Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 102nd Carnival of Homeschooling, The Many Hats of Homeschool Edition
Welcome to the 102nd Carnival of Homeschooling, The Many Hats of Homeschool Edition.
 Hospitality is not only a great character trait to teach in our homeschools, it is something that we can always learn more about. It is also a lot about communication, not only decoration.
To start off the carnival, let's take a look at the hostessing hat homeschool moms wear. A homeschooling mother has to wear many hats. Wanting to provide practical advice during this season of hospitality and hosting others, Tea Party Girl presents You Don’t Have To Be Unprepared for Unexpected Hospitality posted at Tea Party Girl.
Dawn Adams at Day by Day Homeschooling shares some positive aspects of public school but points out that homeschooling her kids means they will get to experience things that schooled kids will miss out on. She also brings up the fact that homeschoolers fail to communicate what we do in Inviting People Into Our Homeschooling.
Good old-fashioned-ness is important to many homeschoolers
 It is to our family. We love going down to the barn, spending time with our Nubian goats, feeding the chickens. We made our first sewing projects a few years ago - quilts - and we have loved our sewing machines ever since. I think winter is the best season to get out the fabric and the thread and make those projects you couldn't get to last summer.
Renae presents More Than a Normal Life posted at Life Nurturing Education. ...wants to raise her children to be more than your average kids. But, is it a myth that through homeschooling you can achieve…more than a normal life?
HowToMe reminisces about how many years ago, her Aunt gave her a rice filled cotton sock with the instructions to microwave it for aches and pains. This year she's making gifts with this crafty suggestion in mind as she shares with us How To Sew a Heating Pad From Household Items See how she recycled household items and made a heating pad at HowToMe.
 The BUSINESS HAT is very important in the homeschool
Many times homeschool famiiles own their own family business. Working together, even if you don't, if very important when you are home all day learning. Teaching our children good business skills and preparing them for the adulthood works well in a homeschool setting.
Gary Davis presents Web Design for Kids (…and Curious grown-ups) posted at Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews. If you child is interested in computers and the internet, here's a review of a very easy-to-follow DVD designed for beginners and kids.
Kevin shows us his picks for the Top Ten Educational Websites for the Homeschool Family at More4kids Homeschooling and Education.
It is just good business to teach children to manage money and live in the real world. the baglady shares a great memory of a personal finance lesson she actually had in school in The Cost of Living in Paradise Redux - A Financial Project All Young People Could Do. She goes over it in great detail in case you are interested in trying it out in your homeschool.
Policing the Homeschool
 While a lot of times we as parents must police in our homeschooling, whether it is our children, their curriculum or the state laws our government tries to use to control our homeschools, sometimes, I suppose we need to worry if our children may be involved in the law in their future...
Timothy Power presents My Daughter, the Anarcho-Capitalist posted at Sometimes I'm Actually Coherent. Timothy asks, "Ever have your child's *real* personality come out in such a way that it makes you fear for the future?"
Police officers are called to keep the peace and protect. Dana believes that keeping our children home is a safety issue. After reading that 800 students skipped school in a TN town, Dana looks at the data and still asks the question about whether or not School is safer than home at Principled Discovery
Homeschool Medical Care
 Every parent has the responsibility of keeping their child healthy, but homeschool parents also take on the responsibility of playing school nurse, usually while teaching other children. Some parents have even had to remove their child from public school for medical reasons. Others may have never put their child into public school, but that makes it no less of a shock when they find out things that are common practice for other children.
Rose is astounded as she discusses How to Properly Drug Your Preschooler….What Will They Think of Next? at Learning at Home at Learning at Home. She knows that kids are active. Kids need attention. Medicating preschoolers for ADHD is just another way to avoid interacting with our children.
Mary of Home Schooling Answers explains why home schooling might be a medical necessity for some people in My son was permanently removed from school in the FIRST grade.
Stephanie at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood presents A Mommy Disorder that is especially common among homeschooling moms. She's self-diagnosed herself with a new disorder. She discovered it herself too. She calls it Maternal Attention Deficit Disorder: MADD. Do you have it?
Then she presents Easy Chocolate Christmas Candy TT #17 posted at Stop the Ride! about their day of getting together with other homeschoolers for a day of candy making! I wonder if the candy-making is a cure for the disorder....
Homeschool Politics
 Elisheva Levin is not playing politics with holidays. Hannukah in Medias Res: Second and Third Nights posted at Ragamuffin Studies . Knowing that holidays have a way of upsetting routines and can be especially difficult when they come in the middle of everything else--that stuff we call "life," Elisheva notes that the imbalance is often created by how we view the holiday and the life that keeps going on. Instead of striving for the "Hallmark Holiday" it is more enjoyable and more meaningful if we enjoy the holidays as part of our lives.
Janine of Why Homeschool writes about a new phrase describing homeschooling: Hybridization of Education. "Home schooling is much more of a community and social enterprise than the stereotype about home schooling held some years ago. How long have we already known this as homeschoolers?
2 Savvy Homeschoolers talks about Guaranteeing your kid's success in academic (and any other) challenges at Homeschooler Savvy, saying that a change in your dialogue can radically improve your child's attitude and performance.
JacciM at The Educational Life learned some things as she was Rockin' The Same Old Stereotypes. What do you think? Is a well-taught public school student just as impressive as a well-taught homeschool student? Is it the quality of the learning that remains pivotal? or is it the institution that surrounds that learning?
Andrea presents Why I blog about homeschooling posted at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom, because in her last post she introduced a contest in which she asked her readers to tell her why they blog about homeschooling (or education). Here is why she does.
Sometimes We Need A Referee
 DeputyHeadmistress presents The Little Red Hen And The Homeschool Blog Awards posted at The Common Room about some of the controversy surrounding this year's HSBA. We all obviously love homeschooling, and we love blogging; she puts her two-cents in to referee and give some suggestions for courtesy.
Judy Aron presents Consent Of The Governed: Study: Religion is Good for Kids posted at Consent Of The Governed. With all of the talk recently about religion being under assault in the USA, especially during the holiday season, she brought this out from her archives. The article from Live Science is a very good read.
Homeschooling is an adventure!
 Just ask these moms!
Amy Brooke Witt presents Peeking in the Minivan Windows Part 1 posted at Athena in a Minivan . Here is the first in some posts about how she homeschools. Her training for teaching Butch, Sundance and Hopalong started from the day they came into this world. She began building a relationship with them from day one. Feel free to peek in her windows.
The Not Quite Crunchy Parent discusses what happens when you plan too much and play too little in Dinosaured out- an Update on Our Afterschooling Adventure.
SuperAngel asks What Is Homeschooling?? She offers an in-depth look at the different methods of homeschooling, and how we can't judge what homeschooling is to another person.
Activities Coordinator was asked the question that every homeschooling parent dreads: You Homeschool, Don't You? at Life On The Planet. Her new friend Judy asked this question, and her reason was quite unexpected - to the point of tears. All homeschooling moms need an encouraging word.
Linsey Knerl presents Is School Out Early Today? How I Address the Home School Question posted at Parenting Squad. Well-meaning people ask Linsey about her decision to home school her daughter all the time. Home schooling has been a blessing fohermy family and these are the reasons why she does it.
Put on your Thinking Cap
 ChristineMM presents Whoops, The Book Was Inappropriate posted at The Thinking Mother. ChristineMM shares that despite an attempt to prescreen a book for appropriateness for her child, she realized that she made an error and contemplates the next step.
Homeschool moms have to put on their thinking cap if they are going to come up with fun projects to teach their children.
Little Acorns Treehouse shows us about Making Grammar Fun: Decorate The Parts of Speech Tree with a free file folder game where the student can sort the ornaments that each have a word on them onto the appropriate part of speech Christmas tree.
Lynn of Homeschool 2.0 wants to know What’s Your Travel IQ? Internet Geography Resources.
Katherine of No fighting, no biting! shows us where the water comes from and where it goes when she takes us along on their field trips to the water and wastewater treatment plants
Homeschooling is alot about thinking. Thinking about everything. Sometimes as the homeschool teacher we have to think about the subjects themselves, but mostly we think about how our children will best learn the subject. and why do they need to learn it?
To help you in your thinking, April of Lunablog.net wants you to kow about Time Management for Creative People - A free e-book, and why this is relevant to homeschoolers. Why does she want you to know about it? Because whether you think you're creative or not, these tips might help you get closer to your most important homeschooling goals.
Thinking is Hard Work 
Christinemoers is thinking about something most homeschool moms have wondered: What's a report card, really? posted at welcome to my brain. . To grade or not to grade ... THAT is the question!
Reading. Sometimes it is thinking as you read it and sometimes it is thinking about how is the best way to teach your child to read.
Love. Learn. Serve tells about the lesson she learned as she let go of her son and let him teach himself how to read in Lessons in Reading.
Rebecca presents Homeschooling Classics posted at Little Homeschool on the Prairie. Which books and authors are "classics" on the topic of homeschooling?
Math is a subject that requires a great deal of thinking
Mandy presents Learning English Grammar posted at Building Blocks Blog.
and Mandy also presents Fuzzy Math - Fuzzy Minds posted at Building Blocks.
Sol Lederman presents What kind of Math can you do with gum drops and tooth picks? posted at Wild About Math!.
Denise takes the thinking out of Math as she presents Math contest tip sheets posted at Let's play math!. She has handouts on tough topics for middle school students preparing for Math Counts or other competitions, plus links to many practice problems.
And some things need to be thought upon a little deeper...
Bending the Twigs examines the trend towards teaching modern poems rather than literary classics and why this is problematic in Government-run Schools Dumping Classic Poetry in Favor of Lightweight Verse Also includes a suggestion for homeschoolers who want to teach classic poetry but are unsure how.
Homeschool Fun
 Barb presents The Heart of Harmony - Time For Mom to Play: Watercolors on the Page posted at The Heart of Harmony. All homeschooling moms need time to be refreshed, here's just one idea.
It is a very important skill to have is cooking. boys and girls alike love to make things -especially things they can eat! If you are looking for some wonderful seasonal recipes, look at The Homesteading Carnival #29, hosted by Jasmine at Ponder the Path.
If you are interested in making Maple Syrup Snow Candy, Advent Day Four features photos of trials and tribulations of making it. The For the Advent season blog entries, focus on our daily lives during Advent, how we celebrate the Season, prepare for the Holiday, enjoy winter, etc. at Peakmore Academy
I had to chuckle when I read that Summer is taking advantage of her son's new love of bandits to learn a little more about the Wild West. Our Little guys skip around all day, slapping their backsides shouting, "Hi-Ho Silver, Away!". Read about Summer's learning adventure in My Little Outlaw (how cute!), posted at Wired For Noise.
High School and Graduation
 Obviously, homeschoolers look to the future, wondering what their children will do after graduation.
Ted presents The Admissions Essay posted at CampusGrotto. The College Admissions Essay is important and should be taken seriously. It is important because it shows your writing and analytical writing skills and it could be your ticket into College.
Alasandra shares information of interest to high school homeschoolers. She gives sample transcript, explanation of Carnegie Units, and how to find the Grade Point Average in her post, College Info for Homeschoolers.
Fun Rewards!
 I had Jocelyn make me a party hat just for this post in particular. To me, knowing that my children are being brought up together, knowing and loving each other is something to really celebrate!
Barbara Frank shares the joy of watching Homeschooled siblings of all ages enjoy working together, even after they're adults, Together Again.
Good-Bye!
 I wish to sincerely thank each of you for submitting your posts this week. I wish you many learning moments as you are out and about at this busy time of the year! The next carnival will be hosted by the HeadMistress at The Common Room .
You may submit your posts to the next edition of Carnival of Homeschooling using the carnival submission form. If you are interested in archives and future hosts, they can be found on the blog carnival index page.
Blessings!!! Jacque
Alrighty - I stayed up way too late to get this finished, so if I forgot you entirely (or put you in and forgot to link you, which is a possibility) email me, and I will get one of my built-in techies fix whatever my squinting eyes did not catch! Thank you!
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