The goal of this session is to share the joy of designing and teaching unit studies. Learn how this unique approach to teaching uses real-life experiences, books, games, projects, and other resources to encourage students to deeply explore topics and to become life-long learners. Discover ways to integrate subjects to make learning more meaningful and fun. Realize the wealth of knowledge to be gained through unit studies as well as easy methods of constructing them.

You can read to your kids about Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press and they might remember it. Or the kids can glue macaroni letters backwards onto their own presses and print Bible verses themselves… and they WILL remember it! Hands-on learning is not simply to keep hands busy, it is a valuable tool to teach children various skills, help them retain information, and relate to the subjects and people they are studying. Linda addresses this issue using humor, anecdotes, and wisdom from her 25+ years of teaching. She is a veteran at keeping her children learning through doing and can show you how to be a fun parent and teacher. This seminar is especially for the mom who feels non-creative, unorganized, and ill-equipped to teach her kids! Don’t fret! You will leave with easy ideas to implement at home.

Science offers an opportunity for your child to explore, wonder, and learn about our awesome God and the order He has placed in our world. Unfortunately, science is also one of those fields of study that many homeschooling parents find extremely intimidating. Dr. Callentine will help you unpack and address your concerns. Whether your student is currently in high school or in the elementary grades, you will be armed and ready.

Confused by the jumble of science curriculum available? There are so many possibilities: nature studies and real books, hands-on labs, Charlotte Mason, classical, or the traditional approach textbook. Then there are those blurred acronyms: STEM, STEAM, STREAM and even SEA. Do you sometimes feel like navigating through the Science is like wading into murky waters with no clear definition or vision? Finding the right fit for your family need not be disorganized chaos! In this workshop, we give you the tools to select the best approach for your family and provide an overview and comparison of the vast array of Science resources available. This workshop concludes with a Question and Answer session, so bring your questions about teaching science and get them answered!

Homeschool pioneer Dr. Sandi Queen has been homeschooling her own six children since 1986, and is still homeschooling today. What worked for one child did not necessarily work for another. Are you struggling to “figure out” the best way to teach your child? Come and learn how you can end the struggle!

Confused by the jumble of science curriculum available? There are so many possibilities: nature studies and real books, hands-on labs, Charlotte Mason, classical, or the traditional approach textbook. Then there are those blurred acronyms: STEM, STEAM, STREAM and even SEA. Do you sometimes feel like navigating through the Science is like wading into murky waters with no clear definition or vision? Finding the right fit for your family need not be disorganized chaos! In this workshop, we give you the tools to select the best approach for your family and provide an overview and comparison of the vast array of Science resources available. This workshop concludes with a Question and Answer session, so bring your questions about teaching science and get them answered!

This workshop offers practical resources, lists of materials, and curricula in order to help equip you as you homeschool your struggling learner. Ideas for designing a unique home instruction program tailored to your child’s specific learning strengths and challenges will be presented.

Whether you want ready-made unit studies or tools to develop your own, this workshop could be the answer! Come for an overview and explanation of definitions, comparisons, and resources for implementing unit studies into your home. We will also develop your personal Unit Study P.R.O. skills and provide you tools to create your own unit study at home.

This workshop will give you solid reasons for educating and training your children through homeschooling. You can teach your children positive socialization skills, train their character and develop an academic program to fit their needs. Learn some tips about choosing curriculum to individualize your child’s homeschool education.

When embarking upon this exciting journey of home education, figuring out which curriculum to choose for your child can seem daunting. In this very practical workshop, Linda will give an objective overview of the different learning styles and help you understand the most common teaching approaches including textbook, living books, unit studies, classical, Charlotte Mason, eclectic, unschooling, and more. Let Linda help you narrow down your choices and take the guesswork out of choosing curriculum. This workshop will boost your confidence in making educational decisions for success in your homeschool.

The handout for this session is available at http://www.oceanetwork.org/2016handouts.pdf

Find out why Thomas Jefferson wrote at a standing desk, how a whiteboard can turn on a light bulb, and why your son does the things he does. Make school more fun for everyone and equip your boy with the learning he needs for manhood.

You may have been bored by it in school—just a bunch of names, dates and events. But history is critically important. And when you and your kids learn the truth about America’s past, you will find that it is also fascinating! Today as never before, Americans are ignorant of their own history. And because of this, we are losing the freedom that makes America so exceptional among the nations of the world. By returning to the way your great-grandparents learned history, you can give your children a passion for their heritage and prepare them for the battle to preserve it.

Did you know that Mathematics has parts of speech and sentence structure, just as does any spoken language? Did you know that understanding the “grammar” of Mathematics greatly helps student understanding of problem-solving and applications? In this workshop, Tom Clark, founder of VideoText Interactive, and author of “Algebra: A Complete Course,” and “Geometry: A Complete Course,” clearly and humorously demonstrates this quality of mathematical language. At last, you will truly understand the roles of all types of mathematical symbols, and you will see how easy it is to translate between Mathematics and English, enabling you to improve your understanding, and teaching, of “story problems” at all levels.

Algebra is the study of relations (equations and inequalities). It is therefore essential that students completely and conceptually understand the basic concepts necessary to solve them. In this workshop, Tom Clark, founder of VideoText Interactive, and author of “Algebra: A Complete Course”, and “Geometry: A Complete Course”, will help you to develop an inquiry approach which is applicable to all basic relations. You will discover the analytical questions students need to ask, in order to “undo” all of the complications they may encounter, when solving equations and inequalities.

Homeschooling doesn’t have to cost hundreds of dollars per child. Vicki homeschooled seven at a time while their family was without a full-time income for four years, sometimes spending less than $100 per year.

When you had one child, it seemed easy, but adding more children sometimes makes homeschooling feel like a zany plate-spinning act. Vicki shares ideas for keeping the homeschooling “plates” from crashing to the floor! Practical tips for teaching multiple ages—from a mom of 17 homeschooled students (seven school-age at a time).

This workshop is designed to help parent-educators understand the scope, the sequence, and the logic of mathematics instruction from pre-school through adult. Join Tom Clark, founder of VideoText Interactive, as he takes you on a sometimes humorous journey, describing all levels of arithmetic and all mathematics courses encountered in high school and college. In addition, considerable attention will be given to identifying the “why” of the study of mathematics with an emphasis on the development of concepts, instead of rote memorization. (NOTE: This workshop is especially helpful for beginning homeschooling parents.)

Can your child’s future really be boiled down to something as simplistic as whether they are right-brained, or left-brained? Surely, as homeschooling parents, we want our children to believe that they are capable of using “both sides” of their brains. In this educational and entertaining workshop, we will explore the natural and logical connections between Mathematics and Art. We will investigate mathematical principles, and see how they are related to, and illustrated by, artistic applications. Likewise, we will explore several artistic concepts, and see how they are based on mathematical ideas. Of course, throughout, the importance of language and communication will be stressed, as it must play a key role in the understanding of both areas.

Is your second grader building a fusion reactor in your backyard or calculating rates of speed and velocity? Forrest and Beth Mora’s daughter, SmartCookie #1 received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in three short years at 21 years of age and is a state certified teacher. Their son, SmartCookie #2 and twin to #1, received a 104% in Calculus 2 in his senior year of high school and reads C++ programming textbooks for enjoyment. Join Beth Mora as she travels back through time to when their “smartcookies” were in their elementary years. Beth candidly shares about her journey home educating her two academically advanced children and learn how she kept the wheels of opportunity turning. She’ll also share about the challenges “smartcookies” can present and what you can do to help.

Maybe you haven’t always homeschooled. . . you’re starting a few years in, or even mid-year. Can you really start mid-stream? What does homeschooling look like? Where do you begin? What should you expect? How can you ease the transition for all of you? We’ll cover these topics and more. Q&A time included, so bring your questions.

In a traditional classroom environment, students have an average of eight to ten individual interactions with their teacher each day. In your homeschool, these verbal interactions can number in the hundreds and greatly enhance the education your children receive at home. Zan Tyler shares how the simple and free tool of conversation can help your children replace boredom during lessons with a motivation to learn. Discover why parents make the best teachers and capitalize on these strengths. Explore strategies to minimize conflict in your home and promote camaraderie, enthusiasm, and learning with stimulating academics instead. Conversation is the key! Conversation IS core curriculum.

Whether you want ready-made unit studies or the tools to develop your own, this workshop could be the answer! Come for an overview and explanation of definitions, comparisons, and resources for implementing unit studies into your home. In this workshop, we will also develop your personal Unit Study P.R.O. skills and provide you tools to create your own unit study at home.

How to develop an educational plan for your student with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, and other special needs. Beth Mora brings her background as a registered nurse, case manager and certified rehabilitation specialist (C.R.R.N.) to this workshop. She is a student of her patients and has learned a great deal from the families she has served. In this workshop, Beth will introduce the S.O.A.P. method to help you develop an educational plan for your child with special needs and help you locate that missing puzzle piece. Plan to leave this workshop feeling strengthened and empowered to continue your special needs journey.

Teaching reading is as easy as A-B-C…or is it? Join us as we examine the popular approaches of teaching children to read, current research on reading success and provide an overview of the wide range of available curriculum. Pre-reading exercises and tips designed to develop reading fluency and comprehension will be shared to equip your emergent reader.

Here's the truth about the classical model of education! What do parents really think? How do they actually use the classical model in their own homeschools? Come and get your questions answered by these experienced parents that are using the classical model to raise competent children with a Biblical worldview.

History is HIS story about HIS people and HIS world!! Join Amy in "blowing the dust" off those old texts that many consider dry and boring, and learn creative ways to teach these topics. Ways that will captivate your student's hearts, minds and interest!

By understanding your child's learning style, determining an educational approach and deciding on objectives, you will be able to make a better decision when choosing curriculum.

Welcome to the digital age. What does the future of education look like, and how can the homeschool community take advantage of this? Here's a look at free tools and free content sites online that can make your homeschool more efficient, more economical, and more powerful. Harness the educational advantage of online learning and give your kids a jumpstart on their future. We will look at how Web 2.0 applications are changing the definition of education - blogs, wikis, Google applications, Skype, VoiceThreads, open courseware, YouTube, Facebook and even Twitter, when used appropriately can really help kids learn.

What are thinking skills and why all the fuss? This seminar challenges traditional teaching methods head on by outlining the best way to teach so your child can remember and use what he has learned-- even when he is an adult. Analysis, synthesis and evaluation explained; samples of creative and critical thinking. And lots of suggested resources and activities that are uncomplicated, time-saving, inexpensive, and effective.

Overlooked! That's what often happens to foreign language instruction. And yet, the "language window" is open and waiting in our children for only a short period of time. Sara Rask, Rainbow consultant and former, High School French teacher, encourages homeschooling moms to introduce a foreign language to young children. She walks through the transition to formal language learning in middle school and addresses the high school credit dilemma. Throw open the window and let foreign languages carry your child to fluency!

Creating a high school transcript is easy yet a vital part of your child's high school records. In this interactive, practical seminar you'll create a transcript that can be used as a pattern when designing your own. We'll guide you through transcript essentials, evaluation of credit, grading guidelines and scales, and calculation of grade point averages (GPA's). In addition, you'll receive sample transcripts depicting other formats for you to consider.

As your child grows older, you may be considering high school at home — but you've got your doubts! Why is homeschooling high school a crucial decision for your teen? How is it possible? What help is available? We'll answer your questions; but more importantly, we'll encourage and challenge you to explore the steps you should take as you weigh the possibility of teaching high school at home.

Have you wondered, "How can I afford to homeschool" or "Am I capable of teaching my children?" You and thousands of parents these past 30 years have wondered the same exact things and have homeschooled their children successfully. There are so many options today, so where do I start? You can homeschool on one income and do it very well! Homeschooling is a journey for the whole family, one in which you will all grow individually and together. Come and glean from the 30 plus years of experience as Renee Miller shares hundreds of ideas to save you money as you teach your children and raise them to love the Lord with all their hearts.

In this session, a robotics team of homeschoolers from western Pennsylvania will share their journey and give you hints on how you can start your own robotics team in your local area. They will share about their experience in the BEST Robotics program which includes aspects of designing and building robots, programming, technical writing, and marketing.

Are you new to homeschooling or new to Pennsylvania? Are you thinking about homeschooling at some point in the future? Do you have questions about what homeschooling might look like and how to get started? This session is designed to encourage and equip you to homeschool your children. Topics include: Why homeschool?, how to get started in PA, a typical day, curriculum, record keeping, testing, portfolios, and evaluations. There will also be time for questions.

Art is the forgotten subject for many families. But what has been missed is not just the "Art Lessons". Come learn why art is important, how to incorporate it into core subjects, and how to make learning fun! You'll leave with hundreds of ideas to make learning more enjoyable, refreshing and fulfilling. Best of all they will retain what they learn!

Whether you want ready-made unit studies or the tools to develop your own, this workshop could be the answer! Come for an overview and explanation of definitions, comparisons, and resources for implementing unit studies into your home. In this workshop, we will also develop your personal Unit Study P.R.O. skills and provide you tools to create your own unit study at home.

Picking curriculum can be an overwhelming, confusing, and a surprisingly expensive venture. If you are starting out on the homeschool journey, or if you are a curriculum junkie who has struggled with completing curriculum, this talk might be for you. Sarah Mae gives you the confidence that you can give your child a wonderful education without spending hundreds of dollars.

Food engages the senses and intrigues our minds, so why not add it to your curriculum! Join Sara Rask as she offer suggestions and resources for incorporating cooking into your classroom. Learn how to make your curriculum truly multi-sensory in this tasty workshop!

Choosing the right curriculum for your child can be overwhelming. In this workshop, you will be given a passport to help you discover the many learning styles and curriculum methods available to give you the confidence you need to decide which ones will work best for your child.

Find out how you can discover your child's natural way of learning and understanding. We'll explore nine different Multiple Intelligences and learning styles. Once you know how your child processes information so it becomes interesting to them, you can then know how to present information in a way that they enjoy learning. I will be sharing how books from Usborne Books & More can reach and excite your child through their individual strengths.

Exactly what is homeschooling and how do I start? Is it legal? Do I have to have a degree? Where do I find my curriculum? Is a virtual academy the same as homeschool? These and many other questions plague most families just starting on the homeschool journey. This workshop is designed to answer the basic questions and help you on your way to a successful homeschool journey.

This session will focus on the mother's role in instilling godly character into the lives of her children through discipleship. Some of the topics we will cover are: •What exactly is discipleship? •How important is a Bible curriculum? •What are some practical ways to disciple my children? •What are some of the struggles in discipleship? And what are the rewards?

Welcome to the digital age. What does the future of education look like, and how can the homeschool community take advantage of this? Here's a look at free tools and free content sites online that can make your homeschool more efficient, more economical and more powerful. Harness the educational advantage of online learning and give your kids a jumpstart on their future. We will look at how Web 2.0 applications are changing the definition of education - blogs, wikis, Google applications, Skype, VoiceThreads, open courseware, YouTube, Facebook and even Twitter, when used appropriately can really help kids learn.

By understanding your child's learning style, determining an educational approach and deciding on objectives, you will be able to make a better decision when choosing curriculum.

Vendor Workshop

Vendor Workshop

Learn how to make sure your curriculum is a useful tool and not the master of your homeschool. Expand your curriculum horizons with great ideas that will challenge and motivate homeschoolers from toddlers through teens. Gain helpful tips for making your student a life-long learner. Homeschooling can be fun, fascinating, and inspirational for both child and parent.

Homeschooling is the fastest growing educational movement in the country and this has resulted in an explosion of curricula from which to choose. Before walking through the exhibit hall, narrow down your choices by exploring learning styles, philosophy of education, and more. This workshop is designed especially for new homeschooling families, but all homeschoolers overwhelmed by curricula shopping are welcome to attend.

God has created each family and each family member to be unique. When we, as parents, embark on this adventure we call “home schooling,” we need to realize that we cannot have a “one-size-fits-all” mentality. What works well for another family may spell disaster for yours. The success your first child enjoyed with your original curriculum choice may not be mirrored by your second child. We’ll touch on a variety of ways you can educate your children, from kindergarten through high school, without getting stuck in an educational rut. We’ll also explore some of the many opportunities that await your child after graduation. Join us as we learn to “Think Outside the Box.”

Discover how to teach students of all ages to write stories, reports and essays with style using the award-winning Excellence in Writing.

By understanding your child's learning style, determining an educational approach and deciding on objectives, you will be able to make a better decision when choosing curriculum.

Accountability, Christian Community, and structured academics are just some of the reasons parents join Classical Conversations' academic programs with their grammar school children. Learn more about being a part of a Classical Conversations program in your area for students ages 4-12.

Come see how to teach math using a skill based, multi-sensory approach from counting to Calculus. Teach your child to understand math and build a foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

Discover IEW's Primary Arts of Language (PAL). This innovative program makes teaching your child to read & write fun for him, easy for you—guaranteed.

The myriad of homeschool choices can be overwhelming like interstates, highways, back roads and scenic routes. There are so many ways and opinions, how can one navigate through it all and still homeschool effectively? Why not blend the best of each method? Join My Father’s World as we show how to instill Christian values while integrating great literature, chronological history, geography, hands-on activities, notebooks and timelines, narration, study of Greek and Latin roots, nature studies, and more. Enjoy short, well-planned lessons in the morning with time to pursue individual interests in the afternoon.

Studies indicate that homeschooled high-schoolers are more likely to remain committed to Christ than those who attend public school. My Father’s World high school curriculum integrates Bible, history and English, allowing your student to develop a strong Biblical worldview using easy to follow self-directed lesson plans for all subjects. Students read through the entire Bible, apply Biblical analysis when reading classical literature, develop strong composition skills and nurture a heart to serve others. Look forward to homeschooling your student through high school and make Christ a central focus during these crucial growing years.

Overwhelmed? Try our easy-to-teach complete curriculum that incorporates phonics, reading, writing, art, Bible, hands-on science, math, history and more. Incorporate preschoolers and older kids in many of the interesting activities. My Father’s World shows how easy-to-teach yet flexible lessons plans eliminate preparation time without sacrificing the FUN.

Introduction to the Common Core and what it means for homeschoolers. This was presented at the 2013 NYS LEAH Downstate Homeschool Convention.

Picking the perfect curriculum is a tricky task. In this session we will overview the general types of curriculum and educational styles. Learn how to navigate the market, avoid purchase pitfalls and find the right fit for your family’s learning styles and budget.

Homeschooling doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars per child. Vicki homeschooled seven at a time while their family was without a full-time income for four years, sometimes spending less than $100 per year.

What ARE the “3 C’s of homeschooling, and what is a “well-rounded” student? Are you always worried about choosing the “right mix” of subjects and lessons? Have you sometimes asked yourself “Is there really a good reason to teach this subject?” or “Am I really able to teach this subject?” Join Steve Clark as he shares some ways to determine which subjects to choose and then discusses how your choices can fit into a master plan of developing a well-rounded student.

Does your school day lack pizzazz? Is the topic too big for you to cover well? Do you want your children challenged and motivated to do their very best? If so, then maybe co-opping is an option you should examine. Three home-schooling moms will share how they have been blessed by the benefits of co-opping together the last 13 years. Come learn the how-to's and more of starting a co-op.