Our Exhibit Hall is quickly filling up and the workshop schedule is beginning to take shape. This year’s featured speakers are Ginger Plowman, Founder of Preparing the Way Ministries, Norm Wakefield with Spirit of Elijah Ministries, and Doreen Morgan and her daughter, Faith, with Faithful Bookshop. Many of our favorite speakers, including Sharon Madsen, Hank Tate, Tom Clark, and David Hazell, will also be returning this year.

Matt Bullen, one of our homeschool dad’s and pastor’s, will be presenting new workshops this year. Matt will bring experience and conviction as he speaks of the many blessings and challenges of having a large family. He will also be speaking on the struggles of parenting grown children. His goal will be to help parents learn how to transition from being parents of school age children to parents of young adults.

There will also be new speakers and those who haven’t been with us for a few years. Barbara Beers author of The Phonics Road to Spelling and The Latin Road to English Grammar will be speaking during the conference this year. So if you want to learn more about the connection between Latin and English watch for her workshops.

We at SETHSA are excited about what will be happening at this year’s event. The conference promises to be loaded with refreshing ideas, helpful information, and some new surprises along the way. Two items added this year are our first annual Art & Writing contests. Students, in three age categories, can submit their original artwork or photography in the Art competition; trophies and prizes will be awarded by our panel of judges. Graduating seniors may submit a written essay, on one of our preselected topics; the winner of the Writing competition will be awarded a modest scholarship to the college or university of their choice.

All entries, in both contests, must follow the submission rules (see our Competitions page for more details).

In the next few months you will see the details of the conference as they unfold. The newsletter will offer details and insight into the speakers, exhibitors, and much more. Therefore, you will want to visit this website regularly for all the information needed about what’s new this year. SETHSA is working on making the web a place to provide all the up to minute details as they become available.

STATE-WIDE CONFERENCES AND BOOK-FAIRS FOR 2009

Date of Event: June 5-6

Place:  Houston

Event:  Gulf Coast Home Education Conference

Phone #:  (281) 756-9792

Sponsoring Organization:  Southeast Texas Home School Association

Date of Event: June 26-27

Place:  Austin

Event:  CHEACT Convention and Book Fair

Sponsoring Organization:  Christian Home Education Association of Central Texas (CHEACT)

Date of Event: August 6-8

Place:  The Woodlands

Event:  THSC State Convention & Family Conference

Phone #:  (806) 744-4441

e contact:  events@thsc.org

Sponsoring Organization:  Texas Home School Coalition

2009 THSC State Convention and Family Conference

August 6-8, 2009

The Woodlands, Texas

The Woodlands Waterway Marriott

Registration information: http://www.thsc.org/convention/General_information.asp

Dynamic Speakers in 2009

Keynotes

Sally Clarkson                       

John Erickson                        

Voddie Baucham

Shopping

The comfortably carpeted Exhibit Hall will be filled with over 180 booths!  Experienced vendors from all over the nation will be there to offer the very latest in educational material for home schoolers.

There will be full-scale curricula, books and materials for specific subjects, traditional textbooks, unit study materials, life skills (needlework, carpentry skills, homemaking skills, mechanical skills, etc.), fun extras (educational games, videos, art supplies, science kits, music programs), and more.