Carnival of Homeschooling Week 94: Octobers' Checkpoint

Welcome to the 94th Carnival of Homeschooling: Octobers' Checkpoint!

I decided to not create a theme but instead to see what submissions rolled in to see what has been on everyone’s minds. This is mid-October, and with that it seems that most of what is on the minds of homeschooling parents is immersion in learning about various areas of study, enjoying the family life of the homeschooling lifestyle, and thoughts of how the new 'homeschool year' is going, taking breaks from formal lessons and so on.

A lot of homeschoolers seem to be using the Internet for content to teach from and to learn with.

I found it very interesting that there were a lot of entries about science, nature and health.

Second most popular was sharing resources for learning about art! How lovely and surprising that was!

Learning aobut world history, ranging from ancient times to this last century was the topic of a few entries.

Just to round out the ‘school subjects’ we are light on the topics of teaching reading, reading aloud to children, penmanship, foreign language, and teaching math. Surprisingly, no one discussed teaching grammar or writing composition.

A bunch are talking about the general homeschooling lifestyle, sharing their personal stories. There are a some humorous entries as well.

Scheduling and routines are on the minds of some families who share how homeschooling is going for them so far this year.

As usual there are general topics about homeschooling and making the decision to homeschool. Homeschooling when a parent or child has medical challenges is touched upon as well.

Government oversight and politics are intertwined with homeschooling in America and those topics reared their heads as well.

A number of bloggers are influenced by the Charlotte Mason method, which was a pleasant surprise as my own family falls into that category and I’ve often felt a bit isolated within the homeschooling community in my interest in using this method.

The Carnival was not without its own type of “junk mail” with me having to weed out submissions from those seeking to make money off of blogging, people who are not homeschooling and are not even writing about homeschooling or education!

Thank you to all those who submitted to this Carnival! It would not happen without you.

I hope you enjoy the...

Carnival of Homeschooling Week 94!

Learning Science

Jennifer of “Tomorrow is Another Day”
blogs “Biology Day” which discusses an article about the transparent frog that was just created, to try to help students learn without dissection.

Sebastian of Percival Blakeney Academy blogs about how homeschoolers can use a new Hawaiian tourist guide website and your home computer to launch a virtual science trip to the big island in “Take a Virtual Trip to Hawaii Island”.

Harvest Mom of Along The Crooked Path writes about the discovery and exploration of a milkweed pod and it's seeds in “In Milkweed Cradle…”.

Dawn of Day by Day Homeschooling shares “Leonardo” in which she tells of how her daughter learns about art history wish Sister Wendy videos and of a lesson learned from Leonardo Da Vinci.

MC Milker of The Not Quite Crunchy Parent in “Teaching Weather When You Only Have Climate” discusses the trails of teaching weather in part of the country that doesn't get cold, have snow or even much rain and asks for ideas!

Katherine of “My Quivers Full” shares “October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month”, ideas to help those you know with Breast Cancer, or just raise awareness.

Teacher of One at “Boys+ Academy” shares “Animal Kingdom” and says that “even Disney is a Fieldtrip if you homeschool. Experience our wonderful and educational day at the Animal Kingdom, Orlando Florida”. Her post is not only full of textual inspiration but has many photographs and even videos! I am very impressed!

Elisheva Levin of "Ragamuffin Studies" blogs: “'Cesar Says:' Training Lily on Autumn Walks”. Homeschooling: It's a dog's life! Especially when training his dog becomes a subject of study and an overwhelming passion for their son. And all that walking is getting them outdoors and into nature, too!

Beverly Hernandez of About: Homeschooling writes that "Reptiles Awareness Day" is October 21st. Here are resources to learn about reptiles.

And science segues to public education in the mind of Henry Cate of “Why Homeschool” writes “A heretical thought: was Sputnik the beginning of the end?” of the quality in public education.

Lynn at “Homeschool2.0 Blog” wrote an environmental piece “It’s Blog Action Day” in which she invites us to take a quiz on global warming.

Silvia of “Po Moyemu—In My Opinion” blogs “Rockets” about how she and her had great fun building model rockets together.

Teaching Art

SmallWorld presents a curriculum/book review of one of her favorite simple art series, Usborne's “I Can Draw” series.

HappyCampers of "Reese's View Of The World" shares two websites in “Let's Get Creative Online!” which allow you to make art using your computer.

Stephanie of "Stop the Ride!" shows us “Dyed Macaroni”. I said "shows us" as this blog entry was part of Wordless Wednesday blog entry about a craft project she did with her children.

Harmony Art Mom of "The Heart of Harmony" gives us “Drawing with Children: A Simple, Gentle Approach”.

Learning History


Never Alone shares a humorous look into oen of their history lessons in "Is It Just Me?".

Lynn of "Eclectic Education" blogs “Middle Ages Unit Study” which is a long list of online resourcss to use to teach the Middle Ages time period in World History. I am impressed by both the fact that Lynn took the time to compile these links as well as her openness to share these resources with other homeschooles!

NerdMom of "Nerd Family" shares “Frugal Homeschooler: History” in which she shares some free online resources from British and American websites for studying history.

Rebecca of “Today in Faerie School”
shares “Egyptian Math”. Rebecca and her eldest daughter are working on math by studying how the ancient Egyptians did math. From using symbols for numbers to learning Egyptian multiplication and fractions, they're going to learn a lot about math while keeping with our annual theme of Ancient Civilizations.

Jo Anne of "Our Homeschooling Expedition" shares "Ancient Egypt Lapbook" as a free download, which she created for her kids and thought she’d share with others.

Learning Math

Editor’s Pick from the web:

“A Few Words About Math” by Luz Shoshie of "Unschoolers Unlimited"

Denise of “Let's play math!” wrote an article “How to solve math problems” which is a 4-step method for solving math problems, with 2 pdf mini-posters to print out.

Christine of “Welcome to My Brain” shares
"Little Gems for Mommy Dearest". Christine shares that she has run across two little bits of Mommy Gold, which has made some major improvements around the house when it comes to mopping and multiplication.

Mastering Pemanship

Patti Miller of “All Info About Home Schooling” shares “Free Handwriting Worksheets!” It is a listing of a few very good sites for handwriting practice papers, some premade, and some that you can write yourself. She has included a few tips on how to use the sites. Your kids may actually enjoy the pages you create, and you may never buy another handwriting workbook again!

Learning Foreign Languages

Karen of
“The Thomas Institute” blogged
“Learning Chinese” which is a short discussion of how and why they are learning Chinese and some things to think about if you are interested in it, too

The Charlotte Mason Method of Homeschooling

"HomeGrown Life" shares an overview of a Charlotte Mason education and how beautifully and naturally her family is experiencing this method in her post "Rich, Generous and Liberal... Simply Beautiful".

Mama Squirrel of “Dewey’s Treehouse” blogs “Some things you just can't do at school”. Mama Squirrel shares a cute story about her children that happened after doing some of their Ambleside Online Charlotte Mason lessons. THis post is a combination of a bit on reading aloud to children and narration as well as being a cute story.

Crimson Wife of "Bending the Twigs" blogs “Reflections on 7 Weeks of "Official" Homeschooling” and writes “I'm back from my blogging hiatus with thoughts about our family's first 7 weeks of "official" homeschooling”.

Thoughts on the Family's Homeschool Schedule or Pace of Life and Learning

Lindafay of
Higher Up and Further In blogs “Grace Week” Lindafay shares: “We just completed six weeks of lessons and are taking a week off. We call it Grace Week. Even though official lessons are on hold, the learning continues...”. I note that LindaFay is yet another Charlotte Mason method homeschooler contributing to this week’s Carnival (amazing)! And, did you know that her family is living in the Middle East?

ChristineMM of “The Thinking Mother” blogs "Reality Check: Real Life is Worthwhile" which is about how learning goes on in between and instead of formal lessons.

April of "lunablog" writes “Homeschooling and the 80/20 Rule”. Boost your fun and learning by focusing on the most vital 20% of your homeschooling activities.

Stephanie of “The Life Without School Blog” shares “Time is a Homeschooler's Best Friend”. She summarizes her post in this way: "The beauty of homeschooling is that you come to realize that there is no one right time where every child will know the same thing. But there is one right time for each individual child - and that right time is whenever he is ready."

Reading Aloud To Children

SalmonMe of The Educational Life shares her list of read-aloud's for her preschool and Kindergarten aged children, with a theme of autumn in "Our Bookrack: October: Preschool and Kindergarten".

Timothy Power of "Sometimes I'm Actually Coherent" shares “Of Four-Year-Olds and Chapter Books”. He reflects on the challenge of picking out age-appropriate Great Books (chapter books) from a library for our four-year-old.

Summer of “Mom is Teaching” blogged “Finding Balance in Homeschooling”.

By or About Teenagers, Education and Homeschooling

"Every Good Path" shares “What a Teenager Can Do” that expectations seem universally low for today's teenagers. What can a homeschool parent reasonably expect from their 14 year old? Seeing our culture in decline, some parents set goals of keeping their kids drug free, not pregnant, and educated enough to get into college. This article looks at a different era to get another perspective on what is really possible for a teenager, including academic aspirations.

Jocelyn (a lifelong homeschooled girl who is the oldest of nine in their family) of "Amusing Reflections of a Country Girl" shares “Training Ground”
in which she writes: "The public school system, and the world, all think that this is our childhood, we should enjoy it. When really it's our training ground, we should be training." Regarding this post, I feel the need to express that I am very impressed to read a well-written blog post by a homeschooled teenager. I am thrilled that a homeschooled student is contributing to the Carnival of Homeschooling, and I am thrilled to see she shares that she wants to submit her writings on a regular basis.

Mark Montgomery of “Great College Advice”
“The Upside of State Standardized Tests: A Student Speaks” in which a student shares their pro-opinion of standardized testing.

The Homeschooling Lifestyle, Including Parenting

Proud Navy Wife of "No Fighting, No Biting!" asks “What would happen if you died?” in which she recommends that homeschooling moms should consider getting life insurance.

Then onto lighter matters...

Stephanie of "Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood" presents “Not As Planned” in which she writes about how she spent a block of “alone time” versus what she planned to try to accomplish in that time frame.

Eden of "Our Family Village" shares “More Adventure thoughts….” "These are some suggestions to help make the most of your home schooling adventures. Some may seem a bit goofy, but I really find they help make the most of the day & keep the stress to a minimum", she says.

JugglingPaynes of Home Spun Juggling presents “Home Spun comic strip #148” which is the last in a series of three comics about the beginnings of our homeschooling storytelling group and how the children found their "inner dinosaur".

MamaArcher of “MamaArcher's Blog” writes
“Teaching to the Heart”. She summarizes the post as: “Have you ever seen an obedient child full of resentment and disrespect for the parent or any authority figure for that matter? Teaching to the heart is something that my husband and I have learned along the way in our parenting adventure. If God looks at the heart then maybe as a parent I should look to the heart as well and not just the outward appearance. I began to look at disciplining my children in a whole new light.”

Amy Grant Bayliss of “In Pursuit of Proverbs 31” wrote “WARNING: The Effects of Homeschooling” which she summarizes as, “This is sort of a comedic, journalistic view of the effects of homeschooling. It always amuses me what some people think of my boys because they are homeschooled. This is sort of a response to that.”

Dana of “Principled Discovery” writes “You Have Your Hands Full…” which is about being in public with a large family and the reactions of strangers.

Jennifer of “Diary of 1” writes “Feeling Like an Indian”. She didn’t write a summary statement so I pulled this quote from her blog post. This definitely gives an idea of what the post is about.
"Like the Indians noted in Lancaster, our children are emerging from our public schools almost “totally good for nothing.” They are disrespectful, selfish, self-absorbed, undisciplined, and barely educated by the dumbed-down textbooks. They come back to us unable to engage in critical thinking, brainwashed with an atheistic, postmodern relativistic worldview, their love of learning destroyed.
But the good Department of Education still asks that we turn over our children. While I am obliged by their kind offer, I decline to accept it. And I would call on all able parents to instruct their own children in all they know, and make men and women of them."

Challenges and Homeschooling

Elena of "My Domestic Church" blogs “Izzy eyes” about her “daughter's journey to reading overcoming vision and speech problems”.

Barbara Frank of Barbara Frank shares “Homeschooling No Matter What”. The dedication of homeschooling moms sometimes knows no limits, as in this case with this family was faced with an obstacle of paralysis due to multiple sclerosis.

Making the Decision to Homeschool

Rose of "Learning at Home"
writes "Homeschooling is More Than Academics" in which she explains that the decision to homeschool is based on many factors.

I say, hey, citing studies that show homeschoolers excel academically, or that some win nationwide academic competitions can come in handy sometimes to convince naysayers or to even boost our own worries.

Anne of “PalmTree Pundit” shares “The Purpose of It”. Anne states that she recently realized that she'd lost some focus in my calling to homeschool when she found herself complaining that my children were interrupting my job.

Homeschooling in the Blogosphere

Jacque of "Seeking Rest In The Ancient Paths" shares “HSBA - Homeschool Resources Galore” which she summarizes as: sharing a new site Homeschool Blog Awards Alumni” which she says will “not only bring you the best of homeschool blogs, but to bring you the best of homeschool bloggers.. and websites... and fun... and devotionals. And, there may be more; who knows where this will go??”.

American Government Regulations and Politics and Homeschooling

Local matters...
Susan of “Corn and Oil” shares her “Note to Sauk Valley”. Susan states, “My letter to the editor was published in Illinois. Sauk Valley area newspaper concerning the public school regional superintendent.s attempts to have the local homeschoolers register. It is not a legal requirement and the homeschooling families. records are annually recorded in the Illinois State Board of Education Data Analysis and Progress Reporting Department.”

Nationwide Matters...
Judy Aron of "Consent Of The Governed" writes about "Homeschoolers For Ron Paul”. Judy states, "Homeschoolers can get political. This presidential candidate has already spoken out about homeschool rights - but homeschooling shouldn't be on the federal radar at all. While she personally have not totally settled on a candidate - I believe that we ought to all be mindful of where they stand on homeschooling issues - so with that in mind here is Ron Paul's information".

Education in General

Jimmy of OEDb: Online Education Database presents The Memory Toolbox: 75 Tips and Resources to Go from Amnesic to Elephantic. I'm not sure that Jimmy is a homeschooling parent but I figured that the infomration may be interesting to some of us, so I let this squeak in.

Administrative Notes

If you submitted an entry and it did not appear please contact me.

I had 19 posts fall into my spam folder. I apologize for the delay with those. I had no clue that some posts from BlogCarnival.com could make it to my inbox while others would go to spam.

My understanding of the policies of the Carnival of Homeschooling are that: Submissions to the Carnival of Homeschooling are supposed to be on-topic to homeschooling, education of children, and/or family life of homeschooled families. They are generally written by homeschooling families. Submissions are limited to on-topic posts and only one link per blog or website is allowed per Carnival.

Next week the Carnival is being hosted by At Home With Kris.

For information about submitting a post to a future edition of this weekly Carnival of Homeschooling, please read the directions and submission guidelines on the Why Homeschool site.

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