I love the end of March and April, because our Conference is held at the end of March, and then in April, when all the work is done and we feel like a treat, we head down to the MACHE Conference in Minnesota. This is how it went down in my diary last year.
The Conference and everything surrounding it was a very enjoyable affair, and, us being the ambassadors of MACHS to the MACHE, educated critiquers of the Conference, privileged occupants of St. Paul-by-the-Mississippi, and legitimate guests of the Hyatt Hotel alongside the Carmans, we felt (or at least I did) like head-held-high V.I.P.s with an if-not-as-valued-as-valuable at least offered opinion.
A Homeschool Convention is my favourite thing.
The tightly-knit group of great people planning it are exhilarated by seeing the fruit of their labours, and the speakers and vendors are at the climax of their role, earnestly working on the people themselves, while always knowing just how worthy of respect the average attendee is. These average attendees, largely oblivious to the work put into every moment of the Convention, have been looking forward to it for less than two weeks, but now that they are here are making the very most of their time. The dads speak to wise people and go to philosophical talks, weighing the ideas and the motives and lighting right up over some new idea. The moms shop the exhibit hall with a plan and execution, and as they mingle they pair up with other moms they know, who tell them what to buy (altering the plan), and drag them to a talk they’re interested in. The teens find their friends after only one trip through the exhibit hall, and stay with them, in knots, until they find their way into the Teen Track room, which becomes the hub for all the teens for the whole weekend, and the most active ideas in the room are not from the speaker but from teen to teen.
Once the sessions break for lunch it takes a little while, but eventually the families regroup and come up with a plan for where to eat lunch. One notices that downtown has suddenly become rather overrun with pleasant, well-dressed people - long skirts and hair, quiet humility and bright faces are roaming the city, spilling out of the Convention Centre and flowing toward the river; relaxing on the grass and with feet soaking in the water as they eat their sandwiches and carrot sticks and compare stories from the morning. Inside, away from the bright sunshine and cool breezes, but basking in the light of a scene just as nice - happy, enlivened attendees - the Conference team pauses to flash a smile one to another and whisper, “It’s going well! The people whom we wanted to bless are being blessed!” Sweet is their shared success as they take a moment to enjoy the sight of a mother, standing in the middle of a wide hall, with a baby strapped to her, her bag at her feet and her eyes on the Conference schedule, in the light of all they have done to bless her through the Homeschool Conference.
