Wednesday, May 07, 2008

 

The INCH Report


Time for me to get back to some blogging, and I can't think of a better subject. This past weekend, Isaac, Olivia, and I attended the 25th annual INCH Homeschooling Convention in Lansing. Overall, the weekend was fabulous. The kids were great company (I hope I was, too!), and the convention was very inspiring. I came home on fire to be the best homeschooling dad around.

Here are the details.......

Isaac and I left Wayne around 1:30 to head to Lansing. We were late, and I was a little grouchy about it. The first workshops started at 2:45, and it didn't look like we were going to make it. (We didn't.) Liv had gone on ahead early in the morning because she was participating in the All-State Honors Concert that evening, and she had rehearsals stacked up all day.

When we pulled into downtown Lansing, we found the place torn up by construction. Finding a parking spot turned into a bit of a frustrating challenge. We finally found a way to get to our usual parking garage by trial and error, trying different streets until we found one that was construction free.

From there, things went very well. We entered the Lansing Center to the usual sweet smell of roasted chestnuts, the official snack food of homeschooling conventions in Lansing. We had missed the first workshop, so we used the time to browse the vendor room and hook up with some old friends who we typically only see once a year at this gathering. Everything was outstanding. Isaac and I even found a free wifi hotspot, so we were busy checking our e-mail and surfering the web with our mobile devices while we were walking through the convention.

The concert that evening was SPECTACULAR. I was so proud. All of the kids, including Olivia, had been hand picked by their conductors to participate in this all-state group. The master of ceremonies told us, "The kids up here are the best homeschooled musicians in the state of Michigan." Wow. Very impressive. Liv's choir had about 30 young people in it. The music was great and the presentation perfect. All the kids performed beautifully. My only beef during the entire concert was when the final group, the orchestra, went long and the concert went overtime. People started arriving in the auditorium for the evening's keynote address. They made no effort to be quiet, talking loudly and noisily walking through the hall. I was so angry. These kids had worked hard, and they deserved better than to have to compete with the parents that were there.

After the concert, we ducked out of the keynote and went to check into our hotel. Unfortunately, our reservation had been totally messed up. I was booked into a smoking room at the full rate, instead of the conference discount. The woman behind the counter told me that there was nothing she could do because the hotel was completely sold out for the night. BLAST! On the plus side, she immediately gave me the cheaper rate to try to pacify me.

It worked. I'm a total cheapskate.

We dumped our stuff in the room, which smelled like the bottom of a hamster cage, and went to dinner at TGI Fridays. Cheeseburgers and fries all around!!! An hour later, we returned to our room, bloated and stuffed with heavy, greasy burgers.

Unfortunately, we found absolutely nothing to watch on TV and decided to turn in. Suddenly, I was faced with a moment that I had been dreading for days. A very dire situation that required a bit of courage and fortitude to face. Question: How do you know when your little boy has grown up and is now a young man? Answer: When you don't want to share a bed with him.

Queue the sinister music.

I had spent days trying to figure out a way to get a bed all to myself in our two bed, three person room. Nothing I could come up with worked. So, Isaac and I were going to have to sleep in the same bed for one night.

He wasn't any happier about it than I was. He told me that he intended to sleep on the floor. I said to him that he didn't have to do that and we would handle things just fine. It was only for one night.

Gulp.

Next to us, Olivia stretched out luxuriously in her own, wonderfully solitary bed. Isaac and I prepared to hit the sheets. We changed, brushed our teeth, and said good night to our handheld electronic devices. This was terrible. No wonder Gilligan and the Skipper chose to remain fully dressed in those hammocks while they were stranded on the island.

Insanity.

Lunacy.

We opened the bed, took a deep breath, and climbed in. No turning back.

To be honest, Isaac wasn't a bad sleeping partner. It was a queen size bed, so there was lots of room. He only crossed into my territory two or three times, and a quick kick sent him scurrying back to his own side. All in all, I thought it went very well. (Although I wasn't pleased when we arrived back home, and Isaac and Rita exchanged strategies for stopping my snoring during the night.)

The next morning, we were up early. We bailed on the Holiday Inn, had breakfast at Denny's, and returned to the convention. The workshops were inspiring and motivated me greatly. Many of the topics seemed to focus on parenting teenagers and raising morally pure children. Those themes definitely ministered to me. I attended meetings on "Dad's Role in the Homeschool", "How to Have a Homeschooling Marriage That Doesn't Merely Survive", and "Raising Pure Daughters in a Dark Generation." I called Rita and told her that I was going to attend a session called, "Encouraging the Homeschooling Mom." She told me that she didn't think I needed it. I proceeded to brag to everyone about what a great husband I am.

I left the conference feeling both blessed and convicted about the job I am doing as a Dad. For the past few days, I've been listening to my conference CDs and trying my best to be a better parent!!!!

And of course, it goes without saying the I dropped a bundle of cash in the vendor room. As usual.

When I returned home, I told Rita that one thing that had stuck me was that the other parents in attendance had been "our people." They share our convictions, follow our God, are raising their children in the same manner that we are, and generally have the same values that we do. I felt so at home among them. I would love it if INCH took place once a month instead of once a year. If I could find where these families go to church, we would be there every Sunday.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Site Meter