Home Educators’ Conference 2023:
Saturday, August 5
CHILDCARE IS NOW CLOSED for this year’s conference. Childcare cannot be accommodated for walk-in registrations. Thanks for your understanding!
Join us for an exciting and refreshing time of fellowship! Renew your passion for homeschooling alongside other homeschooling parents, sharing ideas and inspiration. Hear from seasoned homeschoolers in sessions and workshops designed to help you in your homeschooling journey. Submit questions and sit in on the Q&A Panel, where our speakers will share advice. Make connections, expand your knowledge, and leave with a sense of restoration, just in time for the new school year.
Limited childcare is available for kids ages 1 – 10. Infants under age 1 are welcome to stay with their parent; all other children must be registered for childcare in order to attend.
Attendees must pack their own lunch, including lunches for any children attending.
Tentative Schedule for 2023
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM Registration
8:45 AM – 9:00 AM Childcare Drop Off
9:00 – 10:00 AM Session #1
10:15 – 11:00 AM Workshop #1
11:15 – 12:00 PM Q&A Panel
12:00 – 1:00 PM Lunch Break / Connection Time
1:00 – 1:45 Workshop #2
2:00 – 3:00 PM Session #2
3:00 PM Dismissal
Online Registration
Fill out the form to register online. Payment can be made by credit/debit card, or with a Paypal account.
CHILDCARE IS NOW CLOSED for this year’s conference. Childcare cannot be accommodated for walk-in registrations. Thanks for your understanding!
2023 Conference Speakers
Melissa Neff
Initially a Special Education teacher, Melissa homeschooled both her children for 20 years through graduation. She counts it a privilege to continue investing in the local homeschool community as a home education evaluator (having served 15+ years thus far) and speaker, a homeschool parent consultant and advocate, as well as teaching other homeschool children. Melissa wishes to help equip homeschool families with the tools and resources they need, whether just beginning or continuing on their homeschool journey. Her passion is to provide support and encouragement so as to see families not just survive while homeschooling but to thrive…together!
Bonnie Rose Hudson
Bonnie Rose Hudson is the owner and publisher of WriteBonnieRose. She serves homeschoolers and home educators around the world by creating practical resources that are fun, affordable, and easy to use. She has written for numerous publications and educational websites and has hundreds of resources in many subject areas for preschool through high school on WriteBonnieRose.com.
Susan Catherman
Susan Catherman is thankful to the Lord for leading her to homeschool over 18 years ago. She absolutely loves the homeschool way of life and enjoys discipling her kids to live for the Lord. She has graduated 2 from her homeschool with 2 more to go. Susan enjoys an eclectic style of home education and loves to encourage others to slow down and enjoy the journey. Susan and her husband, Ed, have been married for 26 years and live in Clearfield.
2023 Workshop Descriptions
SOS – I’m Sinking!
General Session #1 – Presented by Melissa Neff
Your homeschool books have arrived. You have brand new school materials lined up on your shelves. You have read some great posts on the homeschool blog you follow. You have a plan. You have a schedule. Everyone had a good night’s sleep. You are excited for Day 1!
It is now Day 58. Your phone is dinging. The cereal milk just spilled all over the kitchen floor. You have a co-op class meet-up in an hour. You are looking for that book you wanted to read for morning devotions with the kids. You hear a knock on the door and peak out the window…it’s your mother-in-law! And, Johnny just drew a beautiful picture of the solar system with sharpie markers on the hall wall. You shriek, “SOS!!”
The sudden storm of homeschool life is tossing you to and fro and no longer will you be afloat, but soon you feel as if you will be sinking in defeat. You contemplate whether to walk the plank, abandon ship, or stay in the boat. Come and glean from this session how you can power through that sinking feeling, get back on course, and row yourself to immediate peace.
Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!
General Session #2 – Presented by Melissa Neff
You thought this homeschool way of life would be the key to having happy, obedient children who love school, think it’s fun to learn, and can’t wait for each new learning adventure to begin. You thought your children were going to fully immerse themselves in school, because this way of educating your children was so different with its flexibility and various choices. You
envisioned them delighting in reading exciting literature, quickly memorizing their multiplication tables, writing like a brilliant poet or an accomplished author, completing fun science experiments and sharing the fascinating results at the dinner table, or going on nature walks gathering all kinds of specimens to research. Maybe, you envisioned having peaceful
Bible reading and devotions as a family, seeing your family grow close together while loving and serving one another, watching your children bond without sibling rivalry or fighting, having well-behaved children following the Lord in all settings because you’ve “trained them up in the
Lord,” or being with other like-minded homeschoolers that you and your children could befriend and be on this journey together. The list could go on and on. BUT, your home education in the first year, or over the many years, has grown further away from that idealistic image of what homeschool life was going to be like. As the days have “trudged” on, have you lost your joy? Have you lost your smile? Leave this session refreshed and renewed, with a new perspective to delve back into your homeschool life with a smile on your face and joy in your heart, and allow your children to rediscover that joyful, smiling mom that once roamed your home.
How to Teach Kids About Persecuted Christians and Unreached People Groups
Workshop #1 – Presented by Bonnie Rose Hudson
More than 350 million Christians around the world today are suffering extreme persecution and discrimination because they follow Jesus. More than 40% of the world’s population today, nearly 3.4 billion people, are considered unreached, meaning that less than 2% of them are known to understand that Jesus loves them and offers them salvation. Both of these groups are often underreported on, and both are extremely important to educate our children about so they can pray, serve, and educate others. This workshop will equip parents and teachers with information, resources, and ideas on how to share the stories of the persecuted and the unreached with their children and students in age-appropriate ways.
What All Kids Really Need
Workshop #2 – Presented by Susan Catherman
Reading, writing and arithmetic are super important, but your child’s character is what really matters. Come and gain some insight on what character training is and ways to be intentional about it. Learn some informal as well as formal ways to add character training into your homeschool.