Ahhh! How I love to go to Home School Conventions. A time of encouragement, seeing old friends (almost like a reunion of sorts), and of course buying those needed resources to educate our children. We have been walking through the halls of home school conventions now for 9 yrs. I am not the same person who first timidly walked into that enormous convention hall in Arlington, TX. Not only was the exhibit hall huge but, the door of life that I had just entered was a call I trusted in faith. We have seen many changes through the years in Home School Conventions most of them though I think have been the Lord growing and changing us.
As I think back to those early years I am so grateful for those speakers, families that spoke vision to us at these conferences. In our early years the Lord led us to people like Chris Davis of Elijah Co., Steve and Jane Lambert of FIAR, Raymond Moore, and Ruth Beechick who challenged us to think outside the box. I am so grateful for their sacrifice and wisdom.
For the past 4yrs we have been attending the State Convention held in The Woodlands, TX. Even before we moved here we loved to go to this convention. We have also attended the THSC sponsored field trips. This year it was to
Washington on the Brazos the birthplace of Texas. Each year the field trip is geared towards a time and place in Texas History and provides a day of fun and education for the whole family. While it was quite "warm" this year and a very new experience for us with little ones it turned out to be a great trip. Although, I think we will try to come back in the fall when it is not so hot to see the rest of the park. We did get to pick some cotton in the heat so it gave us a real flavor for what it was like long ago! By 1800's terms I would also be nearing the end of my life at my current age and after seeing how hard life was I can see why!
Here are some pictures from our adventure:
Learning about pick'n cotton.
J.Michael making a water haul.
Kathlena would have taken a long time to fill a
sack of cotton as she liked to pick a tiny bit at a
time.
Andrew thought this was so funny to find cotton
that we use for "boo boo's" on a plant outside.
We went to the evening event where we heard Dr. Jeff Myers, a great speaker and communicator talk about the importance of instilling a Christian Worldview into our children. Dr. Myer's new book
Handoff: The Only Way to Win the Race of Life is inspiring families to have a multi generational vision of passing on their Biblical heritage. A book we look forward to reading.
After Dr. Myers spoke we had the opportunity to view the THSC movie
Taking a Stand in Texas: The Battle of Home School Freedom . This is a well made, inspiring movie that every home schooler should watch. Leeper vs. Arlington was only 14yrs ago...the battle has been very recently won for us. This documentary was so powerful in delivering the courage and emotion of a handful of faithful parents who trusted the Lord and fought for the right to raise/teach their children at home in Texas. They are the reason that we have such freedom in Texas today and PTL for their courage and for paving the way for us today.
Day 1
Our first full day at the convention was exciting. J.Michael and Andrew attended the children's program while Emily, Kathlena and I tried to catch some speakers sessions and do a little shopping in the exhibit hall. Well, this was definitely a new experience for me. Kathlena was sure that the rules did not apply in this crowded convention hall but, she quickly found out that yes in fact they do! So, much of the first session I missed as I was doing my active parenting duty in the family bathroom. The end of session 1 proved to be much better for me and those in the surrounding rows from us. Emily and I pretty much stuck to Dr. Myers sessions and were not disappointed.
At lunch I decided that the morning had gone well enough for Andrew in the children's program that I would let J.Michael go with us as he really wanted to hear Dr. Myers speak and sent Andrew back to the children's program on his own. While at the time this seemed like a good idea and I still think it was so that I could see how we were doing I later decided that it was really best for him to be with us. So, for Sat. we decided to all stay together thus ending our time in the children's program for the weekend. Andrew loved the singing and listening to stories but, I think a little overwhelming at this point for him to fully understand enough to participate at the pace of an unfamiliar group setting. It was good though for me to see how we are progressing and what areas we need to try and work on.
Emily and J.Michael both wanted to attend John R. Erickson's talk on Christian writing. Kathlena and I did some more shopping and they were allowed to go together. I think this was really fun for them to do something together just the two of them that they really both love. They really enjoyed hearing Mr. Erickson. J.Michael was even able to have the opportunity to talk to Mr. Erickson. Emily had prepared a letter for Mr. and Mrs. Erickson. It was something she has looked forward to all year.
Our whole family loves the Hank the Cowdog series but, even more impressive than his great book series has been Mr. Erickson who has attended the THSC conferences faithfully for the past 4yrs. In fact it was 3 yrs ago at this very conference that we were first introduced to Hank the Cowdog and we have been full fledged fans ever since(the t-shirt wearing kind of fans!). Mr. Erickson not only attends these conferences performing his songs and entertaining us with his talented voices of characters while reading excerpts from his books but, he pours into his young readers his wisdom of being a Christian man in a world that tries to undermine the Christian values he grew up with. He honestly shares his story of how difficult it was to finally get his book series published and his personal journey of self publishing his books. He is a modern day hero in my book, a living testimony of what the Lord has done in the life of a man who faithfully trusted Him when everyone in the publishing world was telling him to give up his dream of the Hank the Cowdog series and writing. He is very successful and could choose to spend his time elsewhere but, he doesn't...instead you will find him in Aug. at the Texas State Home School convention encouraging the next generation to take back the mediums of film and writing good books with strong family values...Christian values. Thank you Mr. Erickson from a very grateful home school mom who loves your world of Hank but loves even more that parents and kids have Mr. Erickson the man to look up to.
Day 2
We took today at a little slower pace as Daddy had an early leadership training meeting. I decided it best that we take the morning off and wait for Daddy before we head over to the conference. We would still spend almost 8hrs at the convention today. We all stayed together and Andrew got to see the exhibit hall...he liked all the books.
Not long after we arrived we were told by some friends that Mr. Erickson had been paging Emily to his booth. He wanted to meet this young lady who had written him a letter. From a mother's and father's heart I so admire Mr. Erickson. He has such a heart for young people...and to think that he never intended the Hank series to be for kids. The Lord knew best though and we are so blessed to know this man and his wife who so graciously give back to the Home School community year after year. Mr. Erickson was very complimentary of Emily's writing and has asked Emily to keep up with him and write him from time to time. Wow! we are honored to have met and get to know Mr. and Mrs. Erickson.
It was great to see so many old friends and for them to see in person Andrew and Kathlena. We were encouraged by Dr. Myers, once again and ended the day with the annual Hank the Cowdog songs and stories. It made me feel we were sitting around the campfire out on the TX panhandle, cowboy style only we were really in the a/c with no bugs. A wonderful end to a great weekend.
