Homeschool Book Fair

We had the best day yesterday. I've always wanted to go to the big Homeschool Bookfair in Arlington but it has always fallen on Adam's birthday weekend and just not worked out for us to go. Well this year when I saw that it was on Mother's Day weekend, I knew I just had to go. And since it was Mother's day weekend I figured I could talk Jake into going with me and I was right. So, my sweet sister watched the kids and off we went. There was so much to look at!! It really was overwhelming. I had gone in with a pretty good idea of what I wanted to use for next year and by booth #1 I was already changing my mind! We walked around for a little bit looking at books.

Then we went to hear Clay Clarkson speak. I love the Clarkson's! They are such a huge inspiration to me. Their kids are grown now and they are amazing. They are smart. Super smart...writers, actors, composers, students at Oxford. Smart kids. But more importantly, they are following God in big ways. They have dedicated their lives to Him and are truly following His plans for their lives. That to me is the biggest thing I can hope for for my kids. They are a really close family even as the kids have grown and that is something else that I pray for our family. It's all about relationships and connecting to our children's hearts so that we can lead them the way that God wants us to.  Listening to Mr.Clarkson helped to firm up my vision for our family and for our homeschooling. And he explained it from a dads perspective so now Jake isn't just supportive of why I want to homeschool but he really gets it. Now I can say it is our vision for our family. From there we went back into the book fair part of it. I showed him the two curriculum sets I was thinking of for Sarah for next year. It's funny because Adam and I are so much alike. We have similar learning styles. Sarah is more like a girl version of Jake. :) He looked at the first book I was considering and said it looked so boring. I showed him the next one and he said there was way too much going on on each page. I would have never seen it the way he did and I was so glad he was with me. We finally settled on one, something new that I had never even considered that was fun and colorful looking but not as busy looking. I think it's going to be really good for Sarah and I love that we picked it out together.

Finally we went back to the speaking section and got to hear Sally Clarkson. She was amazing as always. I couldn't write fast enough to take notes, I wanted to remember everything that she said. Even Jake got a lot out of her message. Some of the key points I took away were to stop comparing myself, our homeschool, to anyone else's. It's so hard with homeschooling because there really aren't any "rules." It can look however you want it to. And while I love having that flexibility I also like to look around and see how it looks for everyone else. Am I doing it "right?" am I forgetting anything really important, etc.? Her point was to consider my personality and teaching style, my kids personalities and learning styles and just go for it and stop worrying! :) She talked about the importance of friendships, taking care of yourself and your needs because no one is going to do it for you and encouraged us just to have more fun in life and with our kids. I am always so inspired when I listen to her and this was everything that I needed to hear right now. I am so thankful that we got to go and left feeling uplifted, happy and really excited about the coming school year!