Dangers of Homeschool Conventions

I am really loving a series "thatmom" is doing on the dangers of homeschool conventions right now. I've been reading her blog for over a year now and have found her to be thoughtful and discerning. Are those two words for the same thing? :)

She has discussed three dangers of homeschool conventions so far. The first was that conventions can be a threat to your sense of reality. Any homeschooling mom who's been to a convention knows the truth of that one! Every philosophy, every curriculum, every booth in the vendor hall looks so good that we often forget the reality of our own family situation.

The second danger is the threat of contentment with your husband (I think's it better called discontent with your husband). She writes:

One of my greatest concerns about homeschooling conventions is the remaking of dads that seems to be high on the agenda for many speakers within the homeschooling community. Just looking down the list of various upcoming conferences, nearly every convention has a workshop or two or even a keynote address that is geared to dads. One of the more popular themes this year at larger conferences is that of promoting multi-generational faithfulness, a wonderful concept that looses [sic] it wonder when examined under a brighter light and one that places many fathers in a role never intended to be held by anyone but God.

This particular blog post is a must-read in my book.

Today, she wrote that the third danger of homeschool conventions is a threat to your relationship with Jesus and others. She defines this threat as "...the temptation to align ourselves with one particular homeschooling speaker, author, or vendor to the exclusion of others and without examining the core teachings that are at the root of that person’s agenda. Rather than remaining simply a Christian homeschooling mom, we are tempted to identify with one particular branch of homeschooling, putting on the jersey, as it were, of one special group, which can often cause us to look at the world through a particular paradigm rather than looking at homeschooling from a purely Biblical perspective." Wow! I have found that to be true during the past 13 years that I've been officially homeschooling and have even given in to this temptation myself.

Moms, put on the full armor of God before you head off to your local homeschool convention this year so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes!