Check this page often for the latest workshop listings! A complete workshop schedule will be available two weeks prior to the Chicago Homeschool Expo.

• Experience Excellence in Writing – Cathy Ptak – Institute for Excellence in Writing – Come and discover award-winning Excellence in Writing, a method of teaching composition that really works. Using this program, students of all ages will learn to write stories, reports and essays with style. Best of all, parents and students alike find it easy to use and effective in all their writing endeavors. This workshop will give you an overview of the program and show you how you can get started with even the most reluctant writing student so you can give it a try at home.

• Experience Excellence in Writing – Cathy Ptak – Institute for Excellence in Writing – Come and discover award-winning Excellence in Writing, a method of teaching composition that really works. Using this program, students of all ages will learn to write stories, reports and essays with style. Best of all, parents and students alike find it easy to use and effective in all their writing endeavors. This workshop will give you an overview of the program and show you how you can get started with even the most reluctant writing student so you can give it a try at home.

• The Creation Interpretation Part 1 – Catie Frates – Be encouraged as you take an exciting adventure into the past! Explore the answers to some very hard questions Christians have to face. Be prepared to protect and defend your faith against controversial issues. Laying a firm foundation in Part One, the big picture will be revealed as you investigate evidence for a young earth, dig through Flood geology and fossil evidence, chill to the post-Flood Ice Age, adventure back to the Tower of Babel, be amazed by ancient man’s incredible prowess, and finally understand how dinosaurs fit into the Bible. Come be empowered and encouraged by a veteran home educator of over twenty years who wants to share the “how to” with you.

• The Creation Interpretation Part 2 – Catie Frates – Elaborating on the foundation laid in Part One, you’ll investigate the latest scientific findings and how they fit into the Biblical model. Wonder at the stars as we explore aspects of outer space and evidence that God spoke it into being just as the Bible says. Ponder the geologic record and glimpse what the Pre-flood world may have looked like including a continent-sized floating forest. Quake as continents speed at 10 miles per hour and collide under the ocean. Investigate the horrific post-Flood global conditions as the planet reels for hundreds of years from the cataclysmic judgment that ancient man and dinosaurs lived through. Come be empowered and encouraged by a veteran home educator of over twenty years who wants to share the “how to” with you.

• Raising Entrepreneurial Children For Success – Ann Haney – Does the thought of becoming an entrepreneur excite you as well as intimidate you? Do you wonder why some become entrepreneurs while others do not? Maybe you come from a family heritage of “employees” and desire to raise your children to break this pattern? Or maybe you are an entrepreneur and want to develop a sure foundation of success for your children? You might be the adult who wonders if it’s too late to apply your gift and become an entrepreneur? No matter what question you can identify with, God’s word has life application principles that are sure to bring you and your children to success! If you desire to change your life and direct the lives of your children for prosperity, follow me on this journey through the lives of Biblical figures and some of History’s greatest achievers to discover what God has in store for you.  At the beginning of this workshop Ann’s daughters will set the stage through a praise dance demonstration that will prepare you to break the patterns that keep you and your children from becoming successful entrepreneurs. Ann will follow with life application principles in her presentation to effectively help you implant entrepreneurial mindsets within you and your child for sure success. Come experience this life changing workshop that will transform your family’s future!

• Couponing For Maximum Savings With Minimal Time—Ann Haney– Have you couponed before, but found the time involvement excessive? If so you will not want to miss the time saving principles Ann teaches encouraging you to “lower your nets again” and this time bring in a catch that’s worth the effort! Ann’s Biblical based teachings bring to light how God’s word can richly enhance your life through couponing. Come learn the policies, websites, time management techniques, organizational skills, and more while you coupon your way to debt free living.

• Square Peg, Round Hole: Shaping Your Daughter’s Identity in a Be-Like-Everyone-Else World – Rebecca Ingram Powell
  The battle lines are drawn and war is waged on our daughters every day. Whether she is bombarded by images and scenes from the ever-present media or assaulted internally by doubts and misgivings of her own imaginings, a growing girl believes she will never measure up to anyone’s expectations. Join Rebecca in this faith-based session to learn what you can do to prevent a crisis of identity theft and equip your daughter with the knowledge of her true identity, gifts, and potential.

• 13 Going on Dirty: Five Things Every Mom Needs to Know About Her Son – Rebecca Ingram Powell
  Boys are different, Mom! Our sexually permissive culture is already sending your son signals that real manhood equals an aggressive thirst for power and a lustful hunger for promiscuity. How do you light a fire in your son for Christ alone? Join Rebecca to learn the secrets every mother needs to know about raising a godly son. (Please note: Because of the nature of the content of this workshop, it is for MOMS ONLY.)

• Season of Change: Parenting Your Middle Schooler with Passion and Purpose – Rebecca Ingram Powell
  The middle school years are a time of great transition, for you and for your child. Sharing candidly about choices, friendships, and the American culture, Rebecca reveals the five dangers lurking on the ‘tween scene. She advises moms and dads to combat these dangers by building the remaining years of parenting on a foundation of these forgotten virtues: reverence, modesty, charity, meekness, and fidelity of heart.

• Using imagery to develop and remediate reading and comprehension skills – Nancy Kulacki / Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes – Reading and language comprehension are complex acts composed of a variety of skills including fluency, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness. The brain ties these skills together through imagery – by creating pathways between the areas responsible for visual input and the areas responsible for language input. This workshop will provide a research-validated model of how specific skills work together to allow individuals to be successful readers. Attendees will also see research and results from schools and learning centers where instructional programs were used to directly stimulate imagery and to apply that imagery to reading and comprehension. There will also be demonstrations of specific steps that parents can use to help their children start developing imagery at home.

• Using imagery to develop and remediate reading and comprehension skills – Nancy Kulacki / Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes – Reading and language comprehension are complex acts composed of a variety of skills including fluency, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness. The brain ties these skills together through imagery – by creating pathways between the areas responsible for visual input and the areas responsible for language input. This workshop will provide a research-validated model of how specific skills work together to allow individuals to be successful readers. Attendees will also see research and results from schools and learning centers where instructional programs were used to directly stimulate imagery and to apply that imagery to reading and comprehension. There will also be demonstrations of specific steps that parents can use to help their children start developing imagery at home.

• Educating for Academic Excellence while Strengthening Your Family – Jennifer Scheler / Sonlight Curriculum – Do you desire to give your children an excellent education, strengthen family bonds and naturally transfer your core beliefs to your children? Would you like to teach your children with confidence from your first day and enjoy learning right along with them? As a fifteen-year veteran homeschooling mom, Jennifer will share how you can achieve your goals by using award-winning literature coupled with complete lesson plans.

• Are You At Your Wit’s End? 10 Secrets to a Stress-Free – Kirk Martin / Celebrate Calm - Do you need help calming your explosive household? Tired of yelling at, negotiating with and bribing your child? Do you want your child to take responsibility for his assignments, chores and attitude? We promise you will laugh and leave with a dozen practical strategies that really work. Create a Stress-Free home—stop the yelling and arguing.
  Eliminate defiance, disrespect and power struggles (even with teens).
  Create stress-free dinner and bedtime.

• “You’re Not the Boss of Me!”: Motivating Strong-Willed Children – Kirk Martin / Celebrate Calm -  Your child was born with boxing gloves on, ready to fight. Well-meaning people tell you to clamp down on and get control of your child. But you don’t want to crush their spirit or create more defiance. So how can you actually take advantage of this strong will and use it to help your child be successful? Come learn how to motivate even the most strong-willed children. Features Kirk and his strong-willed son, Casey (17).

• Parenting – Mission Impossible, if you choose to accept it (and you have!) – Robert Andrews / Gospel Parenting – For the Christian, the difficult task of parenting is not subject to the latest psychological fads presented on Oprah or the current New York Times best-seller on the subject. It is firmly anchored on what the Bible says, and the Bible is not silent on the topic. In this session, Robert presents three basic biblical principles that parents must understand before they are equipped to parent successfully: 1. Understanding oneself 2. Understanding one’s child 3. Understanding how one relates to his/her child. Grasping these truths experientially is vital if the parent hopes to win his/her child’s heart.

• A Biblical Courtship Model # – Robert Andrews / Gospel Parenting – Building on the principles discovered in the previous seminar, Robert proposes a courtship model that incorporates these biblical principles to give parents a specific plan to follow in helping their children find a mate. He is careful to emphasize the parent’s freedom and latitude in the implementation of the model.

• Biblical Discipline – Raising an eager, obedient learner  – Robert Andrews / Gospel Parenting – Teaching is downright impossible without a willing learner, no matter how good the curriculum or the teacher. The Bible teaches that proper discipline is an expression of love, and the one who neglects it really hates his child! Robert explains the distinction between discipline and punishment and proposes a model for discipline that invariably breaks rebellion and results in bonding between parent and child. The “ought to’s, need to’s and should’s” that motivate many children will be changed to “want to’s” as they experience a desire to please parents who love them enough to discipline them diligently.

• Building Character into Your Child – Robert Andrews / Gospel Parenting – Parents often confuse their job with God’s job in the life of their child. God has designed that He alone brings spiritual life. But He has given the parent the job of building character. What biblical character traits can we as parents self-consciously set as a goal for our children and how can we train them in such a way that that goal will be achieved when they leave our home as adults?

• Capturing Our Child’s Heart – the Foundation of Child Training - Robert Andrews / Gospel Parenting –   All the parenting techniques and methods in the world, even biblical ones, do no good if your child is resistant to receive your training. As long as he/she is a child and you can force him/her to comply with your wishes all seems well, but if  you have not captured his/her heart, that serenity often proves to be a mirage that disappears during the teen-age years. How can you capture your child’s heart to insure that they will follow as adults the direction for life you have pointed for them?

• Multisensory Interactive MATH Learning – Vinod Agrawal / A+ TutorSoft – Come join us to learn about our Innovative Multisensory Interactive MATH learning platform and how to use this highly-effective and individualized program to help your child succeed in math. Our Interactive MATH Curriculum Software is excellent for all types of learners, particularly the visual learners.  It does the teaching for you and frees up your time, builds strong foundation and challenges children, takes the boredom of learning MATH away, engages children and makes learning MATH fun. A+ TutorSoft’s Interactive MATH is a result of active involvement and input from many homeschool families. We have worked with many homeschooling parents and children to understand  what elements are most important to homeschooling parents and how we can make their homeschooling journey much easier with our curriculum.

• Multisensory Interactive MATH Learning – Vinod Agrawal / A+ TutorSoft – Come join us to learn about our Innovative Multisensory Interactive MATH learning platform and how to use this highly-effective and individualized program to help your child succeed in math. Our Interactive MATH Curriculum Software is excellent for all types of learners, particularly the visual learners.  It does the teaching for you and frees up your time, builds strong foundation and challenges children, takes the boredom of learning MATH away, engages children and makes learning MATH fun. A+ TutorSoft’s Interactive MATH is a result of active involvement and input from many homeschool families. We have worked with many homeschooling parents and children to understand  what elements are most important to homeschooling parents and how we can make their homeschooling journey much easier with our curriculum.

• Understanding Your Child’s Learning Style: Unlocking Your Students’ Potential – Marilyn Mosley Gordanier M.Ed., Learning Style Coach (LV2) / Laurel Springs School  – Understanding your child’s learning personality, modality, environment, interest and talent can transform your homeschool experience. Participants will learn how to identify their child’s learning style, which will assist in enhancing his or her educational and personal experience. The information gained from this workshop will increase a child’s, self-esteem, family harmony and academic success. Adopting this simple methodology to learning styles will enhance the way a child learns, and the way parents and teachers instruct.

• Understanding Your Child’s Learning Style: Unlocking Your Students’ Potential – Marilyn Mosley Gordanier M.Ed., Learning Style Coach (LV2) / Laurel Springs School  – Understanding your child’s learning personality, modality, environment, interest and talent can transform your homeschool experience. Participants will learn how to identify their child’s learning style, which will assist in enhancing his or her educational and personal experience. The information gained from this workshop will increase a child’s, self-esteem, family harmony and academic success. Adopting this simple methodology to learning styles will enhance the way a child learns, and the way parents and teachers instruct.

• Alternatives for ADHD – Heather DeGeorge, Health & Wellness Coach – Learn about conditions to rule out where ADHD is the symptom rather than the condition; and discover some non-drug alternatives for managing (if not eliminating) the condition. Whether you have already turned to medication and want to explore the possibilities of removing it, or are heading there and would rather not–get the information you need to provide concrete and realistic options. Information applies to adults and children.