Home Education Conference

I was at the AHEA Home Education Convention over the weekend. It was fun and overwhelming and busy and full of books and learning!

My highlights:

I met Douglas Bond! He writes Christian historical fiction, speaks about church history, and does European church history tours. I was in his sessions of Renee of Ferrara, John Knox, and Anne of Bohemia. He's brilliant, he knows so much, and he tells the stories so well! I learned so much listening to him and now there's so much that I want to research and learn more about. Meeting him was a bit overwhelming and I may have fangirled a bit. (But who else would I fangirl over than a historian who writes Christian historical fiction?)

There were so many bookstores represented in the exhibit hall. There were home education stores with educational books, some Christian bookstores with a wonderful variety of books, and some used bookstores as well. The one used book section was large and crammed with books (mostly children's books given that it was for homeschoolers). I bought a pile of picture books, some novels (two of Douglas Bond's books, one of which he signed for me), and some history books. I also bought a pile for the church library.

Among the crowds were several people I knew, some of whom I hadn't seen in a long while. It was fun to have some time to chat and catch up on the news. 

I also learned about some different curriculums, sat in a session about parental rights, bought shirts from one of my students who was selling custom designed t-shirts (one for me, one for the small granddaughter, and a onesie for the baby due this summer), and found some new decks of trivia cards for the Wednesday morning kids.

In all it was a good time, and I was happy to come home and recover after!