Homeschool Expo Set for
March 30 - April 1
By Jim Day
The
Greater St. Louis Area Home Educators Expo is scheduled for March 30 and April
1 at West County Assembly of God Church (13431 N. Outer Forty Rd.) in
Chesterfield, MO. This unique homeschool expo is anticipated to be the
homeschool event of the year, mainly because of the quality of speakers and
curriculum vendors scheduled to attend.
The Expo will feature nationally known speakers Steve Moitozo, Scott
Woodruff, Dr. David Vaughan, Kerry Messer and Bill Federer. There will also
be an experienced group of workshop seminar leaders teaching various hands-on
homeschool topics such as Homeschooling Through High School, How to Teach
Math , Better Late than Early, Distance Learning/Preparation for College,
How to Develop Unit Studies and many more. These speakers come highly recommended
in and 
outside
of the homeschool community.
Mr.
Steve Moitozo will be the keynote speaker for the two-day event. Mr. Moitozo
has been a speaker at homeschool conferences all across the U.S. and has worked
with over 10,000 homeschooling families. When asked what he hoped to accomplish
at the Expo Mr. Moitozo stated, “I have spoken at local, regional and national
homeschooling events for the better part of two decades. My greatest sadness
has been that only the people at the events are learning the advantages of
homeschooling -- the general public is clueless. The ones who need it most are
not at these meetings -- they are struggling with the schools, their children,
the rules, the budgets, the distractions -- and their families are suffering.
I’d like to reach those parents and teach them that they have choices, one of
which is homeschooling.”
Mr.
Moitozo will be covering the topics of Homeschooling -- Am I Doing Enough?, The Humor and Heart of Homeschooling, Textbooks as
Tools, and Ten Myths of Socialization. Through his keynote address and
workshops Mr. Moitozo hopes to reach out to the general public and to new
homeschool families with his message of hope and encouragement.
Mr. Scott Woodruff has been a staff attorney for Home School Legal
Defense Association (HSLDA) since 1998. He has defended thousands of homeschool
families
when their rights were threatened by social workers, school superintendents,
state departments of education, law enforcement officials
and others. He is currently responsible for helping HSLDA members with homeschool
legal issues in 13 states. He has testified on behalf of HSLDA members at
hearings before legislative committees in nine states. His articles have been
published in the Peabody Journal of
Education and the Washington Times
and he has been a guest on numerous radio shows. Mr. Woodruff will talk on the topics of Understanding
Missouri’s Homeschool Law and Protecting Your Children from Social Workers
-- Preparing for the Unthinkable.
Dr. David Vaughan is a minister, writer and community leader dedicated
to the propagation of the Christian message by means of the spoken and written
word. Currently, Dr. Vaughan is Pastor of Liberty Christian Church, Director
of Liberty Leadership Institute (a division of Whitefield Theological Seminary)
and president of Liberty Classical School. As a lecturer and community leader,
Dr. Vaughan speaks at a variety of church and civic functions and has appeared
on nationally syndicated television and radio. He is host of the Encounter
radio program heard locally on KSIV 1320 AM and is the consulting editor of
the St. Louis MetroVoice.
When asked what he plans to share with the Homeschool Expo audience
he replied, “I have two workshops. The first will be presented with my wife
on the topic of modesty. Our goal in
this session will be to instruct the homeschool community on the nature and
nurture of modesty, while avoiding the pitfall of legalism. The second workshop
will be on classical education. My
goal is to give the audience a basic understanding of classical education
and how to integrate it into their homeschool.”
In continuing my conversation with Dr. Vaughan, I asked him what he
considered to be the greatest challenges to the average homeschooling family.
Dr. Vaughan responded, “There are two serious challenges to the home school
family; first, the need for quality education throughout the high school years
and the second is to be part of a church community that supports education
in general and homeschooling in particular.”
I went on to ask him what value he saw in attending a homeschool expo,“There
are many benefits, but I’ll 
mention
two: the mutual encouragement gained from other homeschoolers and the exposure
to curriculum and new ideas.”
Mr.
Kerry Messer is President of Missouri Family Network, a lobbyist for Missouri’s
statewide homeschooling organization, Families for Home Education, and political
advisor for the St. Louis MetroVoice. He is a registered lobbyist who works
hard in Jefferson City on many of the issues that Missouri families care about,
especially ones that affect the family and home education. Mr. Messer’s
keen insight into the political process, coupled with his good grasp of common sense
analysis and biblical worldview, place him on the right side of the issues he
deals with. Mr. Messer will speak at the Expo offering a Missouri
Homeschool Legislative Update.
Mr.
Bill Federer from the American Minute is a nationally known speaker,
best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company
dedicated to research America’s noble heritage. His America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations has sold a
half-million copies. Mr. Federer is also a contributing writer for the
MetroVoice.
Mr. Federer will talk on the subjects of The History of America’s Patriotic
Holidays and The Writing of the Constitution.
Both topics are eye-opening subjects 
most
people want to know more about.
Smaller
workshops will cover the topics of Homeschooling as a Lifestyle, Special Needs/
Learning Disabilities, How to Incorporate Community Service into your Home
school, and How to Teach Reading and Spelling, plus many more. These workshop
sessions will be lead by Kim Wolf, Carrie Salyiers, Carolyn Schriner, April
Thome, Scott & Kris Wightman , Kim Risch, to name a few. The
Wightman’s, owners of The Homeschool Sampler store in Kirkwood, MO will be
debuting their new book College Without Compromise.
The
vendor hall will feature Rod and Staff, Rainbow Resource Center, Heartland
Educational Ministry ACE, Homeschool Sampler, Usborne Books, Math-U-See,
Victorious Living, Invention Mysteries, Arbonne International, DaySpring School
of Arts, Montessori Insights and many more.
The
first day of the Expo, Thursday, March 30, will feature free admission to a
unique, homeschool variety show. The vendor hall will be open to the public
from 5 to 10 p.m., also with free admission on Thursday only. A two-day pass to
attend the March 31 and April 1 sessions and vendor hall will be $30 for a
family and $10 for an individual if registered before March 15. Admission is
$10 more after March 15 or at the door. Food will be available.
Families
exploring the possibilities of homeschooling or veterans of homeschooling will
benefit from this Expo. Vendors from all over the country will be displaying
their newest and best curricula for homeschooling families. Local colleges and
universities will also be available to talk with parents about higher education
possibilities.
For
more information and registration form, go to www.stlhomeschoolexpo.com.
