Bill's Workshops: 

• Florida Home School Law: The Differences between Homeschooling under the Superintendent and registering with a Private School in Florida

• Peacemaking Skills for Home and Abroad A Board In this fast-paced PowerPoint presentation, Bill takes leaders and fathers through very helpful steps to help make and keep peace in the home as well as on a board. 

• Protecting the Family  In this Dads-Only session Bill shares some of the rights and privileges he gave up in order to protect his family.  He also takes a look at the difference between standards adopted from outward legalistic control, which brings damage from within the family, and decisions made with right motivations, resulting in protection from outside worldly influences.       

• Teaching Children How to Stand Alone Teaching children to do what’s right even if no one else does begins by taking a hard look at our own lives and moves on to the slow process of listening, encouraging, praising and teaching our children both the costs and rewards of standing alone for conscience-sake.

Bill and Mardy Workshops Together:

• Helping Our Teens to Hear the Shepherd's Voice (available on CD) Bill and Mardy share from personal experience and mistakes how they learned to help their own teens develop a personal relationship with the Lord.  Based on their second book, Children of Character II, Bill and Mardy warn parents about some of the results they’ve seen from two extremes in Christian parenting –  too much control or too little.  The goal of Christian parenting is to work ourselves out of a job by helping our children become self-governing and accountable to God rather than us.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice,” and we want them to be able to hear the Lord’s voice in their heart and not just voice in their heads. 

• The Blessing of the Teen The teen years can be the most stretching and challenging time of life for both parent and teen. They can also bring the greatest blessings. Bill and Mardy share from their experience with seven teens the power that patience, understanding and communication play in guiding a teen.  There will also be important insights gleaned from their adult children and older teens about gaining a vision during those important final years before adulthood. 

• Vignettes of God's Faithfulness: Stories to Encourage and Inspire  Bill and Mardy share snips of trials and victories they've experienced over the years that hit home with all homeschoolers.  Set to music with a PowerPoint presentation, it's both humorous and touching.  An ideal presentation to end an event. 

Mardy's Workshops:

• A Spoonful of Humor Mardy shares humorous stories, many that carry a spiritual lesson, that every home educator can identify with.

• A Woman’s Place is in the Heart

• Children of Character (available on CD) Winning our children’s hearts (not their favor), praising them for character (not for talent or looks), listening with understanding (rather than lecturing and trying to fix), teaching them to walk in forgiveness (and walking in forgiveness ourselves) are just a few of the lessons Mardy had to learn to help her children develop godly character.  Mardy shares from personal experience and mistakes on effective ways to develop character in children. 

• The Differences Between False Guilt, True Guilt and True Conviction  Many of us women tend to be "guilt magnets," unnecessarily taking on guilt for other people's wrong choices, or accepting others' wrong assessments about us.  Mardy shares personal lessons on ways to identify behaviors that are associated with false guilt, and the fruit that comes from true conviction.

• Getting to the Root of the Problem (available on CD) Based on the chapter by the same name from their book, Children of Character, Mardy shares personal examples of how she and her husband handled character as well as academic challenges in two of their children.  Mardy also shares insights on how to get to the root of a problem when we are seeking answers for our children.   Sometimes it is tempting to overlook our children’s wrong attitudes or behavior.  We may want to believe that their behavior is a “stage,” or that it is normal, or that it will pass.  We might even be tempted to keep them busy in extra-curricular activities as diversions until they “get through a phase.”  But, if we do not first consider root causes, we run the risk of burying the true problems and postponing the inevitable.  From Children of Character

• Guiding Our Teens to Maturity (available on CD)

• Home and School Organization Workshop (fast-paced, information-packed, with hand-outs)

• Homeschooling through High School (fast-paced, information-packed with hand-outs)

• How to Win the Hearts of Your Husband and Children (available on CD) Teaching our children is not supposed to feel like we’re pushing stalled cars uphill, nor is it supposed to drain the life from our marriage.  This Moms-Only session will help women to see what husbands and children really need from them in order to trust them with their hearts, and why it is so important to win their hearts.   Mardy also shares personal experiences of her failures and consequences, as well as the lessons she learned through those failures.  This is a very encouraging session.

• How to Do Your Best without Burning Out (available on CD) Homeschooling mothers wear many hats, and sometimes it feels like "the faster we run, the 'behinder' we get!"  Mardy shares very practical ideas she has used to identify life goals, plan each day with those goals in mind, and make room for them each day.  

• Making Altars, Cutting Ties: Identifying Ties that Bind Mardy shares personal experiences and insights about cutting the parental ties to our children that keep them from succeeding.  Based on the chapter "Cutting Ties" from Children of Character

•  Seven Keys to Winning Our Families’ Hearts (available on CD) Living by the ‘Golden Rule’ of loving our neighbor as ourselves is the most effective way to win our family’s hearts. It can also be the hardest thing to do. It may even seem impossible. Mardy shares seven keys learned in the trenches of her own prayer closet that have helped her to genuinely love and accept her closest “neighbors,” her own family.  She also shares some of the good fruit that can be expected when we dare to let Jesus love others through us.

• Sharpening Your Student’s Skills through Political Volunteering (available on CD) Most families want to do their “patriotic duty” and help the candidate of their choice during political elections. B ut, most of us find ourselves so busy every other fall that it simply becomes impossible.  Mardy shares some of the once-in-a-lifetime skills their children have gained by putting academics on the shelf for a few weeks in campaign years, and learning civics first-hand.  She also shares practical ways to assign some of those patriotic duties to our children so they will gain practical skills along with real-world experience.

• Teaching Children to Live for a Purpose Higher than Themselves: The Role of Service in our Children’s Lives (available on CD) Raising great kids takes a lot of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy.  But, if we use our energy pouring out too many good works on our children, instead of teaching them to do good works themselves, the result will be a child-centered home.  This type of environment usually produces self-centered children who experience conflicts when they try to function outside the home when life no longer revolves around them or their desires.  Bill and Mardy share practical ways to train children to succeed in a world that does not revolve around them through a lifestyle of serving.

• Traps on the Path to Character: Dealing with Pride, Fear, Guilt, Discouragement and Legalism  (available on CD) Most parents want their children to have "better” than they did, including the quality of strong moral character.  But, hidden traps on our path, such as our own pride, fear, worry, guilt, wrong motivations or expectations can hinder us from helping our children to build strong character.  Mardy shares personal testimonies and insights about being set free from these traps, and the difference it makes in a family. 

•  When to Speak, When to Pray (available on CD) It can be difficult in a marriage to know when to speak up about an issue and when to simply pray about it. Mardy shares examples from her own life, as well as lessons on learning to pray before addressing an issue, and how to know the difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom.  It is much easier to walk in our own wisdom and have a hard heart than to walk in God’s wisdom and develop a tender heart.  But the rewards of heart that is tender and open to the Lord are greater than we can imagine.

Three of our children sometimes share their testimonies at workshops. 

• Daniel (1988) was a very strong-willed and challenging child.  He shares about the power of getting and keeping a clean conscience, and how important it is for dads to check in with their sons to help them be accountable.  His testimony about what a mom can to do help win a teen’s heart is at http://www.thefreemans.org/moms/daniel_freeman.htm  His testimony about his experiences on a mission trip to Honduras is at:  http://www.thefreemans.org/Honduras2004.htm  For more info on Daniel, his website is at: http://www.thefreemans.org/Daniel/

• Stephen (1990) shares with teens how important it is to develop and maintain their own personal relationship with Christ while being raised in a Christian home.  He also shares from personal experiences how important it is for parents to remove children form environments in which they are being influenced.  Stephen’s webpage is at: http://www.thefreemans.org/Stephen/

•  Patrick (1992) shares about how important it is to a child when a parent takes the time to ask them how they are doing and prays with them every night.  He also shares about the pitfalls of pride.  His webpage is at:  http://www.thefreemans.org/Patrick/