18th Carnival of Homeschooling: A Cornucopia of Wisdom

18th Carnival of Homeschooling: A Cornucopia of Wisdom


As I was preparing this 18th Carnival of Homeschooling, it struck me that the wide range of subjects covered this week could be considered a cornucopia of wisdom. I found this lovely definition of cornucopia: "an overflowing store, an abundance", which is what I think we have this week. I hope you enjoy the inspiration, enthusiasm and support that these homeschooling parents offer to you through their writing.

Why choose to homeschool?

In "Conflicting Values", Spunky of Spunky Homeschool gives Dr. Jim West, a Baptist Minister who wrote in The Boston Globe in support of public schools and against homeschooling, a review of the reasons why she feels that homeschooling is Bibically supported.

A Veteran Homeschooler Shares Wisdom

Henry Cate of “Why Homeschool” shares his inspirational: “Interview: Judy Aron - Director of Research at NHELD”. Judy shares some of her insights into the importance of homeschooling, and ways homeschoolers can protect their right to homeschool. (Judy is one of my mentors, so this interview was of special significance for me.)

As Patricia Ann of "Patricia Ann's Pollywog Creek Porch" has watched the baby mockingbirds hatch and grow in the nest in her backyard, she fondly reflects in "Crayons Under the Frige" on the "feathers" that her children have left behind, the evidence of her family's twenty years of homeschooling and preparing her children to fly.

Beverly Hernandez of About Homeschooling would like to share an article titled "Endurance" written by Julee Huy of "Homeschooling Daze Blog" in which Julee writes about having endurance in the middle of a chaotic life.

Memories of Being Homeschooled

Queen of Carrots, writes on her blog, “Introducing the World”,about the things she remembers from being homeschooled. In this entry, she reminisces about her early elementary years, when her parents were trying, although not very successfully, to replicate school at home. "TTIR Part 3: The School-at-Home Years".

Challenges: Homeschooing in Germany

In “Bilingual family suffers under government persecution”, Scatty, of “Green fields and open horizons” details the situation of one family in Germany (father British mother German), who have had unfair fines imposed on them by the school authorities for homeschooling their children. At the end of the post is contact information where people can express their opinions to the relevant authorities.

Parenting our children

Tenniel of “SCHOOL@HOME” reflects about taking kids out on individual 'Mommy and child' or 'Daddy and child' dates after a recent one with her oldest child in her post “Date Night”.

Melissa of “Home Sweet Home” writes in “Planting Seeds and Nurturing Them” that like planting our gardens, growing our children has many of the same needs…good soil, plenty of love and weed pulling!

Character Building

Linda, of “Higher Up and Further In” writes “The Strong-Willed Child” which offers some ideas from Charlotte Mason for parents of strong-willed children.

Television, the Media and Children

Steve Walden of “Dad's Corner” shares “Entertainment Values” in which he shares that many parents are plugging in their children and educating them using the world's values whether they realize it or not. Steve advises to teach children to make responsible choices when it comes to entertainment by using criteria like the three R's: Realism, Redemption, and Reason.

The Homeschooling Day

Captain Mom of “Captain Me Planet” shares her family’s daily routine, which she calls “Semischooling”.

Mama Hen of “At A Hen's Pace” shares her vision of “An Ideal Day” and tells us that her ideal day may look nothing like God's version!

Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn of “Trivium Pursuit” have published an article written by Kim Fender titled “No School Today” in which Fender explains why she feels that some days were not meant to be school days.

Editor’s Pick: Scheduling

In “Gearing Up” Principaled Mom of “Principaled Mom” shares the schedule she is gearing up for.

Editor’s Pick: Homeschool Record Keeping

Razorback Mama of “Keer ‘Unplugged’” is excited and writes “A new version of Homeschool Tracker Plus is available!”

Academics:
Teaching Reading

In “On Reading” , Daniel of “Key Words” shares his opinion about why homeschooling is the best bet to catch reading problems in a timely manner.

Teaching Penmanship-- Editor’s Pick:

Kate of “The Tate School” stresses over teaching penmanship to her seven year old in her entry “Handwriting Help!”.

Teaching Math

Would you like a better way to teach the math facts? Denise of “Let’s Play Math!” writes that number bonds let children see the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. Read her article “Number Bonds = Better Understanding”

Mama Squirrel of "Dewey's Treehouse" shares in "Cookin' With Math" about how her family loves to use Cuisinaire Rods as part of their main math manipulatives.

As an Editor's Pick, I wanted to share that Maria at “Homeschool Math Blog” writes about "Free Math Materials" that can help homeschooling families.

Teaching History
Wisteria of “Twice Bloomed Wisteria” has been hard at work. In her entry “I've Been Planning!” she shares her selections for history resources for her children’s second Ancient History rotation.

Teaching Work Ethic

Homeschooling families know there is a lot more to teach or learn in our 'home schools' than just academic subjects. Dana of "Principled Discovery" shares in "To Move a Mountain" how the whole family's participation in a big gardening project was not just about gardening, it was about doing useful and purposeful work.

Editor’s Pick: Homeschooling Gifted children

I pulled an article from 2003 from the archives of “Yet Another Homeschooling Blog”, in which Darby’s writes, “Why is "gifted" such a dirty word?” and discusses homeschooling a gifted child.

Hand's On Learning--Editor's Pick:

Donna of “Home-School Heart” writes about the joy of hands on learning that starts in toddlerhood and continues through homeschool-high school, in her blog post “Hands on homeschooling”.

Homeschooling Method: Unit Studies

Maureen of the blog “Trinity Prep School” shares her piece titled, “Prairie Primer: Those Happy Golden Years”. Maureen writes about a family-centered literature based unit study curriculum guide centered around the “Little House” book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She shares that for students in grades Kindergarten through sixth grade, she happily recommends adding the “Prairie Primer” to your list of possibilitites. Maureen shares her review of how her family implemented these studies and the far reaching impacts which resulted.

Homeschooling Curriculum Review: Sonlight

“The Generations at Ash Haven” is written by a woman who was a second generation homeschooled child who now homeschools her children (the third generation in her family). She shares “Why I Love Sonlight…” with us.

Homeschooling "Tools"

DeputyHeadmistress of “The Common Room” shares “Nuts and Bolts Homeschool Tools”, a list of free or nearly free resources and things that one should have around the house that help with homeschooling.

Homeschooling Lifestyle

Christine, also known as "The Thinking Mother" shares her warning "Signs of Being Too Busy".

Homeschool Family Camp

Perhaps if your family is too busy, some R&R is what is needed. David of “Bruggie Tales” writes in “Camping with homeschoolers” that homeschooling camps are a great experience

Controveries

NerdMom of "Nerd Family" questions the current 'teacher edition' of textbook selling policy on eBay in "Is eBay Discriminating against Homeschoolers?"

More Editor’s Picks:

Thought Provoking Reading about Homeschooling

Carolyn of “Guilt-Free Homeschooling” ponders the question: "Should Everyone Homeschool?" and in another post which I could not resist also listing she has the courage to confess "50 Reasons Why I Could Never Homeschool" (she has proved herself wrong).

Editor’s Pick: Unschooling

Since it seems after a quick review that I only received one Carnival submission from an unschooling family, I will provide the link to the current "Carnival of Unschooling #4" which was published on April 13, 2006 and was hosted by “A Typical Life”

Editor’s Pick: Children’s Literature

And in case you would like to read more about children’s literature, the monthly Carnival of Children’s Literature continues to be chock full of submissions. The "Third Carnival of Children’s Literature" was published in April 2006 and can be read on the “Semicolon” blog.

Editor’s Pick: Education and Education Reform

And in case you want to read about education and education reform issues, here is the link to the current Carnival of Education Week 64, hosted by "Education Wonks".

Here is the archive listing of the past Homeschooling Carnivals if you would like to read even more!

If you would like to contribute to future Homeschooling Carnivals, read the submission guidelines, here.

I'd like to thank the Cate's of "Why Homeschool" who created the Carnival of Homeschooling.

I hope you enjoyed this week's Carnival! Have a great day!
-The Thinking Mother


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