Cultivating Community, 7

I think the size and structure of any given community necessarily requires different types and levels of organization underneath it. The bigger the garden or the more intricate the garden plan, the more prep & planning is involved at the front-end of things. The front garden spot in my yard took a lot of work the first year, but since I planted perennials, it really is just about maintenance at this point, ten years later. My vegetable garden in the back yard is a different story. We reorganize it, add raised beds, and iterate the watering system just about every year; we are still figuring out the best methods for fertilizing and composting, and experimenting with different types of foods to grow as well as where to purchase seeds & starts. It’s more like starting from not-quite-scratch every year than it is simple reiteration or maintenance. Year over year, it remains an enormous project, and I never feel like my thumb gets much greener. But I still jump in and try!

At this point, I still run Paideia Northwest almost completely on my own, so I am able to keep the organizational structure pretty simple. Running a ten-family weekly homeschool co op has required more official paperwork and organizational communication than running an annual conference for hundreds of registrants. That seems rather backward to me when I ponder it on the surface! I think the reason for this, however, is that the homeschool co op is meant to be more of an equal cooperative of families mutually serving one another – which means more shared burdens and equal servanthood and bearing of the load. The conference is more of a business structure (although I treat it as a ministry, in practical application), where I run it from the top down, and I am slowly learning to delegate and

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION:

If I were to have more women officially on the Paideia Northwest team, I think I would likely use a GoogleDrive format similar to what I previously described in my co op organizational habits. Since it’s pretty much just me, though, I find using Word documents and the Notes app in my phone is adequate. I have a website, social media accounts, and email account for communication, registration, and marketing. I also have SurveyMonkey and MailChimp, although I think we have outgrown both platforms’ free versions – so I need to probably iterate those things and find replacement programs (or budget for their paid versions). I communicate with my advisory teams mostly via Voxer chats or texts. But I keep all my documents and lists and recaps on my laptop, and just email them to people when such times become pertinent.

What kind of documents?

-conference master list, by year
-speaker agreement packets
-brochures
-letters to churches, schools, and co ops
-vendor agreement packets

It’s the master list that really is like my brain download.
It contains:
-Task List
-Spending Recap
-Packing List
-Conference Schedule
-Volunteer Teams (Set Up Crew, 2 Coffee Crews, Luncheon Crew, Clean Up Crew)
-Task Lists for each Team
-List of Vendors
-List of Journal Ads
-List of Giveaway Items
-Personnel (Names, Position, Contact Info)
-Bio of Each Speaker
-Intro for Each Session
-Hymns & Prayers & Scriptures

I think it is the Task List that makes people the most curious. What in the world does it take to plan, prep, and pull off an annual conference for hundreds of women? (200 the first year… expecting over 400 this year… it has grown year over year, and has always sold out very quickly!)
I can generally break down my tasks into monthly sections. I endeavor to have six months “on” followed by six months “off,” but it doesn’t cleanly slice that way, because I actually do things for the conference off and on all year long. But the mindset I have is kind of six and six, more or less, and mindset is a big foundation for how this all plays out. On a most basic level (because yes, it actually IS more involved and complicated than this list: so this list is simply the basics), it looks like this:

Jan: email & social media sparsely; contact speakers to finalize agreements; make sure taxes were all done and filed properly
Feb: email & social media sparsely; communicate with speakers and location as necessary
Mar: clean out last year’s inbox and documents to make room for organizing this year’s
Apr: design this year’s conference graphic; try to finalize location; book AirBnb for conference personnel
May: make sure location is finalized; share graphic and other artistic elements online; check email regularly; social media regularly; begin to plan swag and decor
Jun: introduce each speaker on social media; schedule registration date for Aug; check email regularly; social media regularly; experiment or shop around for swag and decor
Jul: finalize catering; contact potential vendors; mail brochures and fliers to churches, co ops, & schools in the region; check email regularly; social media regularly; finalize swag and decor; reserve hotel block
Aug: get website, MailChimp, and PayPal set up; open registration; order pens and stickers and other swag; record & release short podcast episodes with each speaker
Sept: follow up with potential/committed vendors; be vigilant with email and social media; purchase decor; plan clothing for conference
Oct: close registration 10/1; make sure all digital files are received on time; place shirts order; finalize all Master List details; make sure all drinks and snacks and paper goods are purchased; fill my freezer with freezer meals for the weeks surrounding the conference; make sure volunteer lists are finalized and task lists emailed out; design, create, & order conference journals
Nov: daily email and social media interactions & updates; print name badges; stuff name badges; write checks for all speakers; write thank you notes; pay caterer; pay location; get all swag bag contributions; stuff bags; shop for any last minute items; get ahead on homeschool commitments and co op duties the week before the conference; spend one day packing vehicles; spend one day setting up; plan to have at least 48 hours of recuperation after the conference with zero outside commitments; send thank you emails; send survey; send audio & video file links to all registrants
Dec: keep an eye on email and social media; make sure the recording links were sent out and received; rejoice over God’s good work; make sure all the moneys and taxes and receipts are in order and ready for upcoming tax season; pack away all the conference supplies in the basement

This is just a quick summary of the biggest points, the main tasks that absolutely have to be accomplished. And this just follows a general timeline of what I have found works best for me. I don’t get paid to do any of this work (which is what I mean when I say that I treat this as a ministry – I don’t cut myself a paycheck or anything – all my time is donated, and a lot of my personal resources are also donated), so it has to be spread out among many months in order to make it doable. I am in a busy season of life (is there ever a season that isn’t busy?! I’m doubting it…), and I will never get any of these days back. I do not want to come to the end of my life and wish I had not done what I am currently doing. I want to be wise. I want to serve. And I want to follow the Lord’s plans for me. And a good portion of that means that I need to plan well and wisely in the midst of the busy hours, days, months, years, and seasons. Planning with hope and joy and intentionality.

I didn’t even plan my own wedding and reception, to be honest, so when I decided to plan a conference including catering and swag bags, I went into it with about as little experience as a person could imagine! In fact, I’ve also never been to any kind of educational conference before. I have never once attended a homeschooling conference! And while that surprises people when I mention that, I kind of wonder if it keeps Paideia Northwest unique and fresh. I essentially plan according to what I genuinely would personally find helpful, beneficial, and sweet. I do not plan anything according to what “should” be done according to any kind of other event standards. I am not trying to copy what anybody else does anywhere else. In fact, from what little bits and snippets I have seen online of occasional other conferences, I would actually prefer NOT to emulate many of the things I’ve seen.

The main reason I felt the need to pursue Paideia Northwest in the first place, though, was because there were no options in the area that I could attend. As a fulltime homeschooling mama in a family with a single income, I do not have the time or finances to pursue the luxury of traveling hither and yon to places around the country to fill the need I felt for this kind of community, connection, encouragement, and resources. And that is precisely why I have never been to a homeschool (or other educational) conference or event! I have dreamed about attending some. But that’s what it has remained: dreams.

So in general, I find it to be a good practice just not to look around at other events too much. Not only do I not want to cast sidelong glances (contentment and comparison can both be hard), but I also don’t want to get distracted from what is needed HERE. I am trying to be attuned to what I hear women in my own region saying blesses them, encourages them, and urges them to raise and educate their kids with faithfulness according to what God has led their families to do.

And that’s one of my main points about cultivating community all over again: it has to be intentional, and it needs to be about what is needed where you are, among the people you’re with. Just because it is a community, doesn’t mean it is the right community for every place or gathering of people.

We need to be asking what does God want me to do here, with this specific community, and the specific gifts He has given to me?

Books Read in ’21

I thought it would be fun to write out the books I read/listened to in 2021, and see how many fiction vs. nonfiction I read, as well as how many books I read with my kids this year. I was able to complete the ScholĂ© Sisters 5×5 Reading Challenge (although I kind of made it a 6×5 actually) as well as The Literary Life Reading Challenge… and while I had intended to put some overlap between the two, I really didn’t end up doing it that way. My habit tends to be always having at least one fiction and one nonfiction going all the time, as well as always having audiobooks and paper copy books going all the time. I always have a fiction and a nonfiction going with my kids, and try to read at least one or two books a year with just one child at a time. These are just little habits which help me never have an excuse for not knowing what to read next. And it is good to always have things feeding my intellect as well as my imagination!

I read over 100 books this year, which feels like a surprising number to me, but pretty fun. Let’s see how they stack up. Here we go!

FICTION (23)

Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin
The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim M. Richardson
The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair

NONFICTION (50)

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott
Popes and Feminists by Elise Crapuchettes
A Welcome Shore by Suzanne Rhodes
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
A Joyful Noise: Praying the Psalms by Mike Aquilina
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Hamilton by Tony Williams
Meditations on Psalms by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Decluttering Your Marriage by Douglas Wilson
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
The Whirlwind Bides its Time by Joseph Carlson
Twenty Wild Decembers by Jason Farley
No One Doubts a Belly Laugh by Jason Farley
Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
Beholding and Becoming by Ruth Chou Simons
Wintering by Katherine May
French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
The Price of Panic by Axe, Briggs, and Richards
Spokane’s Stories by Blythe Thimsen
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
First Family by Joseph J. Ellis
The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Classical Education and the Homeschool by Callihan, Jones, and Wilson
The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson
Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
A Place to Belong by Megan Hill
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
I Choose Brave by Katie Westenberg
Good Man by Nathan Clarkson
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey
Finding Selah by Kristen Kill
Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller
A Sacrifice of Praise by James Trott (not complete, but spent time here)
Words by the Wayside by Classics Series (not complete, but spent time here)
Mountain Breezes by Amy Carmichael (not complete, but spent time here)
The Litany of Every Day Life by Margaret Kim Peterson
The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson
Teach Me to Feel by Courtney Reissig
The 4 Hour School Day by Durenda Wilson
Mortimer Adler: the Paideia Way by Robert M. Woods
On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Case for the Psalms by N.T. Wright

WITH MY KIDS (35)

Alice’s Farm by Maryrose Wood
The Door at the End of the World by Caroline Carlson
The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher
The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase by Wendy Mass
The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld
Dragons and Dragonslayers by Tim Chester
Jimmy McGee by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Amy Carmichael by Janet Benge
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Hudson Taylor by Janet Benge
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Rescue by Jennifer Nielsen
Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen
The Bookwanderers by Anna James
The Knights’ Tales Collection by Gerald Morris
The Cross of Lead: Crispin by Avi
Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
Cilla Lee Jenkins: The Epic Story by Susan Tan
The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle
Radiant by Richard Hannula
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen
The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Peril and Peace by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Rise of the Wolf by Jennifer Nielsen
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Green