We'll be going to our first gifted conference and I was wondering what to look for.

1. Any suggestions as to how to make the most of the conference?

2. Any suggestions as to things they might be selling that we might want to take a look at - books, software, etc?

DS7 is in second grade.

Thank you.

I've never been, so I have no advice. But I'd love to hear all about it when you get back!

Hi questions. I went to the NAGC conference in the fall. The programming was interesting, but nothing earth shattering. It seemed mostly like preaching to the choir.

BUT it was a wonderful opportunity to talk to parents of other gifted kids about what's working for them and not working for them in a totally non-pretentious setting. I did get the feel that the parents I talked to had HG+ kids they were dealing with that needed major accomodations.

And the resources, games, books, puzzles etc were lots of fun to look at. We bought a few workbooks and a game. They were all very DS specific interests.

Last weekend we went to a GT resource fair, and DS7 walked up to a table and asked the woman working it if she had ever solved a puzzle she was selling. It was a maze in a cube with 2 balls that each needed to get to a certain spot. She said she had seen someone do it once, but she'd never done it. He solved the thing in 2 minutes. It was quite funny! Anyway - DS had great fun at the resource fair and he was dragging his feet all the way into it. He found something he wanted to bring home at every table. We held back to 1 game (In a Pickle - did someone recommend that on this board? Great game!) and a couple books for me.

Hi questions,

I went to a SENG conference once. Most of the fellow attendees were educators or parents of newly identified, very young kids. I Loved the keynote speaker and several talks, but couldn't get there early enough to register for workshops. I suspected that these were the most valuable in terms of talking/interacting with parents/teachers about issues (rather than lecture format of the talks). If I were to go again, I'd register for workshops and have my kids participate in the kid program.

Oh - my DS participated in the kid's program at NAGC too and he LOVED it. He just asked me the other day if he could go again - and we got the late registration classes that not a lot of other kids signed up for. I just think the staff was fantastic. A lot of teachers with GT backgrounds.

Thanks for the info. This is the state conference. Glad to hear it's something worthwhile for kids. I plan to go Friday and then we'll do the family thing on Friday night and Saturday. Although there is a free all day seminar the same day at the local public library on homeschooling. Talk about a conflict. I don't plan to homeschool, but maybe it makes sense to learn more about what's required and what it takes in our state. Maybe send DH and DS to the conference, and I go to the library.

Just reporting back on the conference. Unfortunately, I had to work all Friday and missed everything, but we did go to family fun night Friday night and the parent/child activities on Saturday. DS enjoyed it. They had a couple of good shows with magic and illusions, and a good program on sea life. As for the adult part, the most helpful segment was the session on testing by Carolyn K. of the Hoagies site. Thanks to my research here and elsewhere, I knew most of what she discussed, but thanks to the discussion and the comments by an officer of the state GAC, I learned that an IEP must address both the weaknesses AND the strengths. That alone, was worth the price of admission. I sent some emails to the school today, and we'll see what happens. Oh, and I also met a local homeschooling mom who is very nice and very helpful. So definitely worth it. I'd recommend going for those of you who are new, as the more information and contacts the better. As for new friends, DS's favorite was a girl who looked to be about 12 who told him that his rain stick was the best one she saw the whole night. You know what they say about flattery...

So did you attend both the GT conference and the HS speaker, or just the GT conference?

It sounds like a good weekend! Yay, Questions!

I went to the HS seminar for about 5 minutes when DH called from the other conference and I left to join him. My impression of the HS seminar was that it would be a lot on why homeschool, as opposed to how to homeschool. If there wasn't a conflict with the conference, I would have stayed. But I did pick up a few handouts with some local info.

Questions-

I'm glad the conference went well, for you and for DS!