115th Carnival of Homeschooling: Oh, The Things That You’ll Do!

Welcome to the 115th Carnival of Homeschooling! The theme for this carnival is adapted from Dr. Seuss’s beloved Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Homeschoolers are a diverse bunch, and I thought it would be interesting to read about some of the things we do.

One of the things we do particularly well is read, so I’ve also included posts that develop the theme that “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” (I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, Dr. Seuss).

Grab some popcorn, and enjoy the Carnival!

The Joy of Home and Family Traditions

Our first post is a celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. In Fun that is Fun, posted on PinkPaperPeppermints, Melissa Okonski shares her family’s multi-generational delight in Dr. Seuss stories, and announces that the next edition of her ezine will “be ready soon and [it] includes a printable pattern and tutorial for a [Dr. Seuss-themed] mini book that could be used for scrapbooking, lapbooking, and homeschooling as well as links and my favorite quotes!”

As homeschoolers, we have the freedom to choose what we do with our days. Joanne presents a delightful look at A Day At Home posted at Adoption Support at Forever Parents.

Family traditions are important to homeschoolers. In Celebrating Christ on Hayes Happenings, Taryn Hayes shares that “As we focus on Christ during this Easter time, our family has included the Passover meal as a way of celebrating Christ and His Last Supper, amongst other family traditions at this time.”

Learning Children, Learning Moms

Before you teach your children literature and math, you need to civilize them. In this delightfully good-humored post, DeputyHeadmistress teaches us how to help our children develop personal Initiative. You’ll find this, along with many other good posts, at The Common Room.

Children are not the only ones who learn when we homeschool! Malia Russell shares a critically important insight on loving our children in I Love You More posted at Homemaking 911.

Deborah Bolack presents Look For The Strengths posted at Songs From My Journey.

In Research Shows Moms Help Kids Learn Best, Lori Mortimer of MORTpiphanies reports on a study by Vanderbilt University showed that young children learned better when they were asked to explain what they learned to someone else. They learned best when the listener was their mother. The connection to homeschooling should be obvious. 😎

People ask the strangest things! Christine Moers shares one of the funny/sad encounters we all have from time to time in Seriously … someone else asked me … posted at welcome to my brain.

In “Which of these is not like the others?” posted at No fighting, no biting!, Katherine offers a story of a recent trip with the local Brownie troop that made it apparent how this homeschooling mom’s minset is so different from the norm.

Elena LaVictoire presents a realistic look at one homeschooled learner in Gabe and homeschool posted at My Domestic Church.

Any parent of small children will appreciate Jennifer’s idea of A Fast from Asking posted at Diary of 1.

ChristineMM shares her family’s transition into a brand-new stage of life, and asks for a bit of help and reassurance in Want Info and Reassurance about Parenting Tweens at The Thinking Mother.

In What If? at Home*School*Home, Paulanne reports, “this is what my 9-year-old son and I talked about very early Sunday morning. Actually, he talked, I listened. :-).” And what if mom wasn’t there to listen?

If you’d like a humorous look at homeschooling, Cristina presents homeschool-related comics Home Spun comic strip #206 at Home Spun Juggling.

Enjoying Words and Literature

On one of my most frequently read blogs, Lindafay presents How We Study Plutarch. You’ll find this article, along with many other excellent posts at Higher Up and Further In.

The Weekly Muse from Love 2B Homeschoolers shares a cautionary tale about Products Being Advertised in Children’s Books. HarperCollins Children’s Books recently announced plans to publish a new series of books targeted at 8- to 12-year-olds featuring a character called “Mackenzie Blue.” Although touted by the publisher for teaching kids about protecting the environment and promoting global understanding, the Mackenzie Blue series actually aims to be a vehicle for delivering commercial messages, through product-placement hidden advertisements, product tie-ins, and affiliated multi-media corporate sponsorships.

Kim Kautzer presents a thought provoking article in Legos don’t build themselves, you know! posted at In Our Write Minds. It takes more than a great curriculum to make learning happen!

April presents What’s your story? (You’re telling one whether you want to or not.) posted at Lunablog.net.

Carol in Oregon has posted a review of A Natural History of Latin on one of my favorite blogs– magistramater’s Xanga. Thank you, Carol– once again, you’ve put a dent in my Amazon budget!

Kevin presents an article on the Benefits of Reading to Your Child (as if any of us had doubts!) posted at M4K Homeschooling & Education.

In “Need New Books?” at Freehold2 Ruby reminds us that “This is a time of year when a lot of us will begin thinking about purchasing new books for the next homeschool year. Have you ever considered swapping, instead of buying new? Here are some reasons to consider doing just that.” She shares some great links to swap services, including my favorite, Paperback Swap.

Tammy shares a very personal Parent-Teacher Conference on the The Life Without School Blog. She shares, that “this morning, I felt like everything was falling apart. I was sure I was ruining my kids for life, and everything was my fault. I felt helpless and hopeless. This was the conversation I had with myself.”

In A Review of Sequential Spelling on Tami’s Blog, Tami Fox tells us about her son’s experience with Sequential Spelling this year.

Exploring Nature, Science, the Arts and Similar Delights

Jim Erskine offers some wonderful time-lapse videos of the miracle of seedlings in Grow, Seeds, Grow! at Green Thumb Family posted at Green Thumb Family.

Earth is Crammed with Heaven, and Lindafay’s post, Nature Trivia: How to Make An Acorn Whistle, offers an excuse to get out and enjoy spring.

There’s so much more to school than books, and on A Mountain Homeschool Chris discusses how his family has made a priority of Making Time for Culture.

Shauna introduces a delightful nature resource in Green Hour, posted at Treasure Seekers.

In Truly Delightful Sites for Kids! the writer at SeaBird Chronicles reports that “for months now I’ve been bookmarking sites for children that are truly delightful to visit. The sites below are well-designed, fun, clever, and probably just as interesting to you as to your children!”

Working With Numbers

Don’t miss An Economics Lesson from Beatrix Potter, a literate, thought-provoking post from Timothy Power of Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent.

Rose presents As if the science scores weren’t bad enough posted at Learning at Home.

NerdMom presents Frugal Homeschooler: Math posted at Nerd Family Things.

Denise presents National Math Advisory Panel report released posted at Let’s play math!.

Jesse Moran presents Teach Your Children to Handle Their Money posted at CompGifts – The Frugal Way of Living.

Kevin O’Connor of MemoryMentor’s Blog shares how to Learn the Binary Number System.

Studying History, Keeping Up With Current Events
Elisheva Levin presents The Spring of Our Discontent posted at Ragamuffin Studies. She’s been reading A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign by Edward J. Larson, and thinking about the current election year.

Dana dissects a highly-opinionated editorial from the Los Angeles Times in Homeschooling: Elitist and Anti-Democratic posted at Principled Discovery. Perhaps I should be immune to being shocked by some of the biases still held against homeschooling, but honestly– this was over the top. You will probably want to skip this if you’re concerned about your blood pressure!

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool? reports on the Results from our Homeschooling Polls. If you’re wondering how much it costs to homeschool, or how concerned other home educators are about the California homeschool ruling, you’ll definitely enjoy this post.

Abrianna gives homeschoolers a heads-up in Beware, D.C. Homeschoolers posted at Yankee CowGirl. It’s important be aware of potential threats to homeschooling– no matter where you live.

Stephanie reminds us not to forget the California Ruling on homeschooling posted at Stop the Ride!.

Thinking about Education in General

In Recognizing the Supremacy of the Free Market, Barbara Frank shares a well-known writer’s comment about the inadequacy of his formal education, and makes a sharp observation about education and the free market.

Brian of AcceptedToCollege.com presents an insightful list of Five Tips to Make Financial Incentives for Your Son/Daughter Work.

Summer considers the question of Can We Fix The Failing School System? posted at Mom Is Teaching. Another question might be, “Should we try?” Or even, “Will failure accelerate choice in the school system?”

Alex M presents What Everybody Should Know About Secondary Education Problems posted at Online education: schools, colleges and universities | distance learning.

Enjoying the Quiet Moments
And when we need a bit of a rest, we can visit dear friends and neighbors, such as Lauren Mumford, Mistress of ButtonWillow Cottage, whose ButtonWillow Chronicles seem an oasis of calm in the midst of a busy day.

Perhaps you’d like to sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy the latest post at the Charm and Grace blog, and participate in an archive meme (if you’re not sure what that is, now is a good time to find out!).

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Carnival! Please come back soon for another visit– if you sign up in the box in the right column, you’ll receive a brief update each time I post on the blog, so that you can drop to read if the topic interests you. Feel free to share a link to the Carnival with your friends– everyone is welcome. Enjoy!