2019 Sessions Gallery

Homeschooling Parent Panel

In this session, you will find sage advice from seasoned home teachers and fellow parents about managing learning at home with multiple children at different levels. Receive tips on how to best get (and stay) organized in your space, as well

as your schedule. Learn how to tackle specific challenges, and hear stories that will remind you that you can do it too! There will be opportunities to ask specific questions and engage in dialogue about life Down Home.

Susie Theule & Betsi Ashby

In a world full of options and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), it’s easy to pile your plate full only to realize you can’t keep up, are overwhelmed, and not really doing a great job at anything. Are you ready to begin your journey towards essentialism so you can focus on what’s most important and lead a more calm, fulfilling life? Paring down for sounds lovely, sure, but is it worth prioritizing in a life that already feels over-prioritized? And, seriously, is a LESS. BUT BETTER. life even possible? We will explore and interact with the whys, the wonders, the challenges, and the hows to get you headed in the right direction—and lead a guided discussion of how to start. right. now.

Amy Houser & Sarah Root

Open your eyes to the world of kindergarten math! Come & learn how to teach math in a fun and engaging manner suitable for all kinders! The simple patterns they learn to identify now lay the foundation for more complex patterns, algebraic thinking, and problem-solving in later years. You will leave this session with tips & tricks to create a positive and successful math experience for you and your child!

Thaddeus Kozinski

Instead of just hearing about joyful learning, you get to experience it by discussing a short reading together (no prep required!). Socratic seminar is both LESS. BUT BETTER. and joyful. In teaching through questioning, informational content is less, but student/child engagement is more, so the learning experience is better. It is more joyful to teach and learn by inquiry and exploration than through lecture and direct instruction.

Merideth Eades & Jessica Wilson

In this session, we hope to inspire you to see beyond playing with blocks and to get to venture into the wonder of connecting your child’s natural inquisitiveness with learning across the disciplines. From magna-tiles to natural blocks to the forefather of block play, Fredrich Froebel, we will guide you in how to incorporate the wonder of these materials in your daily life.

Diane Stanley

How does one cull through volumes of history and information to create a best selling children’s book? How does one headed for medical school end up an author of children’s literature? Discover how Diane Stanley has internalized doing LESS. BUT BETTER. and woven editing into her life and her career. Hear about the motivation and various life choices that led her to become a successful author, and learn about her process of writing, editing, and crafting a story. This session includes hands-on editing and processing with Diane as your instructor.

Jenn Perneel

This session covers levels 1 and 2 in the Primary Singapore Math textbook, basic Manipulatives through Place Value Discs, and foundational skills, such as math facts and mental math. It will provide valuable support for current Primary and Kinder families.

Anna Ingalls

Create and present your own Wonder Box to children of all ages. Anna Ingalls will share the vision behind this unique gift that accompanies her interactive literature readings. You will receive a Wonder Box and a guided lesson on painting your own wooden characters from one of Diane Stanley’s beautiful stories. All supplies will be included for this hands-on workshop. This is sure to instill a new sense of wonder within the world of literature for you and your children.

Lisa Ann Dillon

Have you wondered why we encourage your student to play math games? As we learn more about how the brain works, something that comes up repeatedly is how exploring concepts in many different ways helps kids to build more solid Number Sense. A solid Number Sense leads to the firm foundation kids need to succeed at higher level mathematics. It helps kids who are less confident overcome any fear of failure and encourages confident students to look deeper into concepts from many different angles. In this session, we’ll learn games that teach the core concepts of Levels 3 and 4 math, and we’ll also explore some of the key concepts for each level. Come and play at math—it’s sure to reveal the why behind the how of Singapore Math instruction and to equip you for more dynamic instruction on your home days!

Pamela Gerhardt & Sarah Weinshenk

After coming to a better understanding of why we study Latin, participants will have the opportunity to translate a poem by Horace and discuss it in a Socratic

seminar. Participants will also receive a sample lesson in basic Latin grammar with a hands-on activity and join in a discussion on how to help and inspire their young Latin scholar at home.

Merideth Eades & Jessica Wilson

In this session, we will give you the tools to wonder along with your child in a number of natural settings. From looking out your window, to sitting on your porch, or venturing out into the forest, we hope to bring the outside in and the inside out.

Ronelle Volk

As our world becomes more technologically based and our lives become busier, both children and adults spend less and less time alone and in nature. Research supports that both the decline in time outside and in time spent alone (without being “plugged in”) have negative implications. Understanding the ramifications of these changes is important for all—both children and adults should be encouraged to carve out time to be alone, connect with themselves, and give their brains space to simply be curious and wonder. In this workshop, we will discuss research studies, engage in hands-on activities, and learn practical ways to build these habits into our life, hopefully creating life-long practices with emotional and creative benefits.

Jen Wright

As students head into fifth and sixth grades, they will begin to explore pulling important details from a longer source of information, rather than keywords from each sentence, and they will fuse details to write longer assignments. Retelling narrative stories and exploring Stories from Pictures will also allow students to expand their writing skills in creative ways. At this workshop, parents will look at students samples and practice adding advanced stylistic techniques including decorations and sentence openers. We will also discuss common struggles of the emerging independent writer, and how to encourage and nurture children to grow in taking responsibility for their writing mechanics.

Amelia Marini & Betsi Ashby

Discover a journaling and meditative practice that is both sustainable and meaningful. In this session, we will discuss how writing daily haiku serves to document your life, eschew the nonessential, and engage in moments in a more intentional and playful way. Haiku is so much more than the 17 syllable poems you wrote in elementary school—although it does require a childlike perspective. Haiku is a deep and tradition-filled practice containing so much more than meets

the eye. A true lesson in haiku isn’t complete without time spent outside, so be sure to bring your walking shoes and your sunnies.

Lea Payne Scott

In this workshop, you will explore the fundamentals of The Whole Brain Child by learning how your child’s brain is wired, exploring practical, brain-based strategies that nurture your child’s developing mind, and discovering how to build your child’s social and emotional intelligence. We will discuss the basics of integration, the role of mirror neurons, and more. By the end of the workshop, you will be equipped with tools to respond to your children in ways that wire their brains for health, happiness, creativity, and compassion.