Radical Christian Unschooling

Ah, Spring! Farmers Markets…houses for sale…and homeschool curriculum conventions!

Okay, I am home from the CHAP (Christian Homeschool Association of PA) convention. I had never ever been to a homeschool convention before, in all my years of homeschooling, and now that I am fully embedded in radical unschooling, I went! LOL!

That convention was certainly an interesting experience, to say the least! Do you know that people actually go to those things with their LUGGAGE to bring home all the curriculum they buy?? I am NOT kidding! Almost everyone had those suitcases with wheels to put all their stuff in. Of course, I bought a ton of toys and hands-on science kits and art supplies, so maybe I could have used a suitcase or two also…or at least a duffel bag.

I got all sorts of interesting non-curriculumy things. Here are a few (but not all) of the cool finds I made:

Aaron: A bird call gadget, a book called “50 Different Way To Make Slime”, a slime kit, some other science experiment book, two cool board games, a set of “romper stompers”, a crime lab kit, and a KNEX set. Oh, and a toy rifle and a toy pistol.

Andrew: Six new G.A. Henty books, a new chess game called plunder chess, a spy pen that writes in invisible ink and shows up with the blacklight in the other end, a pocket microscope for the beach, and a G.A. Henty book on CD.

Sarah: Two sketch books, a set of acrylic paints, a set of skin tone colored pencils, and an Albert Einstein action figure.

A very interesting day, watching these women, some in jeans, some in Mennonite traditional clothing, some with husbands in tow, some with all 7 or 8 of their kids in tow, discussing and pondering their children’s next year of schooling. I wish I could have just sat and people watched, but alas, my friend had her 7-page list of books she wanted to get, so we traipsed up and down the aisles instead.

The most interesting and amusing sight was seeing the Mennonite women there, in traditional Amish dress, exchanging cell phone numbers or using two-way communicators to talk across the convention hall. What a vivid image of culture clash!

The most perplexing thing was to see all the parenting methodology materials, and even some of the speakers were not talking about homeschooling but about traditional authoritarian parenting. Very sad for me to see such things perpetuated and marketed.

My kids are thrilled with their booty, though, and want to know if I will go back next year…maybe…if I can find and dust off my rolling suitcase in time.

I am really looking forward to the Organization of VA Homeschoolers conference in August! Meeting other VA Homeschoolers, hearing speakers who are passionate about homeschooling, and not having to sift out the parenting and specific religious propaganda is the most incredible weekend.