This weeks Carnival of Homeschooling hosted by Dee from The Time4Learning Blog!
Checking the Pulse of Your Activities
Just when you think September is the busiest homeschool month, along comes OCTOBER!! There’s just something about fall-time that screams “overschedule me”, isn’t there?! It’s like our systems know that not only will the weather be taking a turn for the worse, but that we’re going to be extra occupied with holidays, family, and food soon. So, we want to get in every last possible field trip, playdate, and hands-on project, don’t we? Let’s take a look at what you’ve been up to this month out in the homeschool blog-i-verse...
Jen at Chestnut Grove Academy shares about a great free lego curriculum she found at CurrClick. Wonderful for the lego lover in your life.
Join Jennifer at Glimpse of Our Life for their family field trip to a turtle rescue center and learn how to find out...is it a Tortoise or Turtle??
Are you as amazed as I am that it is only 100 Days to Christmas?! Bon shares how she uses this countdown to build math skills at Math Is Not a Four Letter Word.
Annette did some fine tuning to her homeschool’s activities resulting in a Pumpkin Day with their homeschool group as she writes about in Pumpkins and a Check in at A Net In Time Schooling - A Net In Time Blog.
Lisa from The Blasphemous Homemaker shares an example of how her family uses interest led learning in her post How Child-led Learning Works.
Julie tells her husband But It's Tony Danza as she expresses her chagrin at not getting to go to a Homeschool Convention on Bits of Entropy
Checking the Pulse of Your Curriculum
Most of us automatically check the pulse of our curriculum. How long is it taking our kids to get through their assignments each day? Are they actually retaining what they are learning from it? Does it complement their learning style? Is mom’s heart in it? These are all important things to ask yourself concerning your curriculum. After all, if no one wants to use the curriculum, school is going to be a total drag for everyone.
Lisa shares The Cure for a Horrible, Monstrous, Disastrous Day on her blog at Homeschool Circus. You will love how she managed to bring the fun back into their school day!
Jamie over at MomSCHOOL gives us a few pointers on how to choose between the ACT or the SAT whenHomeschooling High School. Which one includes an essay and which one has science? Jamie will help set you straight!
Kim at Embracing My Chaos is checking the pulse of her math curriculum, and wants to know if anyone has any great ideas for helping kids learn multiplication tables in her post Multiplication Help?
Katherine from No Fighting No Biting shares her arsenal on fighting the war against illiteracy in her post The Best $20 I Ever Spent
Golden Grasses shares great ideas on how to get the word out about what you are learning in your homeschool in the post We Share What We’ve Learned.
Every curriculum needs a little “new.” Sometimes that is just what the doctor ordered... so let me introduce you to Nancy from Sage Parnassus and her post A Book Giveaway for Fall.
Have you ever tried distance learning? Henry’s 2nd daughter shares her experience with online distance learning in A perspective on online distance learning on their blog Why Homeschool?
Elena over at My Domestic Church considers writing her own curriculum to teach Breastfeeding - another subject we need to teach our homeschooled daughters.
Sue gives us The Antidote for Animal School: Unschooling over at her blog Lifelong Learning
Too much stuff out there. How do I choose the right educational materials? Marty helps us to sort it all out with practical suggestions for looking at how or if to buy various learning materials at Learn At Home - Marty Layne
Cardamom Publishers at Barbara Frank Online gives us tips on Saving Time and Money with Stashes and tells us how buying multiples of items saves homeschooling parents time and money.
Checking the Pulse of Your Household
How often do you take the pulse of your household? How are things running for your family right now. Do you have a good balance in your household about your activities, your meals, your home life? If we don’t have balance, it shows in everything we do.
Carol at Lessons from the Homestead gives us some great ideas to really put our household in order in her post Involving Kids on the Homestead.
The Work at Home Mom shares some of the challenges of working from home while still trying to keep her son mentally engaged in Challenging My Three Year Old.
Homeschool Success offers encouragement and advice for homeschooling through high school in Homeschool High School Success: Family.
Kris at Homeschool vs. Public School shares with us encouragement about caring for others in her postCaring For Each Other While We Homeschool.
Checking the Pulse of Your Thoughts
This is always a great place to get a “check up.” Personally, I allow myself to become stressed over a lot of the little things of life. I find that I have to continually stop and check myself to see if my thoughts and attitudes are as they should be. I love the verse about... “Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report...think on these things.” If only I could stay within those parameters! Typically, if homeschool isn’t going how I think it should go.... well let’s just say I am irritated at just about everyone. Our days then end up being even worse and homeschooling becomes a shipwreck. I have to step back and remind myself that homeschooling is all about flexibility and family! If it doesn’t get done perfect today... give it a better shot tomorrow. Most of all, I can’t allow these feelings to build and become unhealthy.
Nancy writes about finding inspiration from the nature notebooks of Edith Blackwell Holden in her post atSage Parnassus. Check out this inspiring article.
Are we doing other homeschooling moms a disservice when we only blog about the positive stuff? Find out as what happens When Homeschoolers Get Real over at Notes From a Homeschool Mom.
With a shift from the industrial age to the information age, Rachel from Discover, Share, Inspire explains Why I Hope My Kids Never Go To College.
It’s that time of year when we slow down and try to remember to be grateful for the big and little things of life. Eclectic Momma encourages everyone to join her in blogging 30 Days of Thanks.
You have certainly heard the phrase, “Be careful what you pray for-You might get it!”. Phyllis talks about this in her post Are You Sure You Want That? at her blog Proclaiming God's Faithfulness.
Susan shares excerpts from a Homeschooling Guide in New York Magazine. You can read her other musings at Corn and Oil.
Having a support group can really help you to keep your thoughts in good health for homeschooling! If you don't have a support group in your area, Michelle tells you how to start one in How to Start a Homeschool Support Group, Part 1. Michelle authors the blog Classy Lessons
SPECIAL OFFER FOR Homeschool Circus SUBSCRIBERS through October 31: Use code LISAtips for a $19.99 discount when you buy any curriculum CD Library plus Spanish Empire library. This post written and property of Homeschool Circus and can be found at: www.upatdawnreadytowork.com.