How To Make The Most Out of A Homeschool Convention

The Homeschool convention season is upon us and I can hardly wait to attend and browse the many venders that will be there. I’ve been attending conventions since I was a few months pregnant with our oldest child! They encourage me greatly. Even if I don’t go hear a single speaker, just being there with all the books and the other homeschoolers is invigorating. 🙂

This year I’m thrilled to be attending a Teach Them Diligently convention for the first time! The speakers that are at this convention look fantastic, and I can tell a lot of work has been put into preparing a fantastic convention that will encourage our weary homeschooling hearts. 🙂 The pre-registration is about ready to end, so hurry and sign up if you are thinking of attending! There are three different locations across the country. You can save $5.00 off a family registration with the code: PRACTICAL until May 20th.

Attending conventions can be overwhelming. I actually fainted at the first convention I attended. Don’t let that scare you, it was from a pregnancy complication and the start of my adrenal fatigue. 🙂

Going with a plan and a budget is extremely helpful when you attend a convention. The most important reason I attend conventions is not necessarily to buy all my curriculum there. It is to familiarize myself with what is out there and to see what interests me. You might be surprised to see what I do and do not buy at conventions.

What I buy at Homeschool Conventions

1. Reading Books for the Children that can not be found at the library. Some of these might include books from Light of Faith, and Grace and Truth books. My favorite place to spend a lot of time at is Light of Faith. They are a smaller company that does not attend all the conventions but they are a lovely family and I like to support them, plus I love the selection they offer and the prices!

2. Coloring books and activity books for the children. I always spend time at Rainbow Resource and pick out one special thing to bring home for each child. Last year I bought Carrianna “Doodle Dolls” which is a coloring book of doll outfits, along with two paper dolls you can put the outfits on. At four years old she hasn’t started playing with the actual paper dolls but she has spent hours coloring doll outfits in that book, it was well worth it’s money.

3. Handwriting books and some consumable curriculum. Last year I wasn’t able to attend because I was sick, but I had a friend pick up some Christian Light math books for both my boys. I considered carefully whether I wanted to look for them used or not, but knew that the chances of finding complete sets were very small and that the shipping with that particular company is expensive, so I went ahead and purchased new at the convention.

4. Inspiring or encouraging books for Mom and Dad. My husband and I always allow ourselves to get one special book each. 🙂 It’s funny how my husband looks through all the vendors that he is interested in, and then narrows it down to a few books and asks me which one I think he should get. It is normally a book on history or different faiths since that interests him. Last year I purchased art prints from The Breezy Tulip Studio as my special item.

What I Do Not Buy At Homeschool Conventions

1. I do not purchase complete curriculum sets at convention. Keep in mind that I don’t use A Beka or Bob Jones, but even if I did I would look for a lot of the items online first, and only buy at the convention if I couldn’t find it online.

2. Teachers Manuals. Most of the time I purchase the teachers manuals online or at used book sales at a cheaper price. I don’t care if they have been used, and it has worked well. The only exception is purchasing the math books from Christian Light last year. Their prices are affordable, so I went ahead and purchased the teacher guides there. That was after shopping online and realizing that by the time you pay the shipping on a used manual it was about the same price as buying it new without the shipping price.

3. Textbooks on CD. Last year we ended up using Teaching Textbooks, even though we have had to stop once we hit multiplication and now are in the Christian Light books to continue covering the foundations before moving on. 🙂 I was extremely blessed to find the Teaching Textbooks CD’s and the book (with only 2 lessons written in the book) at a used book sale for $40.00! I’m considering using some Switched On Schoolhouse curriculum this year, but I will find it used if I do, and simply look at it at the convention to learn more about it.

We are blessed to live in an area that has several used book sales. Of course they are all after the local convention here, but I just go trusting that I will find what I need, and then can look online for used items to fill in the gaps of what I couldn’t find at the book sales. I drive about an hour away to attend one used homeschool book sale, but it is an excellent sale and well worth my time and gas money. I’m honestly like a kid in the candy shop at used book sales, I love finding good deals and picking up items that are not only a required essential, but a fun item to use in our home as well.

Where I shop Online

Here are the places I normally shop online for used curriculum. Please leave a comment and share with us other places as well, because this is not an exhaustive list! 

1. Ebay – This is my last resort because I don’t like bidding on auctions and I rarely win. However Buy It Now auctions have been a good thing. I purchased a complete LifePac History set new in the box for $10.00 recently!

2. Homeschool Classifieds – Easy to look for the items you need, probably the most user friendly site I have seen online.

3. The Well Trained Mind Forum – I love browsing this forum getting ideas on homeschooling and asking questions once in a while. The For Sale and Trade board is wonderful.

4. Diaper Swappers – Yes, an usual place to look for homeschooling curriculum, but they have boards where people sell almost anything you can think of and homeschooling curriculum has it own board!

5. Facebook – There are groups set up on Facebook for selling homeschooling curriculum and I have joined several to look for curriculum there.

6. Yahoo Groups – If you are interested in a particular curriculum there is a good chance that it has it’s own yahoo group, and you can find things used there.

How do you shop conventions? Do you purchase all your curriculum there or just browse? Leave me a comment and let me know, I’d love to hear! 

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