Homeschool Conference 2012

This year we invited my parents to go with us to the Annual Florida Parent Educators Association Homescool Conference in Orlando at the Gaylord Palms Hotel.  Not sure what they said yes to, they were at least excited to stay in a really nice hotel for a few days at a conference price.  It was John's idea to take the kids and I'm so glad we did!  They had a blast!  The hotel is of course gorgeous....we never left!  It is so big and has so many restaurants, shops, and things to do that there really isn't a need to go anywhere.  Since the year before, they had remodeled the entire outdoor area with a huge play pool park area for kids, a huge turf field, and adult pools.  The kids swam until their skin was prunny.  I think Pop Pop swam more in two days than he has swam in 10 years! 

When we first got there we did a little exploring around the hotel...

Real alligators in the hotel pond..

My mom super excited about her first homeschool conference...the badge was great...it had "Grandparent" on it! 

I don't remember all the "kid-friendly" stuff from the year before (maybe because I didnt' have kids with me the first year) but there were characters everywhere, fun music playing and games.

Turf field where they had games, football, and soccer

Walking around the hotel

They had a big display on the constitution and American History in the hotel.  The kids found 5 of their memorized history sentences from our CC co-op that they could read, relate to, and place on a timeline of historical events.  John Daniel was super excited to recite to me the history sentence about George Washington being granted the full powers of the presidency by the US constitution when he saw it on the display! 

Each night the hotel threw a "Crack-a-lackin" pool party where there was dancing, characters, games, beads, BIG HUGE beach balls, etc.  It was a kid's paradise.  After the pool party they played a family friendly movie on the big screen so you could watch while in the pool!  How cool is that!!!!

 We saw friends from Tallahassee

So fun!  And cold!  I went on the slide too!!!!

All snuggled up in the hotel...

And last but not least the actual reason we went (or at least I went) was the huge book store...and the speakers.  John went to a talk about restoring the constitution and we both attended a talk about getting to the heart of your kid.  I heard the author of some great science books that we use, Jennie Fulbright, talk about things to do so you don't have homeschool burn out.  I also heard a great talk on homeschooling with preschoolers.  My favorite, although a little different in content, was the talk by the president of Vision Forum, about the Family Table.  He discussed all the things you can do around the table, how they use their table, how the table and food was used in the Bible and what it meant, how we can minister around our table.  It was just different and refreshing and I like his approach of bringing the entire family around the table and food to do lots of different things and not just eat.  Mom and I browsed the book store several times and I got some good deals on books I needed.  Great three days at the Gaylord!