HSC Conference 2019

Through poetry, song, story and drawing learn how to use the alphabet to create “an imaginary field”, a cultural context for your child, which provides a basis for a lifetime’s love of language.

A 50 Minute workshop which will immerse all attendees in everything that The Destinator himself (Lalika Kaponay 17, Worldschooler), learned and uses day-to-day in his business to provide people with the most cost-effective and convenient modes of travel. Nothing will be held back here. In 50 minutes you will learn all you need to know to navigate the maze of resources you can tap into to find cost-effective ways to travel the world. As a family of four, the Kaponays have lived and travelled the world on less than $25K a year, and the Destinator, will share with you how you too can experience this.

An inspirational and encouraging talk on living the best homeschool/ unschool/ worldschool life WITH your family. From the importance of practicing self care and having personal passion projects to choosing the philosophy and style of unconventional education that works the very best for your family! The 5 Hour School Week believes there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to education and our possibilities are absolutely infinite.

Project-based learning is a profound learning methodology that applies knowledge and skills to real-world problems, questions, and challenges. Project-based learning creates a partnership between parent and child, as they journey through the process of planning, learning, documenting, and presenting tangible outcomes for personal and social impact. Join Samantha Matalone Cook, MAT,  for this informative, hands-on workshop/talk based on their new book that will cover everything from the inspirational “why” through the practical “how-to”, empowering you to begin using project-based learning in your home education!

A deep understanding of math enables success in many interesting STEM careers. But it needn’t be drudgery and repetition: “Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”

Homeschooling is a great opportunity to protect your students from peer pressure and stereotypes about math and poorly conceived curricula, and instead teach them that mathematics is fun and open to all.

In this workshop, I will introduce you to books and websites you can use with your students from young elementary and beyond. I’ll show you how you can work with larger groups of students to make math more social and fun. We’ll learn to avoid the “tyranny of 100%” and find alternatives to the “race to calculus.”

We’ll role play Socratic teaching methods with the math-phobic parents as students! We’ll even solve some elementary math problems together and learn to model a positive attitude to problem solving (even when we don’t know the solution).

This presentation is about interest led learning, and challenging accepted homeschooling and world schooling conventions. It’s about not being afraid of being unique in an already unique crowd. It’s about not doing what everyone else is doing and rather, to the contrary, investing in the experiences that are going to make your children more flexible, dynamic and adaptable in an already drastically changing world. With interest led learning, learn what you can achieve together as family when you don’t allow fear and convention to hold you back.

The Kaponay family has been traveling the world for eight years, across 45 countries on 6 continents. But while they are now seasoned travellers, living what many of their old friends and family consider to be an extremely polarising lifestyle, when they stepped onto that first plane that would commence their international travels, all they had were four backpacks, each other, and a deep, unrelenting passion for inspiration-led, in-the-moment learning. Not wanting to allow societal norms to dictate the life they wanted to live together as a family, they forged an ongoing journey of discovery that fundamentally challenged every idea of what they once considered learning to be.

George will take you on this journey of both challenging and illuminating experiences that started with their children’s very early traditional schooling, a journey that now, at the end of their children’s formal schooling years, has completely integrated the family's desire for continuous learning and development into their daily lives, creating numerous integrated and dynamic projects; successful family ventures inspired by their passions, which now fund their world travels.

This wildly nonconventional journey has seen their daughter become a published author, one of the world’s youngest published authors at age 14 and their son a successful entrepreneur, by developing his passions for learning and transforming them it into his professional pursuit.

George will share his family story and give insight into how learning doesn’t need to stop, but rather can transform when your children reach adult age, into an ongoing journey you can all take together...One that will challenge you to question what you consider the boundaries of learning to be.

Are you mystified by technology? Do you want to learn how to use Google Apps to keep your crazy homeschool life organized? Would you like Google to do the grading for you? Are you tired of using pen and paper to keep track of events, grades, etc.? Does even the thought of typing out and essay exhaust you? Do you want to be able to keep a digital portfolio of all your amazing work? Would you love to learn how to make your own website? Then this session is for you! Come learn all of the above and more! All that Google has to offer kids, young adults, and parents presented to you by a homeschool mom who is a Certified Google Educator and has learned to adapt classroom tools to homeschool situations! You will leave this session with an incredible amount of tools and resources to rock your homeschool! While devices (phones, iPads, Laptops) are not necessary, to maximize your learning in this session they are most welcome!

How to do everything homeschooling that is not traditional school work.

How did students in antiquity learn a second language? What about students in medieval times? How can we use this information to our benefit in learning a second language today? Come journey with me as I take a trip into the past to explore how second languages were learned in the Roman empire and throughout Western Europe in medieval times. We will also discuss the main methods for second language acquisition today and see if we can apply ancient methods to today’s world.

This talk will focus on how to use common video games as part of your kids' homeschooling experience. We'll focus on both traditional core education subjects like history, math, etc and other topics like social learning, philosophy, critical thinking, and more.

A movie screening of my new film Self-Taught: Life Stories From Self-Directed Learners

Learn how to introduce your child to math through the archetypal, geometric qualities of the numbers 1 to 12. See how children can find the relation of numbers to the world of nature in an imaginative, hands-on way and establish a basis for a lifelong interest in mathematics.

In your homeschooling journey, or as you consider homeschooling, you may have encountered opposition which in some cases was based on a misunderstanding of homeschooling or unfounded ideas about traditional schooling. Wes will explore these misunderstandings and baseless ideas, and will also tell the stories of young people he has worked with who have been very successful in a wide variety of occupational pursuits after very out-of-the-mainstream preparation for the workplace and/or college.

CA families have several ways they can legally homeschool/unschool. Many choose to enroll in a state-funded homeschool charter school or district Independent Study Program, most of which offer free curriculum, lending libraries, field trips, optional class days, supportive community, instructional funds, graduation ceremonies, and/or accredited high school transcripts. Some district programs also allow high schoolers to participate in sports, music, lab science, and other classes. In exchange for these lovely benefits, families are expected to submit work samples, meet with a supervising teacher on a regular basis, follow a rigid course of study during the high school years, and take state tests. Is the homeschool charter/ISP option right for you? Is it time to make a change from public to private homeschooling, or vice versa? FOR FAMILIES WITH TEENS: Anyone considering homeschooling for 9th grade and above should inform themselves of how the public/private homeschool decision affects their future choices. Come ask questions and explore your options.

Did you know that unschooling is actually good for your brain? The latest analysis of cutting-edge brain research indicates that the choice to unschool may be the very best thing you could do for your child's brain. In this talk we will explore:
*how unschooling makes learning more relevant and memorable to the brain
*how the hemispheres of the brain effect learning and how you can help your child optimize them
*how a child's readiness to learn is key
*how our environment impacts how we encode information
*how our unique learning styles are supported by unschooling
*how the brain's rhythms of waking, sleeping and body movement correspond to learning
*how stress impairs the brain's ability to learn and how unschooling works to create more resiliency

A Q&A panel about unschooling, from purely "academic" to radical unschooling. Panel members are long-time unschooling parents.

Homeschoolers don't go it alone. One key contributor to happy homeschooling is to find a supportive community, both for you and your child. Did you know there are over 300 local homeschool support groups in California? The HSC website has a list of these organized by the county in which you live. There are groups for unschoolers or families following the same method like Classical or Charlotte Mason. There are groups where families share the same religious faith, or share a love of the outdoors and nature exploration. Most groups include members with diverse backgrounds and philosophies, and children of varying ages. Park days, field trips, game nights, opportunities to explore common interests, shared learning experiences, friendship, and encouragement are just a few of the benefits you’ll find being part of a homeschool group. Our roundtable discussion will explore opportunities for finding others with shared interests in the larger community as well.

This talk is for all families who either have teens, will have teens soon and/or have the pleasure of looking back on their children's teenage years.It will be a chance to ask questions, share insights, and find support among other families with unschooling teens. Both parents and teens are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

Often homeschool parents worry they won't be able to support their children in learning important subjects or areas they themselves are not experts in. In this workshop we'll explore not only how to overcome this, but to use not knowing as an advantage—so we can model how to learn. We'll explore such techniques as: Noticing and Wondering; Question Trees; and Domain Mapping, through which we will practice co-creative principles and mindsets that help us be true partners in learning.

Being musical is a skill that children can use their entire lives, either personally or professionally. When we treat music like a language, learning to “speak” the language of music can be an engaging and fulfilling process. In this workshop, we will explore how to incorporate music into your family life so that your child becomes “fluent” in music while enjoying the journey along the way. Learning to sing or play an instrument then becomes a natural process filled with ease and joy. We will also talk about the importance of making music in groups, tips for successful practicing at home, and the benefits of homeschooling while raising a musical child.

We will address questions such as these:
- At what age should my child begin music lessons?
- Which instrument should my child play?
- How do I find a great music teacher?
- How can I raise a musical child without formal music lesson?

Join Barbie Wong, music educator and homeschool parent, for this session filled with insightful and practical ideas.