Family Centered Learning Conference

Earlybird registrataion is now open for the Family Centered Learning Conference.  Please go over to the site and take advantage of the offer.  The price is quite low!

My dear, dear friend Alice Gunther is the keynote speaker.  I have the advantage of being able to speak to Alice on a pretty regular basis, so when I tell you that you do not want to miss anything she has to say, you know that I know what I am talking about.  She’s wonderful, her upcoming book is wonderful and her two talks will be wonderful. Her topics:

A Garden Well Tended: Living the Liturgical Year in the Catholic Home

and

What about Socialization?

The sweet and talented Meredith Henning will also be speaking. I had the opportunity to see Meredith at the Real Learning Conference and to sit in on her talk. She is a wonderful speaker, very easy and natural.  You feel like she’s sitting at her kitchen table, sharing wisdom with friends.  The talk flew by.  Her topic:

Bringing Sweetness to Early Childhood Education: The Preschool Learning Corner

Then there is Margot Davidson. Margot is Hillside Education, the publisher bringing us Alice’s book. Margot publishes wonderful books that you are all familiar with (Nancy Brown’s Father Brown, Cay’s Catholic Mosaic and many more). This gives Margot a unique perspective on literature so her topic:

Purposeful Literature Study: Making Good Readers Great Thinkers

will be really useful to those of us using great literature to teach our children.

Then there’s me.  My topic is: Tending the Wildflowers in Your Garden: Cultivating Love and Acceptance for Your Special Needs Child.  I have some experience with this :). This talk will be of interest to more that just parents of disable children. There are so many special needs children in the world that even if you don’t parent one, you are likely to know one. You may also have a child that, while not disabled, does not fit into the mold that your other children sprung from.   Hopefully I can bring some perspective and some ideas to have a loving and peaceful life with these children.

I have also not forgotten my promise to make sure there is coffee and chocolate. 

So a day of prayer (we start with Mass), meeting some wonderful moms, supportive talks and conversations, coffee and chocolate. You’re in, right?