With all of the depressing news out there, we want to give you a place to come to share your good news!
Tell us about something wonderful that one of your kids did, news from or about a homeschooler in your area - from potty training to 4H awards we want to hear all about it!
Here is some news from a support group in my area of Kentucky -
On December 2, 2005, eight students competed in the official National Geographic Bee for home educators in Western Kentucky. The winner of this year's school bee was Peter Schmidt, son of Jeff and Beth Schmidt of Boaz, KY. Neil Trammell, son of Larry and Laura Trammell of Benton, KY, was runner-up. Margaret Mahoney, daughter of Joe and Sally Mahoney of Gilbertsville, KY, placed third.
The other contestants in the school GeoBee were Janeye White, daughter of Jeremy and Sharon White of Paducah, KY; Jesse Martin, son of Darrell and Robin Martin of Hardin, KY; Ezra Morgan, son of David and Jody Morgan of Hardin, KY; Nathan Schmidt, son of Jeff and Beth Schmidt of Boaz, KY; and Seth Trammell, son of Larry and Laura Trammell of Benton, KY.
This GeoBee was only open to Kentucky home educated students in grades 4-8. The Marshall County Home Educators sponsored the event.
As winner of the school GeoBee, Peter Schmidt will take a one-hour written test. The top 100 scores on the written test qualify for the state Geo Bee, to be held in April 2006 in Bowling Green, KY. The top finisher at the state Geo Bee wins a trip to the Nationals in Washington D.C. in May 2006.
For preparation for next year's GeoBee, there are 5 sample questions per day on the National Geographic Bee website. It also contains the FAQs and rules of the Bee. There are also several books available online or at Books A Million designed to help.
Remember the first 5 commenters to share their good news get the *Featured Blogger* button!
After years of struggling with reading, writing, and understanding the English Language in general, my 15 yo dd is finally starting to take off! She's my one that didn't start reading until almost 11. She always made progress, but at 15 she was still reading around 4th-5th grade and spelling, well not quite that good. In November, we decided to spend LOTS of money and enroll her in a private one-on-one brain training therapy. Committment: 1 hr/day, 7 days wk (6 at home, one at office), for 20 weeks! It's kind of fun, but It can get very old and easy to ignore (for me). But we've made it the priority and if we don't get anything else done during the day, we do therapy. And it's starting to work! For the first time in her life, she could read the opening trailer on "Star Wars" by herself and keep up. Today she read five, yes count them five, newspaper articles. She's noticed that she can read an AG Book in half the time it used to take her and is starting to fly through larger novels. And her confidence is going up. She kept the minutes for the 4H meeting the other day and typed them up and while there were some grammatical errors, I didn't correct any spelling errors! This is so amazing after years of struggling for both of us. Just one more way my Chrysanthemum is blooming this year.
This isn't as much school-related as it is character-related: My 7 year old daughter received $10 from her grandmother for Christmas. I asked her what she was going to spend it on and she said since there are ten other people in her family, she would spend $1 on each. I said, "But the money was meant for you to buy something for yourself, why do you want to spend it on everyone else instead?"
She replied, "Because that's what Jesus would do."
Wow! To me this was much more special than any academic achievement.
<i>Untitled Comment</i>
11:37 AM, Jan. 19, 2006, posted by
At a three hour doctor's appointment yesterday, my three children (ages 7, 2 and 8 months) all received compliments for how well behaved they were. I *THINK* that's as good as winning a geography competition.
Our homeschool schedule is completely erratic this year while we are on furlough. Riding around the US in an over packed van, going to church meetings and staying up hours past a normal bedtime have not been conducive to "school". We are at a missions conference this week. Yesterday we got about 45 minutes of academics in before Gabe fell asleep. He was worn out. This morning, John and I both had a meeting to attend and I made a list of things for the kids to do - whenever they woke up. Gabe got up at 8 am and finished everything. Hannah and Holly woke up later and got a good start on their work. That is good news for me. The best news is that they are so good natured about it all. Every hour of every day isn't perfect, but most of the time they have a sweet spirit.
My good news is that my 9 year old son is FINALLY turning a corner with his reading...it's so exciting!!!!!!!!!
And..today is my little girls 7th birthday....we've been blessed by her so much!!
Besides being immensely blessed by God -- for the first time in who knows how long, no one climbed in bed with us last night! And....my youngest didn't complain about going to his art class today. And all of my kids got along today -- wow...what did I feed them last night? I'll have to serve that again! These may seem small, but to ME it's HUGE!
There is a free art curiculum contest going on at: http://homeschoolblogger.com/TOSOnlineLab and it is just E.A.S.Y. to enter!! There are also some amazing contests being run via The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, found here: http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Contests/index.php.
Come on over and enter for some amazing free curriculum! :+)
Kate
Lots of good news to report. Made it home safely with a van full of kids in a snowstorm with windshield wipers that wouldn't work right---Thank You Lord!
Got to visit with several homeschooling Mom's this week--we watched the "funny moms" video, what a riot! (Funnymoms.biz, I think) And what a blessing to be treated so nicely by the ladies up at High Country Home Educators!
Next, spent a play date with some Christian Unschooler Mom's and kids, and had a wonderful time, but the BEST thing of all was the reminder that one mom gave me today that we Christians are all imperfect but we have a perfect God who loves us and will help us through any trial that comes up as long as we look to His perfect wisdom and truth. Hallelujah, neither ME nor my Christian friends have to be worried that we aren't perfect!!!!! Woo Hoo, that takes the pressure off for sure.
And another praise, I know He will keep working on me til I get it right---(being more gracious and understanding about my faults and failings, as well as those of my friends.) He is SO good to show me once more that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, AND that homeschooling is great, but it isn't going to save my kids......only Jesus can do that! Thank You Lord.
Howdy. Not sure if you got my email or not. My address is Janne@momys.com
Thank you for such a wonderful blessing.
Curious about The Old Schoolhouse
Magazine but not quite ready to commit to a subscription without seeing it first?
Check it out for FREE! We're so certain you'll love our publication that we'll gladly send a FREE sample to anyone new to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine - we even cover the shipping!
Welcome to the HSB announcement blogboard from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine,
LLC. We hope you will enjoy the articles posted here by the Porch Team. Please feel free to leave comments!
~ Tia Linschied, Senior Editor of HSB
Our E-Newsletters give you wonderful, informative information about homeschooling, news bits, contests and PRIZES for homeschoolers, articles to encourage you, calls for writers, free unit studies and lesson plans, and just a lot of FUN. Bring the community to your inbox, and no worries, we never sell, trade or give your email or any other information out to anyone.
Come join the homeschool party!
The Homeschool Minute is our most
popular newsletter, full of encouragement and support just for YOU!
Subscribe to *FREE* newsletters offered by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Curious about The Old Schoolhouse
