Homeschool Conventions

I have been homeschooling for 11 years now and only been to one homeschool convention.  It was a small affair held at the local fairgrounds.  I remember getting a neat science curriculum for ds2 (McWizKid Science…Mr. and Mrs. McWiz are very nice people) and some Usborne books (the rep still emails me all the time lol.)  I didn’t attend any workshops or see speakers because 1.) I didn’t even know about the convention until the last day 2.) I didn’t know what conventions were about and didn’t realize I could see speakers and attend workshops and 3.) The one speaker I saw advertised was some local preacher who wanted to talk to me about being a submissive wife (and this has what to do with homeschooling???)

Anywho, I have always dreamed of going to one of those really big conventions with huge vendor halls, tons of well-known speakers, useful workshops, and goodie bags galore.  For my area this would be the FPEA convention held in (wait for it…) ORLANDO!!!  Yes, you got it, my dream has the fam and I driving down and camping out at our favorite Disney hotel, me spending a weekend ALONE at the convention just soaking up everything homeschooling, the boys bonding with the Dh with some guy time at Disney, and then of course me joining in on the Disney fun at the end.  Yep.  I got close a couple of times, since the convention is held in May and we go to Disney in May almost every year.  So what has stopped me?

$85 has stopped me.  That’s right, $85.  (Even if you are a member of FPEA it’s still $45.)  Now it may just be the skinflint in me, but it seems ridiculous to charge me a fee so I can spend mega bucks on curriculum, food, lodging, etc.  Maybe $5 a person, $20 tops if there are good speakers, but $85!  That’s outrageous.  I’ve dropped almost a hundred bucks before I’ve even walked in the door.  That’s a night’s stay at the hotel.  That’s a day’s worth of eating out for the fam.  That’s a good third of what I spend on curriculum.  I have just never been able to justify spending that much money just to attend an event, especially one where the point is for me to spend money on homeschool products!  So I just keep dreaming.  What kind of experiences have you had with homeschool conventions?  Tell me about some good ones, I’ll add them to my dream.  ;)