Conference and Curriculum Fair

NCHEA's 21st. Annual Conference and Curriculum Fair April 4 and 5, 2008 Lincoln, Nebraska Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jay Wile On-line Registration has ended, there will be Walk-in registration available during the conference For more information download the 2008 Conference and Curriculum Fair Brochure If you are an exhibitor and would like to receive exhibitor information Click Here or send: product name, contact name, address, phone number, e-mail address, website address and product description to the NCHEA at: exhibitorinfo@nchea.net for more information.

The annual Conference and Curriculum Fair (C&CF) is a tremendous opportunity for homeschool families to receive valuable information and research curriculum options. Each year, families from across the state come to the C&CF where they get incredible tools from the more than 40 vendors and a variety of speakers. It's a great way to meet other homeschool parents and refine your curriculum choices and goals for the next year.


Conference Goals

The C&CF's goals include promoting home education while:

• equipping,
• encouraging and
• informing parents.

• To be inspired by dynamic speakers,
• To be enlightened by highly experienced workshop leaders,
• To review curriculum, or
• Purchase all the books for next year.

• Make a prioritized list of curriculum in which you are interested.
• Prioritize the vendors that are of interest to you and match it to your curriculum list.
• Buy the books that you want as early as possible. Vendors often sell out during the Conference.
• If a book is sold out, get ordering information for later use. Or ask if you can still purchase the book at the Conference. Vendors often offer free shipping under these circumstances.
• If you can't decide, gather all available catalogs and brochures and give yourself more time to make a decision. Order by mail later. Pressure to "buy today" may result in poor decisions.

• Study each session description carefully to find the ones that meet your greatest needs.
• "Divide and Conquer." Each parent can attend different workshops and then share notes.
• Order the tapes of the workshops you miss. At $5 each, they're a real bargain!!!

• Don't miss the encouragement to be gained from the keynote speakers! Plan to attend these sessions.
• Order tapes from the workshops you miss, so you will be able to "hear it all." Support groups, why not purchase an entire set of the Conference tapes for your lending library?
• Come early and stay late -- yes, this makes for a long day, but the Conference only happens once a year!

• IHCC has the physical facilities that are necessary to conduct the C&CF in its traditional format with exhibitors, keynote speakers and workshops. No other site with such excellent facilities and services has become available.
• The NCHEA and those attending the C&CF have been extremely blessed by God and IHCC's Board of Elders for graciously allowing the NCHEA to conduct the C&CF in its beautiful facility without charge for 19 years. However, the NCHEA does make a donation to IHCC for use of the facilities. Conducting the C&CF at a commercial/convention center would increase the NCHEA's costs by a minimum $4,000 to $5,000.

• No, the NCHEA C&CF committee is responsible for evaluating potential speakers and/or exhibitors. But at the same time, the NCHEA will not knowingly offend IHCC. God has been faithful in directing the C&CF committee in its selection of speakers.

• Lincoln is home to the C&CF Committee. The many details and time demands of planning and conducting a C&CF require that it be located where they live. C&CF planning is essentially a year-round process with planning meetings held weekly beginning in September.
• Lincoln is easily accessible for national speakers and exhibitors.
• Lincoln and nearby cities provide the number of potential customers that warrant exhibitors using their time and money to attend the the conference.

• The NCHEA competes with 49 state homeschool conferences for exhibitors and speakers. Many of the larger conferences are held between May and July. The Nebraska conference is relatively small, so the NCHEA schedules around the large conferences to facilitate the attendance of popular speakers and vendors.

• The C&CF is designed to equip and train parents. There are no activities for children and some parents fail to effectively control and supervise their children.
• The NCHEA believes parents should be able to attend workshops and hear the speakers without disruption. In the past, children have caused attendees to not hear speakers or children have taken up seats so parents could not attend workshops.
• The facility could not handle the number of attendees if children of all ages were permitted to attend.
• Strollers are not permitted because of space considerations and injuries to attendees by strollers. Strollers have also been used to facilitate theft.
• To encourage/facilitate both parents to attend the C&CF, Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has conducted a children's program in conjunction with the NCHEA's C&CF. Families registered to attend the NCHEA's C&CF can enroll their children in the CEF program.

• Speakers are invited because of the breadth and wealth of their knowledge, experience and wisdom, and their desire to serve God by ministering to and encouraging homeschool parents. Some of our featured speakers return due to popular demand or they return with new material and presentations! Don't operate under the assumption that if you heard them "once," you will not benefit from hearing them again!!
• The conference provides a variety of speakers to meet the diverse needs of Nebraska's home educators.
• Sometimes new speakers are simply too expensive. The fees or honorariums they require to speak at the Conference do not represent a wise use of funds, as it impacts the ability of the NCHEA to invite other speakers to minister to homeschooling families.

• No! Vendors are located in several areas of the church and past experience has proven it is impossible to have a "curriculum fair only" pass.
• The cost to attend the C&CF is very reasonable. The NCHEA incurs a great deal of expense just in providing the Curriculum Fair.

• The Curriculum Fair is open for 15 - 16 hours of shopping during two days. An eight-hour day is standard for exhibitors and doesn't include the many hours involved in setting up displays prior to the Conference, or in packing up after the Conference.
• Attendees are responsible for establishing their priorities between workshops and shopping. The availability of tapes in many cases enables attendees benefit from workshops while taking more time to shop.

• 50% of the Conference planning committee and 50% of the Board members are actively homeschooling.
• The Conference Syllabus contains a form seeking/requesting comments, feedback and ideas. The Committee carefully reviews those comments.
• The NCHEA's leadership has numerous contacts with homeschoolers and homeschooling issues. We receive literally hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from homeschooling families each year.
• The NCHEA leadership attends national homeschool leadership conferences with leaders of other state homeschool organizations. The topics at these conferences include homeschooling, conference planning and the trends in home schooling.

• The cost of admission is necessary to recoup the expenses incurred in presenting the C&CF and to provide the funds to carry on the work of the NCHEA. C&CF expenses include speaker honorariums and travel costs, advertising, printing, postage, graphic design, tables, draping and signage. Routine operating expenses include postage, printing, insurance, website, telephone, equipment and software. NCHEA leadership and the C&CF committee are unpaid volunteers.
• The NCHEA membership fee does not cover all of the NCHEA?s operating expenses. The membership fee essentially covers the costs associated with the NCHEA News and Legislative Alerts.
• The C&CF is not expensive when compared to professional conferences, seminars and other homeschooling conferences. The C&CF workshops are the professional and continuing education for parent educators. Continuing education seminars for many professions cost in excess of $100 for a half day.

Directions

• A Beka Book
• Accelerated Christian Education
• Alpha Omega
• Artistic Pursuits
• Berean Bookshelf
• Bob Jones University Press
• Books Bloom
• Bright Minds
• Child Evangelism Fellowship
• Children's Books
• Christian Liberty Academy
• Christian Liberty Press
• Christian Light Education
• Doorposts
• Driver Ed in a Box
• Edu-Track Home School
• Eternity Music
• Excellence in Writing
• Learnables
• Leed Scientific
• Math-U-See
• Melody's Beat
• Miller Pad and Paper
• My Father's World
• Omaha Simply Music Teachers
• Rainbow Resource
• Reading Etc.
• Rod and Staff
• Shiller Math
• Sonlight Curriculum
• Tapestry of Grace, Lampstand Press
• Teaching Textbooks
• The Homeschool Parent
• The Voice of the Martyrs
• Total Language Plus
• Travel-by-Games
• Usborne Books
• VideoText Interactive
• WholeMovement
• Write On!
• Wycliffe Bible Translators