The 2022 CHAP Convention: A Great Source of Encouragement

We were happy to see so many of you come out to support fellow homeschool families by attending the 34^th Annual CHAP Convention. We have heard from many families that it was a blessing to be face-to-face with other homeschool families again and that it was a great source of encouragement and support.

“I came away so encouraged and refreshed! I’m sure my kids wouldn’t have appreciated it, but I came home ready to dive right into the next school year.”

“I felt that I learned a great deal without also feeling overwhelmed, especially as we are new to homeschooling.”

“More than anything, my wife and I came away encouraged. We came away with ideas not only for our family but also for our church. We plan to start a ministry to better equip not only homeschool families but also any families desiring support with discipling their children.”

“This convention was what I needed! The speakers at the convention were just incredible. I felt encouraged, empowered, equipped, and even excited to start a new year of homeschooling. I came home refreshed by God, reminded that He is all I need, and that He has called me to an awesome calling of being a parent, wife, and homeschool mom. From here on out, I can’t imagine not attending the CHAP Convention!”

“This was my first conference, and I’m entering my third year homeschooling. It was amazing! I’m SO glad I went; it was incredibly encouraging, engaging, and challenging. I’m very much looking forward to the changes I plan to make for the fall, and I think my boys will be living their dreams this school year. Less about the pressure of fulfilling all curriculum and checking boxes, and more focus on actual learning and loving it!”

“As our family laughed our way through Todd’s sessions, we gained a lot of heartwarming lessons and different views of life, the biggest so far was the one where he spoke of his daughter saying ‘Dad, I know you love me but do you like me?’ There is a difference, and right now we’re walking in year two of overcoming some huge obstacles in our marriage and we realize we haven’t always liked each other, but our commitment (or love) is still there! So that helped us put words and ideas to some of the feelings we’ve had to deal with, especially when we wanted to finish well for our children, but we hated our situation. So, thanks for bringing Todd Wilson in to speak.”

“I love attending the CHAP Conventions! This was my fourth one in six years. My husband attended with me this year and was so impressed and encouraged by Todd Wilson especially (though he enjoyed everything we attended!). He walked away saying he felt it was as if the convention was for him as a dad because of how much he got from the event! Thank you :)”

Counting the Cost

Is it worth all the time and effort to put on a homeschool convention? There are a lot of costs to host a convention: venue space rental, drayage company fees (pipe & drape), table and chair rental, A/V equipment rental, catering fees, hotel room fees, speaker honorariums, graphics design fees, printing and postage fees, website hosting fees, advertising fees, point of sale rental, giveaway materials, EMT fees, security fees, graphics design fees, moving truck fees, golf cart rental, signage, etc. The costs for putting on a large convention are high and the profit margins are low, making it a risky financial investment.

We have worked hard over the years to control the cost for attendees. We moved from the Harrisburg Farm Show complex to the Lancaster Convention Center to combat rising costs and to help provide a better experience for attendees—nicer facility, attached hotel, ability to bring your own food, walking distance to restaurants. We moved again to the York Expo Center to avoid crippling cancellation fees with the unknown of planning an event during pandemic restrictions and lockdowns (this also brought free, easy parking for the first time).

When we began planning for the 2022 convention in the fall of 2021, we did not know whether we would still be facing COVID restrictions, forcing us to cancel the convention and incur large cancellation fees of $30K-$60K. Facing such a large financial risk that could potentially bankrupt the organization, we decided to pay the $10K cancellation fee to get out of our contract.

In addition, when the nation shut down all face-to-face events, our convention staff was forced to move on to other jobs. Having paid for a year of labor with no convention income, CHAP no longer had the funds to pay staff to plan a large convention. If a convention was going to happen, it would have to be done by volunteers. Courageously, a small team of volunteers with large hearts for homeschoolers put in hundreds of hours to plan this year’s convention. We applaud these volunteers as it was a heavy lift to make this convention happen, and it was done as a labor of love to strengthen and build up other homeschool families.

 Conventions are Changing

Some of you were wondering why your favorite vendors—Rainbow Resources, Miller Pads and Paper, AOP, Apologia, IEW, etc.—were not at the convention this year. Some of these vendors discovered that they make just as much or more money selling online as they do at conventions and decided to stop attending conventions. Other vendors were faced with limited staff to support going to more than one convention at a time and our convention was scheduled the same weekend as several other states. When potential attendees see that their favorite vendors are not attending, they might decide not to come, leading to less overall attendees.

Do you want your favorite vendors to come back? We recommend reaching out to them to let them know that you would like to see them face-to-face.

The new generation of homeschoolers seems to be less inclined to attend a homeschool convention, not seeing the need to go to a conference or curriculum fair. They are used to connecting with other homeschoolers via social media and searching for curriculum online. Before the pandemic, we were trying to meet the needs of this new generation by making the convention more interactive, more family friendly, and more of an experience. This year, we were just happy to be face-to-face again.

Should We Do It Again?

Should we continue to offer a homeschool convention for this next generation? The number of homeschool families in Pennsylvania has nearly doubled since 2019. As your trusted advocate for home education, the volunteers with CHAP graciously give their time to help others in their homeschooling journeys. We stay encouraged by the fact that every new attendee that we talked with was glad that they came and said they would do it again. We want to continue to connect homeschool families together, but we can’t do it without your help.

Helping the Next Generation

Planning a large convention with just a few people is a lot of work. After a heroic effort this year, we know that we won’t be able to do it again without more help as most of the team are busy people with full-time jobs, homeschooling children, and volunteering at church and other ministries. If you would like to see the CHAP Convention continue to be a place for new and existing homeschoolers to learn, connect, and grow, then we need your gifts, talents, and abilities. Our current team comes from all over the state, and we meet regularly via phone, so you can help from the comfort of your own home. Bring your energy, your ideas, and your desire to see the convention grow to help create an even better convention next year.

Contact us at volunteers@chaponline.com