Apr 16 2009
Catholic homeschool conferences need your support
I am one of the primary organizers of our annual, local, Atlanta Catholic homeschool conference; so I can speak from experience as to how much work goes into organizing an event. I am sure organizers and volunteers across the country do the same – they / we pour their / our hearts into what we consider a good work.
The hours can be staggering, months of work, hours each day from arranging schedules, finding vendors, nailing down speakers, to lunches, organizing transportation and lodging for speakers, accommodating various needs, ironing out the bugs, finding alternatives when the planned course of action won’t work, scheduling of volunteers, taking care of audio / visual needs for vendors and speakers, and all the while working to ensure that all of the bills for both the location and the speakers and other associated expenses are paid.
We do this for two reasons. The first is fairly evident. The conference is a place where people are fed – spiritually, intellectually and through fellowship. You listen to speakers who encourage and challenge you. You are exposed to all the wonderful resources we have available now to bring authentically Catholic education to our students.
And, this is also a place where you as the attendee have a chance to nurture / inspire /encourage / empathize / brainstorm with families who are new to homeschooling, who are struggling to homeschool, who are burned out.
So, while you may feel that that you do not “need” a conference, I would gently encourage you to consider that perhaps your attendance at a conference will provide a much needed light to another family.
Personally, my deepest satisfaction comes when I am able to connect an attendee to the community of homeschooling. When I can introduce a family who is considering pulling children out of school, to a family who has been in the same situation, it is very gratifying.
I have conferences listed across the country on my site, www.catholichomeschool.org. I encourage you to consider attending one this year. Some are having monetary difficulties because attendance is lower due to the fiscal situation. Vendors are taking risks and often have very small margins and some major expensives with inventory and travel expenses. So just consider making a trip to a local event.
One response so far
I am also a planner of a Catholic homeschool conference, and have been for the past 14 years. Each year, I find it discouraging that many of our long-time core members do not attend the conference. As you said, they feel that they don’t need it. You have summed it up so well: they might not need it, but someone out there might need them. Thanks for this great post!