Hopeful Spirit is hosting a wonderful Carnival of Family Life.
A wonderful article from the Washington Post last week is here!
Principled Discovery has the best graphic in this one.
If you have any great articles you would like highlighted please email me- homeschoolhacks@gmail.com
Have a wonderful Monday!
Blessings, Alli
by Brea
It helps to know the best places to buy resources, and it really helps to know where you can save some money. Homeschooling doesn't have to cost a fortune (more on that coming later in the week), so here's a great link at Homeschooling on Shoestring that lists a bunch of discounts. Some of the places listed are local to Michigan, but most are nation-wide.
And remember, it doesn't hurt to ask any place you shop if they give discounts for homeschoolers ... provided, of course, that you're purchasing school materials. :) What's the worst that can happen? You pay the same price you'd pay even if you didn't ask? That's what I thought ...
And do you already have a particular curriculum you'd like to use? Think used books. They might not be quite as pretty, but there are terrific savings to be had if you're willing to do a little looking. Amazon.com is always a great place to check (I often get books for under $.25 before shipping), and there's also Homeschool Classifieds and Second Harvest Curriculum. So check out some of these links, and save those pennies where you can!
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California parents without teaching credentials cannot legally home school their children, according to a recent state appellate court ruling.
The immediate impact of the ruling was not clear. Attorneys for the state Department of Education were reviewing the ruling, and home schooling organizations were lining up against it.
"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote in a Feb. 28 opinion for the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Noncompliance could lead to criminal complaints against the parents, Croskey said.
An estimated 166,000 students in California are home schooled, but it was not known how many of them are taught solely by an uncredentialed parent.
To earn a five-year preliminary teaching credential in California, a person must obtain a bachelor's degree and complete multiple examinations.
Until now, California allowed home schooling if parents filed paperwork to establish themselves as small, private schools; hired a credentialed tutor; or enrolled their child in an independent study program run by an established school while teaching the child at home.
The ruling stems from a case involving a Los Angeles-area couple whose eldest child reported "physical and emotional mistreatment" by the father, court papers said.
The father, Phillip Long, vowed to take the case to the state Supreme Court.
"I have sincerely held religious beliefs," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Public schools conflict with that. I have to go with what my conscience requires me."
More developing....
This post was so graciously shared from the archives of Melissa Wiley. To read the original article and discover her treasure trove of wonderful articles, click here.
"Learning," says Sandra Dodd, "comes from connecting something new to what you've already thought or known."
Charlotte Mason called this understanding of education "the science of relations." Relations, connections, rabbit trails: these are the terms homeschoolers use to describe the natural processes of learning. One topic, even one word, sparks an interest or a memory, and zing, learning happens.
It's like playing with those magnetic rods and balls you stick together to make cool geometric shapes. (You know, the ones currently banished to the top of my closet because they are so fearfully dangerous for babies.) When you touch one of the little rods to one of the shiny silver balls, there's such a satisfying click as they draw together. You can feel the power of the connection.
I dearly love, at the end of a day, to think about all the connections my kids made—or that I made!—that day. So many satisfying little clicks, so many pieces of knowledge fitting together in interesting ways.
I had the Sandra Dodd "connections" page open on the laptop today because I wanted to look up that quote for a post. (This post, I suppose, although, as you'll see, the page took over and became the impetus of the post.) If you scroll down Sandra's page a little, you'll see there's a fun exercise for sparking connections, the bit with all the words in balloons. This caught Jane's eye and she wanted to know what it was about. I showed her, and she asked if we could try it. She decided to start with the word "purple."
We started shouting out ideas or things we associate with purple, and of course "royalty" came up, and neither one of us could remember the name of the shellfish the original purple dye came from. We looked it up and found this page, which told some tidbits I'd never heard before. Did you know the legend says it was actually Hercules's dog who discovered the dye? Hercules noticed its mouth was stained purple after it ate some snails.
King Phoenix received a purple-dyed robe from Herakles and decreed the rulers of Phoenicia should wear this color as a royal symbol.
We also found this part particularly interesting:
The chemical birth of the synthetic dye industry can be traced to the discovery of an aniline-based purple dye, mauveine, by William H. Perkin in 1856, who accomplished this while searching for a cure for malaria. Perkin was an English chemist who changed the world of his time by making this purple color available to the masses. It became quite fashionable to wear clothing dyed with “mauve,” and Mr. Perkin became a very wealthy man.
We had lots of other associations with purple, but the Hercules thing was so interesting we got sidetracked, and about that time Rose asked me to make a baby duck out of felt for Beanie, to match Rose's Beanie Baby duck (!), and in the middle of that endeavor I remembered I'd picked up a book of patterns for knitted animals, and hadn't shown it to Jane yet, and she got all excited and went off to translate the knitting patterns into crochet patterns, because she much prefers crocheting.
Rose asked for a felt dog next, or maybe Jane will crochet her one, but I don't think we'll stain its mouth purple."
Honesty: Secret to Homeschool & Parenting Success
Resources for Colonial America learning
Daily Spanish lessons in free 15-minute podcasts
Feel free to send your links in to the sites you enjoy!
Blessings, Allison
When I agreed months ago to host this week's Carnival of Homeschooling, I had no idea that this would be the week my babysitter went on vacation. Nor did I know that I would be having minor surgery this week (I'm fine - nothing to worry about!). I've managed to complete the Carnival on time, but perhaps not so creatively! Without further ado, here's what's going on around the homeschooling blogosphere...
Bloodwork & Prep
ChristineMM of The Thinking Mother writes about how different state homeschooling laws can impact how a family homeschools.
In her post, "A More In-Depth Look at My KONOS Planning Methods," Sprittibee shares her unit study planning methods that are guaranteed to help an easily distracted mom fight the urge to fall off course on endless rabbit-trails. She also shares links to her homeschool planner binder tips and her weekly schedule.
Stephanie of Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood presents her Homeschooling Tips, while Barbara Frank lists her (extremely practical!) Top Ten Tools for Homeschooling Parents.
The Carnival is full of tips this week! Linda of Independent Homeschooling presents Homeschooling Preschool Children: Twenty-Five Things To Do With Your Young Child.
Mother Crone's Homeschool offers an in-depth discussion of her notes from a seminar by Susan Wise Bauer that will help you teach writing skills.
If you have thought about doing a nature journal, nature walks, or nature drawing on a regular basis, but have been discouraged, please take heart and take the plunge. Jacque of Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths says it is a fun, invigorating experience to see how many different sides you get from different members of the family when drawing the same object.
Continue reading "Carnival of Homeschooling - Surgery Edition" »
Unschooling Voices is a monthly collection of blog posts on the topic of unschooling. For details about this unschooling carnival, click here.
The latest carnival is here. Good reading!
Welcome to the 60th Carnival of Homeschooling! This week we'll celebrate President's Day by diving into our many post submissions and throwing in some Presidential trivia along the way.
We'll start this week with Flada Blog's Five Reasons You Should Homeschool. He may be preaching to the choir here, but this post is a great read if you happen to be questioning your decision to homeschool, or if you're just having a bad day. Karen of PediaScribe also shares her reasons for deciding to homeschool. It's always good to remind yourself why you decided to homeschool and how important it is to persevere.
Speaking of perseverance, did you know that before Abraham Lincoln’s election as the 16th President of the United States he failed as: a business man (storekeeper); a farmer; his attempt to obtain the office of Speaker; his first attempt to go to Congress; a candidate for the United States Senate; and an attempt by friends seeking for him the nomination for the Vice-Presidency in 1856.
It's important to teach our children the value of perseverance and, more importantly, how learning enables them to succeed in life. The SeaBird Chronicles discusses teaching children to read and speak and includes this quote from a book: "A child will learn to talk early if somehow he discovers what speech can do for him – how it facilitates his existence."
Sonja of Bookwink has some super love-themed book recommendations via her unique video booktalk site, and ChristineMM at The Thinking Mother offers her thoughts on different kinds of children's book lists and some important issues to know before you use the recommended titles with your children.
For even more on books - and Presidents! - HomeschoolBuzz.com has put together this handy collection of book lists for those interested in expanding their Presidential knowledge.
So what are your thoughts on comic book heroines? More specifically, the anatomy of comic book heroines? Michelle of Scribbit shares a "larger than life" experience she had to handle with her son.
Megan at Home Schooling Aspergers has a delightful hack to help kids remember how to spell "family."
The Headmistress over at The Common Room reminds us to use the right tools and methods in our homeschooling journey.
It's also helpful to realize that the tools may change as time goes by. Sandy of Falling Like Rain writes about the stages that homeschooling families go through and follows up with what to do if you find yourself in a difficult season of homeschooling.
Heather of Sprittibee shares some great links and freebies in her post, FREE Language, Grammar & Writing Curriculum... and Standardized Tests.
Division is actually multiplication, and subtraction is actually addition. But how? Why? Maria of Homeschool Math Blog shows you. And Denise of Let's Play Math has compiled more than two dozen of the best math resources on the Web, from elementary math activities to help with calculus homework.
Mike of Mike Estep.com - Common Sense Outside the Box shares his wisdom on the importance of talking out loud and how it helps children learn.
Maureen of Trinity Prep School links us to a web-based tool designed to make it easy for homeschoolers to build a professional high school transcript, while Janet of An Educational Voyage links us to MERLOT, a "user-centered, searchable collection of peer reviewed, higher education, online learning materials created by registered members."
Did you know that 17th President Andrew Johnson had no formal education? His wife taught him reading, writing and math.
After all of our best efforts to educate our children, does successful homeschooling have to lead to college? Your highschooler may announce one day that he has no intentions of attending college. Should you panic? Judy of Consent of the Governed shares her thoughts on why not going to college, or delaying attendance, may not be such a bad idea.
Loni of Finding Joy in the Morning explains that children "ultimately make their own decisions regardless of lack of socialization," as she learned personally with the death of one of her children.
Kat of No fighting, no biting! shares some reactions to a homeschooling article, as well as her reactions to those reactions. Sarah of SmallWorld says, "We homeschoolers today often have to wade through a swamp of platitudes and misconceptions about home education," and she shares one recently encountered: "I'm a better mom because I send my kids to school." Donna of Beth Spera in Domino believes the face of homeschooling has been changing and old-fashioned homeschooling may be in danger.
Patti from All Info About Home Schooling muses about homeschooling in the media and compares and contrasts two articles on homeschooling.
Janine of Why Homeschool shares a joke from Reader's Digest that is too true to be funny, while Mama Squirrel of Dewey's Treehouse explains how homeschooling is more efficient than government schooling.
Dana at Principled Discovery says, "Our schools are a mess because parents have their priorities confused." In her post, Snow Forces Families Together, she opines about parenting being viewed as babysitting. And ya know what? There are lots of things for families to do together in the winter! Susan of Corn and Oil offers some suggestions and resources to check out, including Charlotte Mason links.
Joanne of A Day in Our Lives shares her answers to an interview she participated in about unschooling. And for more on unschooling, Tammy of Just Enough, and Nothing More addresses the common concern of "my kid will play video games all day" and asks, "What's wrong with pushing our kids?"
Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." I agree and so does Stacy at Teaching Diligently. She shares her thoughts on how to be happy no matter what your circumstances. And Elena of My Domestic Church outlines some pick-me-ups for homeschool moms. In addition, Jennifer wanted me to mention the new homeschool support forum at Moms of Grace.
A good attitude and teaching by example are important skills for homeschooling parents. Stephanie of Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood shares an experience that shows how fresh air and sunshine work miracles on attitudes, while Rebecca of Information Age Education shares the power of "afformations."
Presidents like to have fun, too! Did you know that John Quincy Adams enjoyed skinny dipping in the Potomac River? Calvin Coolidge liked to ride a mechanical horse for exercise. Nixon was an avid golfer and also enjoyed bowling in his spare time.
Alasandra details her family's participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count and includes their awards for The Most Personality, The Most Colorful Bird, The Most Annoying Bird and The Most Romantic Bird. Franklin D. Roosevelt enjoyed bird-watching, too. Then we have Lydia from Little Blue School chronicling their participation in an egg dropping contest at a local space museum. Lydia says, "It was a day full of runny yolks and homeschool folks." ;-)
Tootle's Time offers a look at how their family combines school, hobbies and relationship building through auto shop. President Rutherford B. Hayes enjoyed the hobby of driving. Automobiles were a new invention, and Hayes drove one of the new contraptions whenever he could.
Tara of Waldorf Our Way shares an educational DVD on Ancient Egypt that received thumbs up all the way around in her house.
Do you have a student interested in medicine? APMFormulators discusses how homeschoolers can take creative detours when pursing higher education in medicine.
Kristina of at home, on fire writes about her views on teaching art in homeschool and why she believes that we need to emulate others in our walk ... to not be afraid to copy.
Barbara Frank states, "In a global economy where goods are made cheaply, it's still important that we teach our children to recognize and appreciate quality."
Shay at Life Without School writes: "If we freely give authority to all who assume it, we give away our power, our choice, our convictions, our courage, and the very core of who we are." I wonder how many Presidents would agree with that statement?
And finally, the Nerd Family posts a fun music/rap video in honor of Presidents Day.
Next week, the Carnival will be hosted at The Homeschool Cafe. Submission information can be found here at Why Homeschool.
The Thinking Mother is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. Check it out.
Homeschool Unlimited has just launched a "myspace for homeschoolers" called Homeschool Launch. Looks like a promising stop for homeschool news, blogs, networking and more. Go add your profile and blog link, and don't forget to check out all the informative resources on the parent site, Homeschool Unlimited.
