This past weekend our family went to the HEAV convention in Richmond, VA. What a great time!

It was a beautiful drive...until we got to the city of Richmond.

I've always enjoyed traveling in the state of VA.

I have been to both Maryland's MACHE and Virginia's HEAV, and both are good homeschool conventions. HEAV's specialty is their workshops, and MACHE's highlights are the the performances and the science fair.
HEAV had more than 120 different workshops by many top names in the homeschool community: Joel Salatin, Jamie Lash, Inge Cannon, Dr. S.M.Davis, The Boyer Family, Cynthia Tobias, etc. The keynote speaker was Ken Ham. My family loved him.

Some of the topics included time management, children and chores, the influence of the older children on younger ones, the struggling reader, the puzzle of the grand canyon, nutrition, education, take back the land, science, etc. For a complete list with descriptions, go here.

We ran into three friends from Maryland. We went out to lunch with one family.

On Friday we went to a local restaurant called Steve's Place. The food was good, but they were overwhelmed with all the convention folks.

The second day we ate at the convention. Their meal was good too.

As with all conventions, there was an exhibit room with vendors of all kinds selling crafts, curriculum, clothes, nutritional foods, musical instruments, etc. This picture shows only one of four aisles.

We were shocked to see so many families buying $400 violin kits. We bought the same brand on eBay for $45!

There was only one performer at a time in the noisy hallway. This girl was a good violinist. Ruthie was fascinated with this young harpist.

We were so glad Ruthie remembered to bring her homemade trail mix and Clif bars! Next year I would like to get a hotel that is closer so we can run back to our rooms for meals. Somewhere along the way I ate egg or milk which gave me a day of arthritis in my neck. I'm glad I was the only one who suffered...which means it was probably a case of cross-contamination of foods.
That evening we swam in the hotel pool to cool off.

A family picture while researching microscopes.

It was a wonderful trip and I look forward to returning next year. We were disappointed that we couldn't go to more of the workshops, so we splurged and bought the CDs from the conference. I can barely wait for them to arrive!

Many blessings ~ Kathie