The Good, The Bad, The Convention

Well, the convention wasn’t all I thought it would be.  The church that sponsored it and that it was held in was just super, they did a great job and were oh so friendly!  The used book sale was pretty meager, did manage to find the science book I was looking for but that was it (even met the woman who was selling the book later on at a workshop lol.)  The one workshop I attended was good, given by a mother of 12 who has homeschooled from the beginning and graduated 9 of her kids so far.  She spoke about unit studies and I got a few ideas for our upcoming states study.  The other workshops were just demonstrations of products for sale.  The vendor hall was disappointing to say the least.  I had so many items on my list I thought I would be able to pick up but the booth that was supposed to have the Usborne vendor was just a table with a lady holding a drooling baby and the “classical” vendor had only his own personal copy of A Well Trained Mind and none for sale…uh, how do you come to a homeschool convention with NO COPIES OF THE BOOKS TO SELL?!?  The keynote speaker was a nice enough guy (the guy who came up with Rocket Phonics) but in all honesty his talk rambled, was super personal but never mentioned homeschooling, and when he started breaking us up into groups and then into partners I (and several others) left.  I just wanted to get some inspiration about homeschooling, dude!  So I wound up calling dh and the boys and having them pick me up a few hours early.  They had a great time, at the mall of all places lol!  Apparently, Mobile has a much better mall than we do at home (“They had a Disney Store and a McDonalds’s, Mom!”)  The Carnival cruise ship was docked, too, and it was neat to drive by and see it.  Move over Jacksonville, now Mobile is the best place ever in my kids’ minds lol.  Sigh.  They are such world travelers.

So was it worth the drive over?  Nah, probably not.  If the vendor hall had been better then yes, but I can hear better, (read experienced homeschooling mom) speakers at an online conference and buy used goods at our local consignment shop.  It was worth a try, though (and we got to drive through a tunnel.  Amen.)