Homeschooling in California

My daughter and I just got home today from the HSC (HomeSchool Association of California) Conference in Sacramento. It was in many ways, both less than and much more than I expected.

I expected that every talk I went to would be filled with new and useful information for me. This wasn’t so. I guess because I’m new to official homeschooling this fall, I thought I didn’t know anything. I thought everything out there would be new information. However, I’m a big fan of research. Almost too big a fan in that I can easily research so much that I never act – but that’s a separate issue. I guess I didn’t give myself credit for all the research I’d put into the homeschooling decision this past year. I didn’t give myself credit for all that I’d already learned. So by hearing information that I could say to myself, “Well, I already knew that!”, I was able to start seeing how far we’ve already come.

What was new, and what I did learn was some of the more nitty gritty how-to stuff. The information about the Charlotte Mason method of teaching, some math games for young kids we learned, even some of the simple craft projects that I’m sure I never would have tried out with my daughter if they hadn’t been offered in time slots when we didn’t have another talk we wanted to attend. 

My mom and I were discussing afterward if this weekend at the HSC conference was worth the considerable cost we paid to be there. After a lot of thought, I’d have to say it was. Maybe not directly in information alone, but in gaining some confidence, some insight into the homeschooling world that can’t come from a book, and some from the direct information as well. Will I do it again next year though? Maybe not. I think I’ll have to see how this year goes, and how much new guidance, or fresh ideas I feel we need. As long as we can comfortably afford it, I know we’d all enjoy it. And my daughter would love to try out the talent show next year!

This weekend definitely left me with lots of things to think about, and experiment with. I’m sure many more of my blog posts will deal with all I got out of this fun weekend.