Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the demands of parenting? Life is certainly a challenge for parents, especially those who accept the added responsibility of home education. But there are ways to make life easier and more productive, and this workshop discusses some of those. Marilyn Boyer, mother of fourteen children and a veteran home educator with more than forty years of experience shares her techniques for accomplishing a mammoth amount of housework while giving her children a superior education at the same time.

Handout available at: https://www.oceanetwork.org/2023-speaker-handouts/

Save time and money by teaching your students most school subjects together. Join Sonya for practical strategies to lower your stress level, provide a well-rounded education, and help you and your children build sweet memories. Learn how to keep it simple by teaching your whole family together with Charlotte Mason methods!

Ever wondered how NOT to organize your day? Veteran homeschool mom of 10 (7 still in home school) and creator of My Student Logbooks takes a fun look at what organization is and isn't, why sometimes trying other people's organizational systems is a disaster, and how to discover organizational tools that work for YOU.

Struggling to teach all the kids all the things? Finding it difficult to plan your days or keep from falling behind? Learn from a homeschool mom of six practical ways to organize your days, maximize your teaching time, and still make time for the joys of homeschooling.

Our God is a God of order. Look at creation, the church, and the family, and you see it. Having a bit of organization in our life helps our days to run a bit more smoothly. Being organized in homeschooling is essential to help us stay on track to accomplish our daily, monthly, and yearly goals. Organization for each family looks different, just like each family's homeschool looks different. However, we all need a place to start. Learn some organizational tips and ideas for your school year, your school day, your books and material, and much more that you can modify and personalize to help you have a successful homeschool year.

There's a huge demand for good MTs. As a result, there's more variety and volume of work than ever before. Learn about the reports we transcribe, earning potential, equipment, working for The Medical Transcription Service, and much more. Your instructor has been a medical transcriptionist for more than 35 years, operates a large MT business, and has taught for many other programs. You'll enjoy her warmth, humor, and practical advice. Presented by the Medical Transcription Service

Always feeling behind? Wondering how to get it all done? Find out about this simple and flexible tool and how you can incorporate it into your homemaking and homeschooling! The handout is a link to a blog post where you can download loop scheduling templates.

Handout available at: https://www.proverbialhomemaker.com/loop-scheduling-printables.html

Creating a high school transcript is a vital part of your teen’s high school records—but it doesn’t have to be hard! In this interactive, practical seminar, you will create a transcript that can be used as a pattern when designing your own. The session will guide you through transcript essentials, evaluation of credit, grading guidelines and scales, and calculation of grade point averages (GPAs). In addition, you’ll receive sample transcripts showing other formats for you to consider.

Handout available at: https://www.oceanetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/High-School-Transcript-Clinic.pdf

A recurring theme among homeschoolers is: Help! I’m committed to homeschooling, but I’m feeling overwhelmed just by everyday life! For many of us, standard organizing suggestions don’t “stick,” and we wonder what’s wrong with us. In this workshop, Vicki shares some tools that have helped her (and other busy moms) to homeschool and get dinner on the table… on the same day. (If you were “born organized,” you may find yourself in this workshop anyway, to possibly pick up one more idea!)

Handout available at: https://www.oceanetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/Word-in-Your-Wee-Ones-handout-2015.pdf

Toddlers, Tweens, and Teens, OH MY! Do you have a houseful? Are you planning on having a houseful? If so, then this is a great workshop for YOU! Heidi and Jay St. John are the homeschooling parents of seven perfect, never messy, always obedient, very sweet, usually tidy, generally obedient, always energetic, very curious children. They have homeschooled all the way through high school.

One of the most challenging aspects of homeschooling a houseful is figuring out how to teach them all while finding time to manage the rest of your day! Moms are always wondering if they are “doing enough” and finding the time to teach individual subjects, well, individually… can be overwhelming.

In this workshop, Heidi will share seven secrets of multi-level teaching that will empower, encourage and enlighten you! If you’ve got a houseful, then you’ve got your hands full! Let’s laugh together, and rediscover the JOY of homeschooling with a full heart AND a full house

Volunteers are the backbone of nonprofit organizations. Without volunteers, visions crumble. How do you recruit qualified volunteers? How can a leader strengthen a volunteer to go the distance? How do you inspire your volunteers to serve with passion? Forrest and Beth Mora will share ten key principles to help you form a team that will thrive and create a lasting impact.

Having a productive day is so much more than buying a planner or a tool for organization. In this workshop, Rebecca, the Well Planned Gal, takes listeners a few steps back, helping them begin with a philosophy and understanding of the uniqueness God has created in each family. From there, Rebecca explores ten essentials for having a Well Planned Day.

This is a “potpourri” of topics and attendees can bring up any subject they wish to discuss. Carol Topp will lead off with her Topp 10 tips for running a homeschool organization. Included are tips on bylaws, boards, avoiding fraud, hiring workers, buying insurance, and conducting fund raisers. A handout of tips for leaders to share with your board back home will be provided.

You know you need to let the children be more involved in helping at home, for training them in character and in practical skills, AND for your sanity! But where do you begin? This foster mom to almost 50 children will share tips and practical helps that have enabled her to homeschool 17 children and still be able to open the front door to guests.

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

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” ~ Benjamin Franklin. As a homeschool parent, it is imperative that you have a plan in place for the success of your homeschool. Veteran homeschool mom Linda Crosby will show you how to lay out your year, month, week, and day with schedules that will allow for flexibility in your homeschool. This practical session will get you started on the right foot with a workable schedule to keep you aimed in the right direction at the areas that are most important to you. Linda will present a variety of schedules to give you planning ideas, as well as helpful hints for dealing with interruptions, housework and chores, keeping the toddler occupied, fitting it all in, eliminating time stealers, setting goals for your child, plus more. Come join Linda and plan to succeed!

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

Are you drowning under piles of papers? Weren’t computers supposed to make managing information easier? Learn techniques for dealing with the mountain of school papers and your many household documents. Develop a process to move them out of the to-do pile and into the done pile. Determine what documents (paper and electronic) to keep and ways to file or store them.

Homeschool mom, if you’re struggling with trying to do it all, you will enjoy hearing Heidi’s favorite tips for managing homeschooling and homemaking and still finding time to fit in other things… like alone time with your husband. Learn how two words can make a difference in managing your home and homeschool. Bring a friend and leave your preconceived ideas at the door because real moms sometimes serve Cheerios for dinner!

Many of us dream of a simpler life, but are just too busy to actually do anything to make it happen. We have so much on our plates. How can we balance it all? Together we’ll consider ways to make life simpler and how to put them into practice in your daily routines.

Disorganization in your students’ bedrooms can create a mess that’s a nuisance, but disorganization in their studies can affect grades, future work habits, and success. Knowing your students’ organizing style and learning to set up a process that works for them will give them organizing skills to use in their studies and many other areas of their lives. Unfortunately, we can’t promise they’ll use them to create a tidy bedroom.

Too often we’ve just accepted how busy our lives are supposed to be, but many of us are running through life in a frenzied fog. We have a nagging sense that it shouldn’t be this way, but don’t know how it should be. With a bit of laughter and an unabashed challenge of the status quo, you’ll learn to take control of your family’s lives.

As moms, we wear a lot of hats. Sometimes, it’s hard to know which one to take off and which one to put on. Learn how to free yourself from the expectations of others and quit struggling to do it all. Heidi’s favorite strategies and tips for managing the competing demands on your time will make a huge difference in your relationships.

Explore the advantages of teaching your preschooler in a preschool environment that is also a family environment. Choices abound for educating our youngest and in this session you will hear from moms who have operated a family-based preschool co-op for three years. Learn basic information and tools that will help you start your own family-centered preschool co-op.

"If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." The ability to be organized, or lack of it, sets the mood in families. When families are disorganized they don't feel in control and when they don't feel in control, their stress level rises, and this alone can be the biggest enemy of our homeschool efforts. Organization has no room for procrastination. This workshop will give you some tricks of the trade to be more organized and to feel more organized. (There is a difference.) Come prepared to take home lots of encouraging ideas.

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.

Have you ever experienced a series of days, weeks or even months when you felt like you just could NOT get on top of all that you had to do? Most moms struggle with finding a balance when it comes to homeschooling and staying on top of the rest of your day. Homeschool mom, if you're struggling with trying to do it all, you will enjoy hearing some of Heidi's favorite tips for managing homeschooling and homemaking...and still finding time to fit in "other things" (like alone time with your husband!) Bring a friend and leave your preconceived ideas at the door because real moms sometimes serve Cheerios for dinner!

When you walk into the Exhibit Hall you are blown away by all the choices. How do you make sense of it all? How do you find that "perfect curriculum"?

Our children are precious gifts from the Lord but sometimes they can interfere with our human plans. Many homeschooling parents are in distress because they find their little ones seeking attention at all the wrong times. Let Paige share with you creative ways to prepare these young “sponges” for school while keeping them creatively occupied at times when the parent needs to concentrate on the older ones. The workshop is full of practical suggestions for educational toys and common household items that can be used to educate and occupy young ones. Homeschooling with young ones can be easier than you think!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your things? Do you get stressed just walking into your living areas? Come hear how to overcome the clutter that so often invades our lives and living spaces. Find out how to organize your space while learning what works for your personal organizing style. Discover how to fix common organizing trouble spots and maintain this new order in your space. Leave ready to bring order into your home and peace of mind back into your life.

It always seems like we have too much of one and not enough of the other. Learn tips for managing the influx of papers as well as setting up a paper flow that works for you. Find out what papers you need and which you can get rid of. See how to make your calendar match your priorities and learn tips for better time management.

Is your homeschool day made up of demanding toddlers and emotional teens, six subjects to prepare for each child, co-op demands, music, sports, falling behind, tears, chores, skipping chapters...ultimately the question, "Where is God in all this?" Learn to work together as a family to achieve attainable goals with a fresh outlook and easy-to-implement organizational ideas. Bring sanity and success back to your home, and enjoy the process. Your homeschool chaos can come to an end!

This is for all the other moms who have been futilely asking for a maid every year for Christmas. How do you do more than is humanly possible? (which most of us are trying to do!) or justify not doing it? (which is an easily acquired skill!) You will be challenged to determine priorities as you seek to organize your time.

Why do we start for the kitchen to get a drink for a child, get sidetracked by a paperclip on the floor and end up weeding in the garden with no idea why our child is still thirsty? Why do library books constantly disappear into black holes in our homes, never to be seen again?...at least not before the fines add up? Why do we have 25 great educational programs or projects started and only 2 or 3 are ever finished? As a self-proclaimed "Gloriously Unregimented Mom", Carol shares stories and strategies from the heart (and from the trenches!) about a home run by a highly distractible mom. She brings to light the many "truths" distractible moms must own if ever they are to develop strategies that work. Best of all, Carol shares her firm conviction that the highly distractible mom has a real and God-given edge over the naturally organized mom. Come and learn and laugh as you find REAL help for the highly distractible mom.

If you have ever worried about keeping the house clean, meals prepared, and the laundry caught up, all while keeping your lesson plans current, the papers graded, and the rest of your homeschool running, then this session is for you. Drawing from her 15 years of homeschooling, Vickie will share insights on how she keeps things running smoothly in her house.

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.

Come plan your own unit study with Gini & Teri, veteran homeschoolers and seasoned co-opers. Bring paper, pencil and your passion. This will be a session to organize & equip you for a fun & successful co-op study.