This weekend there was a Homeschool Convention in Searcy, Arkansas. I didn't get to go to a convention last year and the two years before that I went to a smaller one in Springdale (which they didn't have this year.) A friend of mine has never had an opportunity to go, so we thought it would be fun to head up to the convention for the day. Since we live so far away, we headed out at 6:00 am. I had a few books I wanted to sell at the used curriculum sale that had to be there by 9. We arrived in plenty of time and got to the book sale drop off point. I was a little worried about getting my books in because I hurt my back last week and it was a very heavy box. Luckily a teenage boy was outside the drop off location to assist with carrying books in.
We decided not to go to any of the sessions and had to wait until the vendor hall opened up which wasn't until 10:30. We browsed through a few vendors, took a lunch break, and headed back to the vendor hall. I was very surprised at the number of vendors. It seemed as though there was a lot less than the last time I was there and even less than Springdale had. I was very surprised that some of the usual larger vendors (Apologia, A Reason For, and Sonlight) were not there. I did get to order what I needed from Math U See (which was a lot!) and received free shipping. I also found a fairly new vendor that I had never heard of before with a writing curriculum Essentials in Writing that is modeled after Math U See. The lessons are modeled on a DVD and the students complete the assignments after watching the lesson. They teach from grade 1 all the way through high school. You have the option of buying just the DVD kit for $40 which contains a PDF file to print all the worksheets, or for $20 you can buy the spiral bound student workbook containing the worksheets. We were both very impressed with the program and the vendor. I bought 5th grade to use with Nick in the fall and my friend bought 2nd for her son. This is exactly the type of writing program I was looking for and am hoping it works as well as it sounds. I also had a chance to look at several things in person that I wondered about while browsing online and bought a few miscellaneous books.
I found a few things at the used book sale, but again it just didn't seem to be as big as in previous years. After we finished at the sale we swung back by the vendor hall. By then it was 2 pm and we still had over a 3 hour drive home so we decided to head out. I was ready to get home since by the time we got there it would have been 12 hours since I nursed Emelia!
The children had a wonderful time with their daddy while I was gone! They went to a car show, got ice cream, and played at the playground for 2 hours. Emelia did not even miss me, although she was very happy to see me when I got home. All night and this morning the children talked and talked about the car show.
I enjoyed getting to go to the convention (especially the company!) I am thinking though that it would be worth the time and extra money to drive two more hours to Memphis and attend the convention there next year.
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