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As far as retreats and conventions go, I’ve been sticking close to home so far this year, but that’s pretty easy when amazing stuff has been coming right to me! First it was the Jumping Tandem Retreat in April, and this past weekend it was the Teach Them Diligently Convention!
Teach Them Diligently is actually the first homeschool convention I’ve attended, but I felt like a lot of the messages presented would be beneficial to any Christian family!
I made new “real life” friends with lovely ladies like Rachael Carman {above left} and Heidi St. John, surprisingly ran into dear friends like Traci {above right}, and got to hang out with some of my very favorite friends and homeschoolers from this area! And I finally met my MOB friends, Hal & Melanie Young from Raising Real Men, in person {below} and my friend Michelle from Apologia! So great to hug all of them!
I missed a lot of the sessions because we were still on our tenth anniversary/second honeymoon trip {more on that fun tomorrow!}, but I wanted to share with you about the two main sessions I just loved!
Friday night’s keynote speaker was Pam Tebow! She is such a sweet, graceful, faith-filled, inspiring woman! And I loved how she kept referring to her son – you know, the football player – as Timmy. So cute. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from her session:
What is learned in song is remembered long!
She was referencing teaching Scripture set to music to help the family memorize and I could not agree with this more! This is why we love Seeds Family Worship and The Rizers so much!
Let His Word have a profound effect on your children while they are in your home.
Don’t wait for someone else to teach it or try to explain it to them! Do it NOW while they are home with you!
Without God, we labor in vain. ABIDE in Him.
This parenting job is hard enough as it is, but doing it on “our own” is pretty much impossible. When we abide in Him, He brings forth fruit in every aspect of our lives, including our families!
We don’t have to be Super Moms or Super Dads because we have a Super God!
And THAT one is my favorite.
And Saturday afternoon I just HAD to hear Heidi St. John speak. She was speaking on the topic of marriage & romance for the homeschool mom/wife and I super-duper loved her message and perspective! Lots of laughs, too 
A few quotes from Heidi that stuck with me:
Take Bible off of your curriculum list!
I know this is not related to marriage or romance at all, but this got a hearty AMEN from me. I don’t want to the boys to think “Bible” is just another thing to check off their school list!
The marriage is the priority relationship in the home. Nurture your children out of an overflow of your relationships with Jesus and your husband.
Jesus should be our first priority, but as far as human beings in your household, your spouse NEEDS to come first and the children need to know that as well!
Parallel living vs. Entwined living
Ooh, I loved Heidi’s picture of how couples can live in the same house but never meet because they are living two parallel lives, doing their separate things. Entwined living is what God intended for us as couples, purposefully coming together on a daily basis with Him at the center of it all!
The enemy knows if he can take out the marriage, he’s got a better shot at the kids.
I had never thought of this reason for Satan attacking Christian marriages, but it makes so much sense. Divorce leaves everyone in the family hurting and vulnerable. This is just one of the many reasons our marriages need to be a top priority.
I bought Heidi’s book, The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance: Nurturing Your Marriage Through the Homeschool Years
Such good stuff from just those two sessions, right?! And that’s about .5% of the whole convention!
I can’t thank David and Leslie Nunnery enough for putting on this amazing convention. I had some time to chat with Leslie Friday night and they are just the best of people. Their heart for encouraging and equipping families to carry out Deuteronomy 6 is so inspiring. They love Jesus and love people and are doing something about it!
Make sure you put Teach Them Diligently on your list for next year or head to one their nine marketplaces coming up throughout this summer!
Did you attend a Teach Them Diligently Convention this year? What was your favorite part?
{both boys, starting at different places in the book!}
{Big J}
{Big J}
{morning devotion time}
! Alphabet Bingo! 
! There are so many games to choose from that also help sharpen their little minds! We’re making time to actually play them this month! That is one of my goals in general as well, not just this month!
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