I’ve homeschooled my daughter from first grade through graduation yet I have never been to a homeschool convention. Teach Them Diligently changed everything! As a result, I now realize not attending a homeschool convention before now was a significant mistake on my part.

The Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention we went to was held in Nashville, TN. We were delightfully overwhelmed at the valuable insight, information, and encouragement from some amazing, well-seasoned homeschool veterans! You will be blessed if you attend a Teach Them Diligently (TDD) convention!

Inspired by the Keynote Speaker

The first workshop we attended at TDD was with Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis. Our family loves learning about Creation Science from him. After the session, my son, Aja, asked if he could wait in the long line to meet Mr. Ham. Upon meeting him, Aja shared with Ken Ham, “You are the reason I want to be a pastor one day.” I had no idea Ken Ham was his inspiration!

Inspiration of Her Own

My daughter, Stephanie, also attended the convention with us. We signed her up for the servant track, to work with the kids. We immediately wished we had her attend the workshops with us instead because there were several workshops that applied to her even though she had already finished homeschool.

Stephanie discovered the Creating a Masterpiece booth, in the vendor hall, where she created this enchanting pastel piece in just minutes!

She’s always wanted to work with pastels, but it’s something we never got around to doing in our homeschool. Creating a Masterpiece is an amazing art curriculum on DVD that is definitely worth looking into. It’s taught by professional artist, and teacher, Sharon Hofer. The Creating a Masterpiece family asked my daughter and her friend to help them in their booth. They were very generous and ‘paid’ them with a lesson on DVD! What a treasure!

Delighting in the Amenities

We stayed at the Gaylord Hotel, at a discounted price, while we attended the TDD convention. Staying there made attending the convention so much easier. I took many pictures. Most of them were taken at night, and as a result, they did not turn out very well. However, Aja managed to find time during the day to enjoy a cool dip in the swimming pool!

Considering the Cost

The Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention was well worth the time, price, and cost of the hotel to attend. In addition, there were many homeschool booths in the vendor hall. Our favorites vendors were Blimey Cow, Simply Charlotte Mason, Creating a Masterpiece, Shatterpoint Entertainment (can you say awesome Jericho LEGO movie!), Vision Forum Ministries (Jonathan Park Adventures), Sally Clarkson, The Busy Mom (Heidi St. John…formerly known at The Busy Homeschool Mom), and countless more!

In the Future

One thing I will be praying about for the next TDD convention is to turn it into a mini-retreat for our family because we realized it’s a great opportunity to come together and discuss some of the following things:

• We need to discuss what worked and what didn’t work for the school year.
• It is important to determine our vision for our son for next year.
• Reevaluating our son’s interests and abilities will help guide us in our decisions.
• Praying for guidance in our homeschool, in deciding which workshops to attend, what new curriculum we should try, etc… will be a blessing in our decision making process.

Igniting a Fire

If your husband has never been actively involved in homeschooling, the TDD convention could be a life changing event for your family. It was for mine! My husband has always supported me in our homeschool adventure, but now he has hands on experience and encouragement from veteran homeschool families who seem to have ignited a fire deep within him. Furthermore, he understands homeschooling is so much more than just schooling at home. Most of all, he appears to be ready to take a more active role in our homeschool day. I’m ecstatic! What a blessing for our family!