Then, of course, came the part I always struggle with, finding a theme- one nobody else has used, one that is clever, and witty, and preferably has some artistic tie-in so you can choose cool graphics to illustrate your post.
And then I looked at the time and decided that this is just going to be the All About Me Blog Carnival. You can probably figure out why. =)
Seriously, entry after entry I read reminded me of something we'd blogged about before, and we have been homeschooling since 1988, so I have a lot of homeschooling memories to dig up. Our fifth child will probably graduate this year, leaving me with just two students to home educate- which is how we started our homeschooling journey away back when.
A lot has been going on around here the last few weeks. Our firstborn graduates from college next month, and she is in a rather sudden but very serious and committed relationship with a young man whose been 'just a friend' for the last 4 1/2 years, and I don't expect we'll get to keep her around much longer. My youngest daughter entered the teen years just a couple months ago. We moved into this house three years ago in March, had our first potluck three years ago this weekend, and are celebrating by having another massive bash with at least a dozen people spending the night Friday night and more coming Sunday for food and singing. I've been doing a lot of reminiscing lately, about homeschooling, parenting, and life in general.
So without further ado- here's the homeschooling carnival. Dig in, and be sure to leave comments at your favorite posts. They are much appreciated by bloggers!
The most important thing you can do as a parent, homeschooling or otherwise, is disciple and/or inspire your children. Here's one blogger's take on how to do that:
Becca presents Inspiring your Children posted at Inspiration for Mothers . Com.
Another important job as a parent (and a way to mentor and inspire them as well) is to nurture their special interests and give them scope for development, as Lara DeHaven explains in Pursuing of Our Interests posted at Texas Homesteader.
Rituals are also a warm and important part of parenting- and Renae shares some of her family's in The Children's Hour posted at Life Nurturing Education. At our house, my children don't often want bedtime stories anymore, but the HM still gives our 13 year old piggy back rides to bed. I think this is as much for him as it is for her, maybe more. It helps him reaffirm his youth.
As important as rituals are, a nice balance of spontaneity is also important, as we see when The Family presents Surprise maple syruping posted at Once Upon a Family. We had an important surprise history lesson ourselves, just last year when one of Granny Tea's old room-mates dropped by for a visit as she and her husband were passing through- her husband was born to Polish Jews who moved to France to escape Hitler, and ended up dying in concentration camps. He and his sister were cared for and protected by an entire village, and he generously shared several hours of his time telling us of his experiences.
Those who are new to homeschooling will be encouraged to read this voice of experience, Mary Nix presents I?m not a homeschool expert, but an advocate posted at The Informed Parent, as she shares her feelings as her oldest homeschooled son graduates from college. The HG also graduates from college this May, unless Strider distracts her from her homework altogether.;-)
Not all experiences are positive. Some are just downright awkward, particularly with family members who aren't completely on board with this whole weird homeschooling thing. SwitchedOnMom presents Breaking the News posted at The "More" Child.
Like most of the blogging world, we've mentioned Susan Boyle more than once this last week, and remain delighted with her lovely sound. We're not the only homeschoolers interested in Miss Boyle. using her story to present Life lessons from real life (and current events), over at Why Homeschool, where Homeschooling Carnival Blogfather Henry Cate explains some lessons we can learn from Susan Boyle.
You never quite know when kids are listening and when they aren't, and Lizzie's son James pops up with a pertinent comment that makes her smile, in James says… posted at A Dusty Frame.
Speaking of things to make you smile- Monday night at dinner, Pip informed the Boy, whom she thought was piling his plate incorrectly, that:
"Generally, you put the meat on top of the rice, not the other way around."
"Sure," he replied, "Generally people do that. But I'm just a lieutenant."
Homeschoolers always get asked the 'S' question- you know, 'what about socialization?' I remind myself that it was one of the very first questions I asked as well, away back in 1988 when we discussed homeschooling with somebody in a practical way (I'd actually decided to homeschool in 1985, when I heard about it on the radio, but hadn't followed through). Elena LaVictoire presents My Domestic Church: Sam the Volley Ball Ref or one homeschooled kid's adventures in socialization. posted at My Domestic Church.
As long time readers know, we've never been huge fans of television around here, but we've been watching FAR TOO MANY movies around here of late. Partly this is because some of us have been sick (Monday night is the first time that the Boy hasn't run a temperature in a week and a day), and partly because once you relax your standards, it's harder to firm them up again. Also, it's not enough to be against something, you have to replace it with something else, and towards that end, Amanda presents Turn It Off! posted at The Daily Planet.
Math is not my favorite subject, and I consider it a character defect. My son, on the other hand, recently asked if he could keep his math book in his bedroom just in case he wanted to do some extra math problems in his spare time. Maybe Math the Play Way worked! He'll be ready for something more advanced soon, and fortunately,
Denise presents Puzzle: Factoring Trinomials posted at Let's Play Math!.
Start when they are young and persevere, and most subjects are easier than you thought they'd be (unless you're an idiot like me), and preschool at home in particular should be the default position for most of our children. It's not brain surgery, as Carolyn points out at Guilt-Free homeschooling.
One way to incorporate math (and many other subjects) into your days naturally is to take your children to the grocery store. I fondly remember the days when I took five children between the ages of 2 and 9 to the grocery store (and anywhere else I went), one in the cart, one standing on the back (yes, I know that's bad), one 'helping' me push, and two to help fetch the groceries. It seems not many people do this anymore, as Rose shares in Life Lessons at the Grocery Store posted at Learning at Home.
In fact, if you see somebody doing math with their kids at the grocery store, you can be pretty sure they are homeschoolers, as
Gardens are another wonderful family activity. Belle presents her family's garden in This Year's Garden so far........... posted at Homesteaderbelle's Blog.
There's a homeschooling method for everybody (we like Charlotte Mason), and for those who like unit studies
~Kris~ presents Ten Fabulous, Free Unit Study Links posted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
To find out more about these different homeschool flavors, you could attend a convention, and Mrs. C. gives us some pointers on doing just that.
I don't like math, but I do love history, and the HG is a history major who just about hyperventilated this month when she went to visit the cemetery where the subject of her 57 page history thesis is buried, and found the woman's last words engraved on the tombstone (which Stryder lifted out of the ground where it had fallen, and cleaned up for her). Pipsqueak says she thought her sister was going to pass out from excitement. So this next resource appeals to us very much:
Susan Gaissert presents One Hundred Years in One Magazine posted at The Expanding Life.
Here's another interesting post on teaching history- it's part book review and part opinion piece, Elementaryhistoryteacher presents The Gift posted at History Is Elementary. It's got an adoption theme, a topic dear to our hearts.
I'm a big fan of art appreciation for even the youngest students, we've visited more art museums in the last few years than zoos (something we need to rectify) and I've blogged about that before, too. Keri presents Art Enjoyment posted at keri, and explains their method. I concur on those books- they are terrific. Art appreciation can be formal and involved, and there are benefits to that, but children pick up quite a bit just being exposed to good art reproductions, whether you ever say a word about them or not. I blogged here about my experience with a reproduction in my childhood home and my reaction when I discovered the original at the NGA.
Of course, sometimes attempts to instill some art loving tendencies in your children backfire on you, as I wrote about in this post about a memorable field trip I took with my seven children and no husband a few years back.
Crafts are fun, too, and here's a pretty one; HowToMe presents How To Decorate Paper with Bubbles posted at HowToMe.
And here's a find worth bookmarking- Kerry presents Art Links for Homeschoolers: April 2009 posted at A Ten O'Clock Scholar.
Feeling overwhelmed? You might need some downtime. Everybody needs quiet time and space somewhere in their lives. When our children were small, daily quiet time was mandatory, even in the tiniest of our houses where nobody had their own 'space'. Cristina presents Reprints #92-93 posted at Home Spun Juggling.
Of course, you need to be careful about this- some of us, and only you and God know which one you are (and perhaps your family) have elevated 'me' time above its proper sphere and just about made an idol of it. So choose carefully- and personally.
Larry, who blogs at Dad's Homeschool Blog, shares a way, to add a bit of meaning to your weather studies. Sign up for a free account at CoCoRaHS and log precipitation amounts for your location. Your weather studies will also aid the National Weather Service in creating better forecasts.
Hall Monitor presents Students Required To Stand During Pledge posted at DetentionSlip.org. One of the problems I have with government funded, instutionalized schooling is the inherent conflict of interest between bureaucratic, institutionalized values and principles of freedom and liberty that I hold dear. It also results in propaganda being taught as science, and we are the ones who pay for it.
Homeschoolers are pretty politically astute, if we are about as unified as a roomful of cats, mice, and dogs. We have been disproportionately represented in the CPSIA fight, and I expect there were a lot more of us attending Tea Parties than any other group. And we aren't all Republicans, not by a long shot (I'm not. The HM is, and he's still barely unclenched his teeth at me over my vote for the libertarian candidate for President)** Susan is another non-Republican homeschooler, and she attended a Tea Party and points out the difference between reality and the media, in Susan Ryan presents What kind of right wing protester am I anyway? posted at Corn and Oil.
Now here's a very interesting and thoughtful post: ChristineMM presents Thoughts on LEGO Playing and Brain Dominance Determination in Children posted at The Thinking Mother.
Katherine at No Fighting, No Biting says I find it helpful to look back over our school year and evaluate each child's progress to plan for the next year. I don't think we will repeat the gestation and fetal development lessons from this winter, though Baby Julia Ellen will continue give us many lessons on infant development in the future!
in her post, How can we improve?
YOu cannot homeschool if you don't have some good behavioral boundaries established. Or rather, you can, but those boundaries should be the first thing you teach. Here's one way to accomplish that. christinemoers presents Secret Code between you and your kids posted at Welcome to my Brain.
This, oh, best beloved, is National Poetry Month here in America, but naturally, you ALL knew that, didn't you, because you all share poetry with your children regularly? Jacque presents Home School Poetry and Prompts posted at Walking Therein.
This post may help you and your kids prepare for the SAT. Nate Desmond presents Book Review: The New SAT posted at Debt-free Scholar.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homeschooling using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homeschooling using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
** that's a gross calumny for the sake of a grin from readers. My husband Never clenches his teeth at me in anger, and he certainly would not hold a grudge this long. Pin It
