Our Visit to the Homeschool Conference & What We Found

We have been homeschooling for over 20 years now. I don't always feel the need to go to a homeschool conference but this year I definitely wanted to see if there was anything new or inspiring that I could add to our upcoming school year. So at the last minute we decided to go and I spent most of my time there in the exhibit hall as usual!

I found this lovely Victorian Slot-Together Dollhouse from Usborne:

It was SOOOO stinking cute, I couldn't help but to ooooh and ahhh over them:

The sweet and friendly lady who owned it said she glued her pieces together so she could travel with it.

It was also neat to learn that they have a Castle version and a Theatre version as well (see below). These would make such a fun project for hands on learning.

My boys were smitten with a few other things there like these Bear Grylls books which we ended up getting:

I also found this offical Knight's Handbook that I just loved and got for them:

The boys literally devoured most of the books that we bought for them THAT day! Good thing homeschooling is life-long learning and doesn't just have to be in a school setting.

There was so much to choose from, I even picked up a something fun for little Bella.

This paritcular booth had a ton of mystery novel type books:

We walked around and got to meet one of the gals in the Brinkman Adventures Audio Dramas on real missionary stories and she let us take a picture of her:

That is her here on the left!

Another little gem that I found was this book, George Washington's Rule of Civility & Decent Behavior:

I will use this book for their copywork class. We like to rotate the days--we do Bible, a favorite book or library book, a character book, and poetry. This one is a nice addition to the character category. 

This year I also picked up a little something to get all the kids talking about next year--a packet of animals to dissect. This package came with a frog, a perch, an earthworm, and a crayfish. I also picked up a scalpel.

You can find a kit like this one here. 

I was a little grossed out holding it while waiting in line to pay! My boys who came were in a session and it was the last kit so as a homeschooling mom I did what I had to do and bought it without them. 

I also looked through this planner  for teens and really liked it. I didn't get a chance to buy it because we ran out of time but I will probably order a few online. 

This year I noticed they didn't seem to have as many exhibitors as I have seen in the past. I also usually see more books dedicated to learning character as well but did not see as many this year. I spent much of my time at this booth--Heppner's Legacy. Mainly because they had a lot of fun items in that didn't need to be ordered and you could just take it home with you. I already am pretty happy with the curriculum that we use right now and will use the same thing next year so there was really no need to get any of that.

I was able to sit for a short time through a session. I am grateful we had a chance to drop by!

I hope you enjoyed our pictures!

Did you go to your local homeschool conference this year?

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