The MN History Museum

Yesterday my family and I travelled to the Minnesota History Center to see the Ben Franklin exhibit, and it was a very worthwhile trip!  The exhibit boasted chairs, bowls, portraits and the like from Franklin's own home, while including many interactive displays as well.  My family learned a lot not only about the amazing Benjamin Franklin but also about printing, apprenticeship, and old-fashioned fire-fighting.  One of out most interesting discoveries came while watching a video about printing presses in Franklin's time.  The printer had to set the type by hand, taking the letters from two cases in the picture - the capital letters from the top, or upper case, and the small letters from the bottom, or lower case!  It is always so interesting to learn the origin of a common expression, and one can find more than that at the Ben Franklin exhibit, as well as learning about one of our country's most amazing founding fathers.

The 2010 Homeschool Conference: Highschool and Beyond

This morning I set my alarm (something I haven't done for a while, now that school is finished) and headed out at an early hour to Macalaster College.  There my mom and I, along with the two people with whom we carpooled, joined a group of homeschooling parents and teens for a workshop by Linda Lopez.  As the title of my post suggests, the point was to prepare them for high school and even college.  It had not yet occurred to me to think very seriously about what college I should attend or in what I should major, but this workshop inspired me to begin to consider my options.  I also learned more about college entrance tests and their prep tests, the ACT, SAT, PLAN, and PSAT.

Mrs. Lopez also had a great suggestion for keeping track of things that you have done, school-wise and extracurricular:  take a box and put pictures of your science projects, programs from your plays/recitals, and other such mementos into it.  At the end of the year, you can look back and see how much you really accomplished.  It is easy to lose track and feel like you haven't done anything, so I can definitely see when such a box would be helpful.

There is more to the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference than just one workshop, but I have never been to it before this so I can't explain much more for fear I will do it injustice.  I do know that there are 'vendors', who sell books and other helpful homeschooling things, and speakers, who give presentations.  The vendors (or maybe just some of them....I am unclear on the details) gave their presentations this afternoon, as did the keynote speaker (although he did not give his keynote presentation, but a different one).  Tomorrow morning the conference will begin at 7:15 with mass, and I do not know if it continues until Sunday.  It is annually a very inspiring time for many homeschoolers, who come here from many mid-west states including Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Michigan, and will hopefully encourage home educators for years to come.