I hope that you’ve worn your comfortable shoes because we’ve got so much for you at this Carnival – it’s more like the Greatest Show on Earth!  With 65 contributors from all over the blogosphere, you’ll get to enjoy everything from a relaxing ride in the swings to the thrill of climbing the rock wall and even get to watch some others throw darts!

First of all stop by the circus tent to meet Paul and Gena, the ringmaster/jugglers of HomeschoolBlogger, HomeSTEADBlogger, and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. And wherever you see Gena, you’ll surely see her sister who she dearly loves, but lovingly calls “The Bearded Lady”.  Jen will be busy setting up her own little side show as her gang takes their homeschooling to their new homestead.  Say “Hello” to the mom from Small World because her gang will certainly be in the middle of the fun… because they can… because that’s one of the Intangible Benefits of Homeschooling.  Barb’s family from Joyous Heart will definitely be in the circus tent.  One of the reasons they started homeschooling was so that their family could travel with dad and be part of the shows when he was working with a circus! Barbara Frank will be handing out maps since so many folks ask, “Where’s the Schoolroom?”

And don’t be surprised if you see a few sentimental parents wandering around the fairway.  Beverly Hernandez of About Homeschooling has been thinking of how her Homeschool Fairy Tale began.  Meanwhile Tami is sharing about how a homeschool catalog led them to homeschooling, which led them to their homeschool business and their hope to encourage others to consider homeschooling. A Crosswalk e-Newsletter answered some questions about homeschooling for Wyndee at Five Acres Academy. Of course The Old Schoolhouse has plenty of homeschooling e-Newsletters to offer these days too. 

You might catch Kari from As for Me and my House looking in the Funny Mirror.  She’s starting to realize that even though homeschooling isn’t about her…. somehow it is.  Hopefully you’ll notice some accomplished, articulate, funny and responsible kids who really know how to talk to adults there as well.  Those kinds of kids really sell people on homeschooling, even if they thought it was weird before like this blogger.  Ann Voskamp, author of A Child’s Geography, is challenging all of us to represent homeschooling well as we embrace others when we go out into the communities with our families.  For 2006, her resolution is to be a liberal, soul-fat, community educator.

If you mosey on over to the rock wall, you’ll find plenty of parents to encourage you with tips on how to climb Mt. Homeschooling.  Janine Cate of Why Homeschool has some ideas on building a curriculum.  Laurie Bluedorn of Trivium Pursuit Online will cheer you on when you feel like giving up.  Our friend over at Principled Discovery even has lesson plans to share! Meanwhile Kris can tell you what she would do differently if she was starting again. And Sherry has some really great homeschool plans for January if you’re looking for a little inspiration.

When you’re ready to take a break, why don’t you head on over to the concession stands? You’ll want to get a yummy funnel cake or frozen lemonade so that you can sit and visit with some of the other homeschool families. Spunky cuts through a lot of questions to get at the heart of “Why do you want to educate your child?” Kim C at Life in a Shoe has her answer ready! Lioness’ Homeschool Journey all started with wanting something better. The Confessor tells about his family got started Homeschooling from Scratch. Katie from Team Bettendorf says that there’s no reason to give up raising your children just because someone turns 5! Nancy Baetz has some wonderful reasons for why and how they homeschool their children. Meanwhile Christi Waterman of My Reality Show gives her 3 reasons for homeschooling. She just so happens to have 3 children… hmmm… And Heather (aka Sprittibee) tells about why the sacrifices to homeschool are worth it. Mrs. Happy Housewife agrees and quotes David Thoreau, “The price of anything is the amount of life that you exchange for it.” They aren’t able to play team sports regularly where they live, but homeschooling is definitely worth that sacrifice!

Do you have a little one begging to play in the bouncers?  Preschoolers and Peace has some ideas of what a two-year-old can do!  BruggieTales has a cute picture of their two youngest helping clean the kitchen and they’re reminding us to embrace the disasters as learning experiences.  Wonder if Wendy’s little guy from Cocoa & Cookies will put away the Legos long enough so that he and his sisters can bounce for awhile?  I’m pretty sure that Marsha’s monkeys will take time to enjoy the carnival.  They love being able to schedule “school” around their life, rather than scheduling their life around a school!

Some of our bloggers have the benefit of having been homeschooled themselves.  They’ve got a bird’s eye view from the swings and are now enjoying a relaxing ride with their own children.  Crystal from Biblical Womanhood, a homeschool graduate, shares about what her parents did that was “so different” that they had her heart as a teenager.

Kay in Maine suffered from cruel treatment in public school before her parents began to homeschool her. She and her husband both knew that they would homeschool and develop an educational lifestyle with family being the center of all of their activities!

And that’s part of homeschooling – all of your activities… the fun and the not-so-fun. Homeschooling is really about living life together and that can be a bit of a roller coaster sometimes. Jill Novak reminds us that God’s curriculum actually comes from those divine interruptions and bends in the road: marital problems, sibling rivalry, job stress, loss of income, difficult pregnancies, miscarriages, deaths, illnesses and more. Tammy shares a day in their life of homeschooling while preparing to move at Homeschool3Ks.

A few less public school teachers are on the scrambler these days. Some of our bloggers shared stories of quitting teaching public schools to focus on the children that mean the most to them – their own! Once Nancy from Lessons Learned on the Farm had her own little boy, she began to regret and rethink what she had thought about "trained teachers". MaggieRaye understands. She says that it took the Lord 10 years to change her mind about the importance of "trained professional" teachers too. Ann shares her story about why she left the teaching profession to homeschool. Likewise, Melissa has gone from teaching junior high kids and thinking "how sad" it was going to be that a little girl was going to be homeschooled, miss out on fun events, and be overly sheltered and weird to thinking "how sad" it is for children and parents who miss out on homeschooling!

Join the fun at the Ferris Wheel. The True Blue Semi-Crunchy Mama explains how she is happy unschooling because her children enjoy learning and don’t look at it as a forced activity. Michelle from Treasure Box Press says that her family is kind of quirky and much prefers riding the Ferris wheel to being trapped in a box! 4BeachBabies loves homeschooling so much, she thinks that when people ask why we homeschool; we should be asking them, "Why wouldn’t we?" Mom2threegirls is having such a great time homeschooling that she made a big ol’ list about how great is to homeschool and be a family!

Did you like to toss the darts at balloons when you went to the carnival as a kid? Well I think some of our bloggers are still pretty good at throwing darts… right at the government schools. Nissa Gadbois takes perfect aim in her The Trouble with School post. Has anyone ever told you that your child needs more than just one teacher? Well Sagerats reminds them that there is a teacher in every book! Meanwhile Rebecca minces no words about why they’ll be homeschooling. Susan from Ladies in Training says that the more she has read about public education, the more she knows that she could never send her child there! Jennifer isn’t surprised that so many of today’s children don’t know how to live life when all they’ve been taught is how to live in an institution.

Sometimes the bloggers are pointing darts right back at us though. Micah Girl challenges us to lead a life of integrity in our own homes while Patricia W. Hunter challenges us to take ownership of your homeschool.

And watch out for the reporters roving around looking for a good story. Joanne from An Unschooling Life asked some experts what they thought about homeschooling. Meanwhile Amber has her answer ready if someone asks her, "Why do you homeschool?"

Make sure you don’t miss out on the train ride around the park before you leave. The Palm Tree Pundit is having a great time with her family. That’s part of the reason that they continue homeschooling in fact. Texas Raisins doesn’t get hung up in the world’s big, better, best system. She’s too busy teaching her children how to live what they believe. Meanwhile jquinby’s family is benefiting from studying their faith, being all together, watching less TV and getting swarmed with all that the kids are learning! Ali loves her God Given Mission Field and says that there is no other job in the whole world that could possibly give her the satisfaction that homeschooling does! Finally as it’s time for the park to close TOSPublisher shares her own Top Ten List of why she homeschools.

We hope you’ve enjoyed your visit to the Carnival of Homeschooling on the HomeschoolBlogger Company Blog. We truly appreciate all of Henry Cate’s work in heading up and producing the Carnival of Homeschooling. It is awesome to see the growth of homeschooling and what homeschooling is doing for so many families. We also want to say thank you to all of the bloggers who submitted posts. We tried to get you all in here!

The Carnival will be back at Henry Cate’s Why Homeschool blog next week. So you won’t want to miss it! Henry has the information on how to submit a post here. Submissions are due to: cate3@panix.com by 6:00 PM (PST) on January 16th. It will be greatly appreciated if the submissions come in earlier. Please send the following information:

Title of Post
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Happy Homeschooling from the Gang at HomeschoolBlogger and The Old Schoolhouse!

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