Enki Early Childhood Homeschool Conference

As I posted about yesterday, the kids and I spent the past week at the Enki Education Early Childhood Homeschool Conference, which was held at a camp in New Hampshire. There's a workshop going on up there for the next several days, then another Homeschool Conference focusing on Grades 2 and above. (That's the week we'll be attending next year!)

In thinking about posting my experience at the conference, I was a bit overwhelmed. The amount of information presented was enormous. I came to a bunch of realizations about myself, my kids, and our homeschooling program. I was nourished by the sense of community. I made new friends, connected with old, and reaffirmed my commitment to this journey of educating my children. Over the next several weeks, I'm bound to bring up some of these themes in my posts. So today I decided just to focus on the actual physical conference structure itself.

We started every morning (after breakfast) with Family Circle (seen in the first photo), which was held outdoors whenever possible, and indoors (at the dining hall) when mother nature made things too wet. I regret not having taken any photos of circle outdoors, but I also didn't anticipate having so much rain (Weathermen lie!!!) and figured I'd have opportunities later in the week that just didn't happen.

After circle, the kids went off with the "counselors" to their program, while we parents moved to our classroom (the building just behind my kids) for the morning session of the conference. On the hill behind the classroom you can see some of the other cabins (the cabin we stayed in was the first one beyond the classroom). Across the driveway (to the right of my kids) is a screen tent for parent socializing after the kids were asleep at night. And just beyond that was the sand pile that the kids all flocked to for playtime after dinner. There was also a small playground, a LONG zip line, a climbing wall, and a rope ladder, in addition to the waterfront, which offered canoes in addition to swimming. Oh, and miles of hiking trails.

The adult morning session was 4 hours of Enki nuts and bolts, lead by primarily by Beth Sutton, the founder of Enki Education. There's nothing like getting foundation philosophy information straight from the horse's mouth! The first 3 days focused on the Kindergartner, while the second 3 days was directed at the First Grader. We got to see a lot of the materials that are described in the teaching guides first hand, and we had illustrated examples of how to go about using the curriculum materials, structuring our day, planning out our blocks, etc. Throughout, Beth kept reminding us that Enki is not about using any particular materials, but rather honoring the educational process that the Guides lay out. (I'll get into further details in the coming days.) With the various personalities and home situations amongst the participants, there were plenty of examples of how to go about following the educational philosophy in a manner that fits your particular family best. I definitely came away with a firmer understanding of what it is that we're setting out to do with our kids, how this method of education differs so vastly from what is generally available to children, and why this is the path we've chosen for our family.

We also had hands-on experiences with the methods during the morning session, led by Jan Powers, a 4 or 5 year Enki veteran parent (and also the woman whose voice is on all the Enki Education music CDs). Jan got us working with wool, painting, crayon drawing, and playing with Math and Language Arts games and manipulatives. My kids got a big kick out of seeing what Mommy made at "grown-up camp" each day! For me, this was the most helpful aspect of the conference, as I learn so much more efficiently by doing something rather than just by reading about it. This is what made the Enki curriculum come alive for me during the week, and empowered me to be able to bring these activities to my own children.

After our early afternoon break for lunch, rest time, and family time, we reconvened in the late afternoon for a 2 hour discussion session, with wine, cheese and crackers, and fruit. This is when we got to discuss the information presented in the morning session and how to apply it to our particular situations. I really liked the format and the opportunity to delve into those areas of particular interest to the group in more depth in the afternoon. It also increased the sense of community (which was hard to avoid -- it's not often that any of us are in contact with so many other families following the Enki Education philosophy!). Of particular interest to me was the discussion on combining the grade levels to meet the needs of all the children in the family, without running the parents ragged.

All in all, it was a very useful (and busy!) week, and I'm feeling very excited about entering this 1st grade year with J, and continuing to support Zoo Boy with another year of Kindergarten level work. And I, like the kids, am already looking forward to next year's conference!