Presenting around the world with IEW, Andrew addresses issues relating to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many reluctant writers and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills. His favorite endorsement is from a young Alaskan boy who called him “the funny man with the wonderful words.
However Imperfectly: Lessons Learned from Thirty Years of Teaching
In this talk, Andrew shares many humorous experiences (and painful lessons) he has learned over thirty years of teaching and homeschooling, including: It’s hard not to do to your kids what was done to you; process over product; all kids are different; “progressive” education doesn’t mean progress; what real “college and career readiness” is; and two secret keys to successful teaching. You will be challenged or reassured (or both!) but are sure to leave with an expanded vision of your calling as a home educator.
Cultivating Language Arts: Preschool through High School
Listening and reading well, speaking and writing clearly, thinking and debating effectively are abilities that most parents hope to cultivate in their children. With that goal in mind, Andrew will explore various environments and activities that will accelerate the development of these language skills, beginning with the youngest students and continuing into the high school years.
Paper and Pen: What the Research Says
Recent years have seen an enormous increase in the use of technology in education for even the youngest students. But is technology really the cure-all that many believe it to be? While traditional skills such as cursive penmanship are seen as unnecessary in the modern world, the actual research tells a different story. Learn the compelling reasons to choose paper books instead of electronic devices for reading, to handwrite instead of type when note-taking, to teach cursive instead of printing for penmanship, and to grab a pen instead of pencil for composition. Discover how to unleash creativity that goes beyond technology.
Leadership Education: The Seven Keys of Great Teaching
Exploring the practical elements of the Thomas Jefferson education model, Andrew will explain the “seven keys” as well as the “five learning environments” as developed by DeMille and his colleagues. (There’s even an unofficial “eighth key.”) With humorous stories from his own family’s experience, Andrew will delight homeschooling moms looking for tips on how to escape the “conveyor belt” approach to doing “school” at home.
Culture, Curriculum, and Care: Building Community in a Time of Need
What is the nature of culture? The nature of curriculum? How does one affect the other? What single element rests at the core of our success in teaching our children? How can we integrate all these as we work to build community with like-minded fellow homeschoolers, in a time when we all feel an increasing need for it? From his three decades of teaching and parenting
experience, Andrew will share useful concepts and humorous stories to answer these questions and help invigorate your homeschool.
