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Mrs. Heather Laurie:  Homeschool Conference Speaker and Workshop Leader Details


Name  

Address


Email
Laurie, Heather

Fairmont, West Virginia (WV)  26554
United States of America (US)

gfcfMomOfMany@yahoo.com
Website(s) SpecialNeedsHomeschooling.com
Heather Wigton Laurie on Facebook
Laurie Family Ministries
Featured PresentationsExceptional Child Expo 2013
The Old Schoolhouse online Special Needs Expo 2012
Great St Louis Home Educator's EXPO St Louis, MO - 3/2012
The Old Schoolhouse online Expo 2011
Heart of the Matter online Special Needs Event 2009 & 2010
Homeschoolblogger.com Workshop series online - 7/2010
CHEK Christian Home Educators of Kentucky - 6/2010
Chestnut Ridge Church's Women's Retreat

Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention - Omaha (2013, NE)
Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention - Nashville (2013, TN)
Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention - Spartanburg (2013, SC)
1st Annual 2012 Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention - Spartanburg (2012, SC)
Ultimate Special Needs Expo 2011 (2011, WWW)
2011 Eastern Panhandle Home School Conference (2011, WV)
The Old Schoolhouse Expo (May 2010) (2010, WWW)
Workshop Presentations2011 Christian Home Educators of WV Conference (2011, WV)
2010 Christian Home Educators of WV Conference (2010, WV)
Specialties
Presentation Titles & Descriptions

Keynote and Featured Speaker Options

Thinking About Homeschooling Your Child With Special Needs? You know there has to be a better way for your child to learn, but are you ready to take the plunge into homeschooling? Whether you are scared, anxious, confused, or determined homeschooling is what must happen, I am here to help!

After a decade of homeschooling my special needs family I understand. Would you like to know how other parents have made the tough decisions you are facing? How to deal with the school system and therapies. The 1, 2,3′s of getting started. I am going to share how some families have balanced their special needs homeschooling life and schedule. A practical look at the first steps into homeschooling your child with special needs.

Standing Strong: Are you facing storms in your life? No job? No money? Health failing? The government threatening your homeschooling and parental rights? We have faced many of these storms. These storms have threatened our family with destruction, but the Lord held us fast. We made it through stronger!

I share our story and how we were able to stand against the storms. I pray our trials will give you hope for your difficulties and courage to Stand Strong!

 

Workshops

Special needs homeschooling? Yes you can!: Can I legally homeschool? I am just not sure if I have the time/ patience/ education to help my child with a learning disability? HELP! The current situation is not working but I just don’t know where to start this thing you call homeschooling! After a decade plus of homeschooling 5 children with multiple medical and learning needs I can tell you from the bottom of my heart YES YOU CAN! I am here to help!

Who needs Normal Anyway! Our journey into homeschooling and the bumps along the way. How we realized that we were dealing with learning outside the norm. The steps we used to decide how to continue. Is this a problem or phase? How to go about getting testing, therapy, and deciding on public shool or private help. As a homeschooling parent how to adjust your schedule/ learning/ and curriculum to maximize learning! The encouragement that homeschooling doesn’t have to be smooth to be successful!

Navigating High School when you have Special issues: How to build a solid high school schedule for your child. How can I write a transcript for a teen that is struggling with basics and life skills? What diploma options are there for our special needs teens? Are there any special concerns about stepping into adulthood that I need to know? Lets look at the final stretch of homeschooling together and make some solid plans for the future!

Special Needs Homeschooling Open Talk: I host/or take part in an open discussion on special needs homeschooling issues. I will have several topics and questions prepared that are often asked. I will also talk to the group about starting their own groups for support. Together our burdens are lighter!

Couple led workshop (led by Christopher and Heather Laurie)

eSpecially Delicate Marriages: Marriages crack under the pressure of intense situations like special medical needs or homeschooling difficulties. Add a marriage stretched by finacial concerns and spotty outside personal support could your marriage be heading for a brick wall called divorce? We pray not! In fact let’s be sure you are not! Let’s talk openly about pitfalls, how to avoid them, and the foundations needed to create a loving strong home!

Autism

Homeschooling with autism ROCKS! : The diagnosis of autism is often followed by a list of therapies your child needs and the discussion on how ‘you can’t possibly homeschool your autistic child’. You can successfully, responsibly, and with great joy homeschool your child! We discuss everything from the curriculum adjustments, how to get needed therapies, and even the ‘socialization question.’ We talk about setting attainable goals and where can our special kids go at the end of the journey?

Gifted

Your Gifted Child at Home: What a joy to have a child that is gifted! A gifted child comes with a life of intensity. Simply trying to keep up with their curriculum needs, from slightly ahead to several grades in 1 year. Homeschooling a gifted child can be expensive and tiring. Future plans like PSAT, SAT, and ACT testing is not something in the distant future for your family, it’s approaching fast! This is a workshop packed with ideas of how to deal with your fast learner, and not break the bank. Guidelines on where to get extra help during those high school years. Most importantly how to help your child’s emotions and personal skills keep up with their intellect. Parenting a gifted child is a delight and one that I would love to share with you!
**Gifted and Twice Exceptional Children at Home** very similiar to the above workshop with 2E children intergrated into the talk.

Gifted Gals: This workshop is for the ladies! Moms, preteens, and teens that have been blessed with giftedness. What are you going to be when you grow up? That’s a loaded question when asked to a gifted gal; the answer (by many) is expected to be nuclear physicist. What if you don’t feel that is right for you? This is a heart to heart talk about what the Lord is calling you to be and what your desires rather than what the world tells you to be. Where is your heart guiding you? How can you find that special path?

Learning Disabilities

Don’t Dys-miss Me! A look at the neglected learning disabilities: Learning disabilities can affect any part of the learning process. Where do I draw the line between messy writing and dsygraphia? Math is hard but my son just doesn’t get it! We talk about many of the under discussed learning disabilities such as dsygraphia, dyscalculia, processing disorders, and memory/retrieval issues. Bring your questions and lets discuss ideas to help your child flourish!

Sensory Intense Kids: Movers, Shakers, and Denim Cloth Haters: Does your child bounce constantly? Will your child refuse to touch sand? We discuss Sensory Integration Disorder and what it means to our homeschooling. Practical advice and ideas from a mom who has lived the sensory roller coaster for years, and if pushed I would have to admit to having sensory issues myself. How to adapt your learning environment to help your child thrive!

General Homeschooling:

Diploma Blindness: When your teen can think no further then what they need to know to graduate. Or worse your homeschooling has ground to a halt. A tiring tug of war that you know your teen needs to keep going and be successfull but they just don’t see the need. How to encourage and redirect your teen towards the big picture. Graduation and onto a wonderful future!

Resistant Learners: Your child just doesn’t want to learn! They drag their feet, forget assignments, and otherwise frustrate you with their excuses. Let’s look at why many children stop wanting to learn. How to overcome those obstacles! Tips and ideas from moms that have been there. Let’s get this homeschool back on track!

NOTE:

If you have a theme for your event let me know. I thrive on the challenge of creating a meaningful, informative workshop or talk for your special event!

Heather's Achievements

My husband Chris and I have homeschooled our 5 special needs children for

11+ years!

I have been interviewed by several radio shows, including Encouragement from the Heart. November 2009.

I have written several articles for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

My blog Special Needs Homeschooling won the best special needs homeschool blog 2010!

You can find out more about how my husband and I are reaching out to help the special needs homeschooling community at my blog Special Needs Homeschooling .

Laurie's Bio

My name is Heather Laurie. My husband, Christopher and I have been married for 16 wonderful years. We have been blessed with 5 children, and 3 awaiting us in Heaven.

We began our homeschooling journey11+ years ago. We later found out that our children and I have a mitochondrial disorder. It causes a large variety of medical and learning problems. Mitochondrial disorder is progressive and life shortening disease.

This has brought our homeschooling journey to many unexpected places. We have homeschooled in the hospital, many a doctor’s office, and therapy parking lots. Four of the kids are on the autism spectrum and have varying levels of sensory issues. The wide variety of problems the children have dealt with or are dealing with has left me uniquely positioned to cover first hand a large variety of problems.

The Lord is guiding us through this as He has every other storm we have faced. If I can pass on one lesson it is to listen to God. He is the goal at the end of the homeschooling journey.

Date Created12/1/2009
Date Modified4/3/2013 12:18:43 PM
 
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My hope is that this list will assist conference organizers in connecting with Heather Laurie and other workshop leaders and speakers. Furthermore, my desire is to help homeschool workshop leaders and speakers develop relationships with more convention planners and audiences. May your efforts be for the glory of Christ and the strengthening of His saints.

Disclaimer:  Balancing the Sword makes no claims about the speakers' faith, ability, materials, etc.  This speaker profile information is being provided free of charge.  Please click the links and do your own research before issuing an invitation to your conference.  Postings are subject to change.

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