Photos from the Wisconsin homeschool conference in May

I found some photos from our preparation and time at the May conference.

We still had about 100 printed covers from our 2nd printing of Education of Kings, so we laser printed some more book pages, and were able to make more books for this conference, and the one in South Dakota in April. The pages are cut and jogged and copiously spread with Gorilla Glue, before we put them in their "taco shells" (scored and folded covers). Then we stack them with heavy books overnight. A local printer trims the outside edges for us, as we cannot find a good paper cutter.


At the conference, the main thing we like to do is have a literature table with a bunch of free stuff which has been a blessing to us. So, that includes the "EOK"s. We also print out smaller booklets on various topics, and use booklet staplers to bind them. This is a job that all the kids about 5 and up can help with.


Joanna staples.


Susanna folds.

Planning for our exhibit table was a little tricky. Since we added a video display (the Bible copy video), we were really tight on table space. Additionally, we could not use our free-standing literature rack ($5 at a garage sale!) because of the location of our booth this year.

As we started putting stuff on the 8 foot table, we realized we were very short on space for everything. That was when Mom remembered: we had a five-drawer metal file cabinet in the back of the bus! That's the cool thing about having a bus...


Our friend, Bob McElmurray, recently moved to Bolivia, and while helping him move, he gave us this tall cabinet. We have no room in the house for it right now, so it is kind of ballast for the bus.

Since we had brought a hand truck to the conference, it was no big deal to have the boys haul that puppy out and set it up behind the table, as a Klein-proof video stand!



Here is our table in the exhibit hall. You can see see the video display on the top left. (You should be able to click on this picture and get the details, if you really want to see that file cabinet!)

During much of the time, we all hung out behind the table. It was a little hard to visit with folks that way, but we did get to meet a few people. Some remembered us from last year, and several commented on the "Verse a Day" booklet being a blessing.


We enjoyed a picnic lunch during the conference with our friends, the Dyers, whom we met at last year's conference. They live about 15 miles from us, but we don't see them often enough.



The Dyers invited another family who is beginning homeschooling this year. It was a great encouragement to meet their sweet family!


This was a pretty family friendly conference, which reminds us of our time at the Mexican homeschool conferences.


The second day of the conference, we had clean up our table, because the exhibit hall closed at noon. So, after that, we took lunch in our bus. We popped up the roof-vents and it was pretty nice.

After lunch, Dave and I had sessions during the lfinal two slots of the conference, and they were in the same room. So, we all hung out there. It was conveniently located next to a soda machine!

Oh, so after the conference, we planned to join the Dyers and our friends the Baxters for dinner. We all piled into our respective vehicles. However, our bus would not start. We tried various things, and Mark B. took a look under the hood. We were baffled. With nothing to lose, we tried calling the man whom we bought the bus from...just in case he by the phone on a Saturday evening. He WAS! He instructed us: go to the back of the bus and look for a latch near the bottom of the door. The latch allows you to lock the door while parked. However, school buses may not have the emergency door locked during operation. We checked and the latch was just slightly closed...not enough to prevent the door from opening, but just enough to not trip the switch. We slid it all the way open, and the engine started right up! Thanks Bill!!

We feel the Lord really opened the door for us to make it to this conference, and pray the Lord will bless and guide all those who attended.