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mellyrose
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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Just curious -- at homeschooling conferences you've attended, are kids welcome or not?
edited to remove the rest bc I think it came across as whiny. My real question is whether kids are welcome usually or not. thanks ;)
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Melanie in AZ
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CAgirl4God
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 1:12pm | IP Logged
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I have been to two.. and no young kids.. nursing one were fine...and older ones (teens??) were fine.
I think they do it that way for the talks.
maybe you could check with them people running it. if you are sitting at a vendor's table and not attending talks, maybe that is okay?
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Barbara C.
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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I think it depends. There's a big one here in Chicago every year. I haven't been to it yet, but I know they actually offer activities and workshops for kids of all ages in addition to adults. Of course you have to pay, but some people earn credit by being presenters or doing other volunteer work at the conference. Most of the adult seminars only allow nursing babes, though.
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SusanJ
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 3:55pm | IP Logged
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I haven't been to many but usually kids are allowed in the vendor hall but not at the talks. Pretty understandable.
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folklaur
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 4:35pm | IP Logged
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 I would have to say, in all honesty, that the focus of this year's fair seems very different than last year.
Last year, what happened was basically a little idea ("I wonder if we could get a few moms together to talk about different curricula?") that then ballooned.
Quickly.
Which was great. (But overwhelming.)
Again, at last year's, there had originally been NO plans to have talks. It was going to be a curriculum fair only, thus no need to limit children as I thought people would just drop in for a little while, look at curriculum, and that would be it (especially since there was no selling going on), so our "child care" geared for that and for the Mom's who were helping. I had no idea it was going to go the way it did. (I can add that the childcare did not flow as smoothly as we would have liked, and the poor teens who were "forcefully drafted" into the position did a fantastic job  ) So again, the talks portion (and you also have to understand that the person who really pushed for talks and then said they would organize that part - as we had not wanted talks - didn't do what they had committed to, so that ended up falling on DH the day of the fair. Which wasn't bad, we have organized events before, and we are good at winging it. But still, it did lend to the feeling of being overwhelmed.) But overall the feedback we got was very good, very positive.
I liked the informal atmosphere, the gathering together of the group as a whole, while being welcoming to newcomers. That was what I had wanted for it to be. I think that is what it was.
But, even beforehand, there was a large push from others for us to do it differently, and for it to be something else, more structured, more talks, keynotes, catered food and private Mass, Teen track ( I would have had NO child care workers then  ) etc, etc, etc. Which was a reason we stepped down (even before we had found out about dh's new job.) Not because those are bad things. They aren't! But it wasn't the idea we had had when we first started throwing the idea around between dh & myself, and it wasn't where we wanted to go so fast. And we were asked to "be the ones to organize it but we want it done this way."
It really looks like it is going to be a great event - I mean, the keynotes are great, the Bishop is doing Mass, etc. It looks very well done, and we have considered driving back down for it.
But it doesn't have the same focus as when we did it. The woman who is running it (and she is very, very nice) her children are grown, she is a former homeschooler, from what I understand. So that in itself I think may have a shift in focus.
So, anyway. That is my opinion on why it is different.
ETA: whoops  meant to say that is, why, I think kids aren't being allowed. This is really for parents, there will be nothing for the kids to do, and being at the diocesian center, they probably had very strict rules on how childcare could be run/handled.
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mellyrose
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 5:16pm | IP Logged
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Hi, Laura
Yes, I know the focus is different this year.
I *really* liked what you & your DH did last year, and while I knew this year would be different, I didn't envision kids being excluded.
I should have asked more questions before I volunteered, and that falls completely on me. I was just feeling very low this morning and posted my original post in haste.
I'm sure the woman running it this year is very nice, and I wish her great success. We won't be attending and I'm sorry to miss out on the fellowship and curriculum providers that will be there.
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folklaur
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 5:51pm | IP Logged
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mellyrose wrote:
I *really* liked what you & your DH did last year, and while I knew this year would be different, I didn't envision kids being excluded.
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Thanks, I am glad to hear it !
When we were still going to do it this year, we had no intention of excluding kids either.  It was going to be called "Growing Holy Families" and we were going to try to have a kids concert the night before.( The sound minister at the Cathedral has a "Catholic Wiggles-type" show that is really fun!)
mellyrose wrote:
and posted my original post in haste.
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Oh, my goodness, I did't think you sounded hasty or anything - and I am so sorry if my reply made you think i did!!!
It isn't quite what I had envisioned, either.
 And I am trying really hard not to let it get to me, as I foolishly think of it as "my baby." Anyway. Again, I am so sorry if I came across wrong at all. 
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MaryM
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| Posted: April 07 2008 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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I have been involved in conference planning here in our area (coordinated 2 conferences). I also started a Yahoo group for Catholic homeschool conference planners (which is almost silent these days) but through it we were able to learn a lot about the various conferences around the country. One year I completed a spreadsheet of characteristics of all the Catholic homeschool conference in the US. The majority limit the event's attendance to adults, nursing/non-separating babies, and teens (if there is a teen track). There are only a couple that have provisions for children.
I have to say from the planning stand point- accommodating children, having activities for them, etc. -is a HUGE undertaking. Usually there is little man(woman-teen)power available that is willing to volunteer for making that happen even though many want it for themselves. And with a Catholic homeschool conference you are talking about large numbers of children, you need a lot of space and volunteers. The bigger the event the more work that is, so for bigger conferences it is pretty much unheard of to include children. Smaller conferences or ones that really bill themselves more as a family retreat do include children.
I also was not SO strict when I was planning - people exhibiting in the exhibit hall often had their children with them. If they are conscientious and have a mother's helper or something with them or the children are helping at the tables it is not a problem. But unsupervised children running around is a problem. Because having children in sessions is a problem that was not permitted. It's amazing how unhappy some people even get with having babies in sessions with mom. We ask that is babies get fussy that mom's exit the room for a bit to settle them - but that doesn't always happen and believe me we hear about it on the evaluations.
Not sure if this helps - just my perspective - and I also used to plan LLL conferences where babies and children were encouraged to be in attendance and activities were provided, but the expectations of the participants was different.
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Topic: kids at a homeschool conference?
