers crossed this keeps up!

Calleigh - 9 Years

Weight - 73 pounds (75th)
Height - 54 1/2 inches (75th)
BP - 96/60
Shoe Size - 4
Clothing Size - 10/12

Aubree - 7 Years

Weight - 47 pounds (Between 25th and 50th)
Height - 48 inches (50th)
BP - 86/55
Shoe Size - 12.5/13
Clothing Size - 7

Some quotes from the kids:

We were driving in the van not far from our house...

Me: "Remember that old house that was here and they tore down?  Looks like they are building a new development. That's good."
Aubree: "Why is that good?"
Me: "It means the economy is going well...people have money and are buying houses."
Aubree: "Well, at least we know they aren't buying drugs."

Ohhhh-kay.

We had a movie night last Sunday night to watch "Snow Treasure".  Duncan had read the book to Calleigh in the evenings and in anticipation, we had found the DVD off a remote website.  I had remembered watching the movie as a kid and loved it. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to work in the DVD player so we ended up watching "Treasures of the Snow" off YouTube.  Very similar name but a completely different movie. It's about a boy who is blamed for another boy falling off a cliff and becoming crippled.  The crippled boy's sister wants to get revenge but eventually she lets it go. We greatly enjoyed the movie especially since Ron and Elaine joined us and we had cookies, popcorn, and hot chocolate.  Anyway, the movie ends and Brady says in a loud voice as the credits roll.  "Well, I guess there was NO treasure."  Apparently he was waiting the whole movie for a pirate to discover some hidden booty?  I don't know!

Some more pictures...

We babysat the Bergherm kids a few Sunday's ago while Jennifer helped throw a birthday party for a little boy from our church who has leukemia.   

While we were watching them we took all the kids to the ABC that was having an open house/festival. My brother's book is now in stock!

Free drinks and hot dogs!  But, they weren't Vega-links so I was out of luck.

A free climbing wall which the girls did many times.

Brady gave it a whirl right at the end although the flip flops probably didn't help.

The girls in their new skating outfits they got for their birthday.

From 6:30 - 6:45 it's free skate time but Aubree asked a teacher to help her during that time. 

As did Brady.   

Getting their skates off with friends Nora and Violet.  This past Tuesday was the last class until after the summer (there are still lessons going in the summer but we won't be around for much of it so not worth it to sign up).  The girls are really sad to have to wait until then. "I wished we lived in Canada so we could have a skating rink in our backyard," they said.  Apparently it hasn't occurred to them that it is also almost summer in Canada so nobody is skating in their back yards at this time of year.

Duncan took them to skating the week before last.  Not sure if the girls sleeping was real or what.

My cutie pie. 

Brady has been going into Colby's crib a lot lately.  The first time he did it, which was the night of this picture, I asked him afterwards why he did it and he said "To read him a story."

Up close because it's even cuter.  Sorry, couldn't resist!

Another sleeping picture, this time on the floor.  While we were at the convention, Colby fell asleep in my bed both nights and then we moved him. Well, apparently that ruined things because once we were home, he kept wanting to sleep with me and wouldn't stop crying.  The first night I put him on the floor with Brady and he finally fell asleep.  The second night I had him cry it out in his crib.  It was literally like having a newborn again.  He probably cried for almost an hour. But it worked because the next night things were back to normal. 

Aubree and Brady wrecked one of Calleigh's Lego creations which put Calleigh in tears.  A heartfelt note to the rescue!  Aubree is very much into writing notes.

We went to Ikea on Memorial Day where they were supposed to be having crafts and such on Russia which we are studying for school.  I was really pleased at the prospect but when we arrived we discovered they had changed it to America due to the holiday.  Stinkers!

I love London in this picture!

We at least got a free kids' meals for participating in the craft.  They remodeled their eating area and also added new meals including veggie quinoa balls which were quite good.

Just a little help from Dad...

Hey look!  Colby is finally smiling again for our Sabbath picture.

Twinsies.

Brady can now swim the entire length of our pool by himself. He swims for a ways than goes onto his back to float and rest and then swims some more.

Brady was jealous of some new Legos the girls had gotten for their birthdays so one evening after he had gone to sleep, they made these Legos for him and left them and this note next to his bed for when he woke up.  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.