Once upon a time, homeschool conventions used to be an opportunity to stock up on curriculum and a few supplemental items for the upcoming school year. After paging through catalogs and writing their lists, homeschooling parents would purposefully make their way to trusted publishers, dragging their loaded carts behind them. Before the days of podcasts and blogs, conventions provided an opportunity for families to listen to keynote speakers and attend workshops, soaking in the encouragement that would have to last for an entire year until the next convention.
After the dawn of the internet, conventions still serve as an opportunity to purchase materials for a new school year and listen to motivational speakers, but the necessity has seemed to wane. However, homeschool conventions still play an important role in the life of homeschool families and groups. Firmly believing in the foundation that conventions lay, IEW regularly attends conventions and hosts booths staffed by dedicated IEW employees and volunteers to serve customers from multiple arenas. Over the years, IEW booth workers have served customers from a variety of backgrounds, from the brand-new homeschooling mom to the seasoned co-op teacher to the twelve-year-old boy eager to show Mr. Pudewa his paper. Enjoy IEW booth workers’ memories and reflections from their convention experiences below.
New-to-Homeschooling Families
How do new families find the IEW booth? Some parents systematically wander up and down rows of vendor booths, stopping at places that catch their attention. IEW’s large display of curriculum is impressive and catches their eye. Other parents make a beeline for the booth after attending a workshop by Founder and Director Andrew Pudewa. Sometimes the workshop is writing-specific, but just as often he speaks words of wisdom about parenting, education, or life in general. Still others have talked to friends who have sung IEW’s praises repeatedly. Knowing nothing else about the program except that everyone raves about it, they circle IEW’s booth on their exhibit hall map and make a point to find their way.
For new families, often their first impression is that the booth is busy! IEW workers’ attention is in demand as they shift from one customer to the next. However, the parents find that it is worth the wait when a worker can ask about their students and what their homeschooling needs are. The worker makes recommendations, circling pages in the magalog for later reference, and even offer some of her favorite resources and webpages.
One worker recalls a family with English language learners who had recently joined their home. Rather than convince the family to purchase writing materials, she encouraged the parents to continue to work on English skills, reading aloud often and using IEW’s poetry memorization program. The parents were invited to come back to the booth the following year and ask, “What’s next?”
Families of Students with Learning Differences
As noted in the article “Community and Connection” (pg. 35), families who educate students with learning differences often struggle to find community in their local homeschool groups but manage to find it at a homeschool convention. Still wary, they approach the IEW booth having already convinced themselves that this award-winning writing curriculum couldn’t possibly be for their family. Much to their surprise, they often encounter booth workers who not only know how IEW can work for their students but also have shared a similar learning situation with their own students.
One such IEW booth worker recalls rich conversations with discouraged parents at a homeschooling special needs conference. During the conference, she readily shared her own experiences with a homeschooling grandmother who desired to provide her grandchildren with the best education possible. Although the grandmother hoped to use IEW writing curriculum, she could not envision how IEW could work with the added challenges of dyslexia and autism. Moved to tears, she left the booth with concrete curriculum recommendations, tips for accommodation, and a promise that she could do it. A later email from this grandmother profusely thanked the booth worker because IEW was indeed working for her grandchildren.
Classroom Teachers
Hats off to classroom teachers of IEW! These individuals have taken on the tremendous task of educating a group of students. Sometimes this is through a formal co-op. Other times it is a group of moms who gather to learn IEW’s methodology and to teach their students with one of IEW’s courses around a dining room table. Booth workers with classroom experience can discuss scheduling and how to accommodate struggling learners or new students who join midyear. They provide practical tips for challenging an older or more experienced writing student. Co-op leaders and teachers browse the new courses in the booth and walk away excited for the upcoming school year.
Experienced IEW Families
Seasoned IEW families offer their own encouragement to booth workers in the middle of the crowded, busy convention hall. They share success stories of college acceptances, scholarship offers, publications in Magnum Opus Magazine, or their reluctant writer’s heartfelt sigh, “Maybe this writing stuff isn’t so bad after all.” Booth workers celebrate each and every win. Many of these testimonies can be found on social media as videos or posts in Facebook groups.
These veteran homeschoolers are excited to see what new offerings IEW has for the upcoming year and will quietly settle into a corner of the booth to take notes while they page through books.
At times, an IEW booth will be staffed with one or more instructors from the IEW Online program. It brings these instructors great joy when one of their students takes the time to stop by the booth to meet a teacher in person. Additionally, local volunteers in the booth have their own students stop by the booth to greet their favorite teacher and ask what the plan is for the next year.
Fans of Andrew Pudewa
Of course, no homeschool convention is complete without a trip to the IEW booth to catch a sighting of the elusive Andrew Pudewa. Although his presence is in high demand as a speaker, he is equally sought after by families whose lives have been touched by his words and work. Parents of students with learning differences share that he is the reason they continued to homeschool. Parents of reluctant writers declare that the tears during language arts have stopped. Parents of graduated students express their appreciation for the success their students are experiencing with university writing.
Perhaps even more endearing are the hopeful young students who tentatively ask, “Will Mr. Pudewa be here soon?” They are prepared to share a paragraph, recite a poem, or tell a joke. Regardless of how weary he might be, their beloved Mr. Pudewa smiles down at them with his full attention to praise them for their efforts and encourage them. Families appreciate and value these moments and the time he invests in them.
Do you see yourself in one of those groups? Maybe you consider yourself to be past the stage of needing a homeschool convention. We exhort you to take the time to return to the basics. You may find encouragement to stay the course because you are making a difference in the lives of your students. You may even find that you are the encouragement that someone else needs as they are on their own homeschooling journey.
by Marci Harris
