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Carnival of Homeschooling: Week 123
Wow! It is amazing to me that over two years ago, Janine and Henry at Why Homeschool had the idea to create a Carnival of Homeschooling. And here it is, still going strong! Each week, there are wonderful articles by homeschoolers from around the globe sharing what works for them. That is one of the great strengths of the homeschooling community...we all are more than happy to share our experiences and knowledge with other homeschoolers!
Many homeschools are run by moms. Dads participate as they can, but usually they are the ones working to support the family so the children can be homeschooled. Since Mother's Day is just around the corner, the theme for this week's carnival will center around that.
So grab a cup of coffee, send the kids out to play, sit back and enjoy!
History
Contrary to popular belief, Mother's Day was not conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.
In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers."
Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna's mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother's Day. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national holiday.
eMom at Chrysalis takes a look at history in the making with her article Who Are They? How Do We Reach Them? which looks at the generation of millenials and provides insight about the children born between 1982 and 2002.
Homeschooling has been a way of family life for way longer than public schooling, but we still worry about if we are doing a good job and if we are teaching our kids all they need to know. Kayley at WhatIsIt.Org explores the question of homeschooling your high school aged child in her article, Is Homeschool High School Right for You?
Sunniemom at A Woman On Purpose shares an interesting post on the arguments regarding the many discussions in the traditional and home education worlds about the value and validity of teacher certification in her post: The Elusive Quality of Effectiveness
There are lots of different opinions about education, how it is to be approached and what goals we should be shooting for. Check out Walking a Fine Line over at A Bundle of Contradictions for a thought provoking post.
Dana, at Principled Discovery, always provides thoughtful content regarding education and this week is no exception. Check out her post: Homeschool critics taking quotes out of context.
SuperAngel is a highschool senior at The Daily Planet and she shares how it feels to be approaching graduation, what her plans are for the days ahead, and wonders what other homeschool seniors are up to in her post: After They Hand Me My Diploma
Gifts
There are a lot of great Mother's Day gifts out there that fit every budget. Moms will be getting everything from flowers to appliances to spa trips to cards to coupons for chores done by children to a meal out. As a Mom, I can say that while gifts are lovely, just having a day where my kids and hubby take time out to do things for me and with me, is my favorite way to spend Mother's Day. If you are at a loss for a gift for your Mom, this Mother's Day, perhaps this link will give you some ideas. Family Fun also has several gift ideas and card templates for you to take advantage of.
Sherry at Large Family Mothering wants to help you sort through the colorful catalogs and long lists of homeschool resources by sharing what resources have worked best for her as a homeschooler in her article Homeschooling--less is more links and lists
Sometimes it is fun to think of what we would do if we had "X" amount of dollars to spend. Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy ponders what to buy with a homeschooling allowance (and a few restrictions) as she puts together her Homeschool Wish List
Homeschooling isn't just about helping our kids to learn. Often as homeschoolers we learn too. Either we find ourselves learning things that we should have learned in school, but have forgotten or didn't learn at all, or we are just learning something new. A fine example of this can be found at Ragamuffin Studies when a mom researches and learns about New Mexico Weather Patterns and Fire .
At Life on the Planet, one mother finds a surprise gift. Share a chuckle when you read Y, Indeed?!?
Barbara Frank uses her executive priviledge and makes a decision to let her daughter spend her school time to complete an important project. She shares the results in her post Making Gifts in "School" .
Some of the best gifts in life are free. Over at Let's Play Math!, Denise has gathered together some
Free Shakespeare for fun and copywork resources that you are sure to love!
Homeschooling is the gift that keeps on giving as Henry at Why Homeschool knows as he writes about how Homeschooling allows you to head for the sea.
Crafts
Some of my most treasured Mother's Day gifts are crafts made by my children. Tissue paper flowers, decorated flower pots, cards, beautiful pictures. These are just a few of the crafts that have been handed to me over the years. If you want to make the Mom in your house smile, try some of these fun and easy craft ideas from Family Fun.
Karen at Little Fun; Little Learning knows that homeschoolers are a crafty lot and that we like making our own study materials. She shares a wonderful tip in Making Your Own Games
Sheri at Shades of Pink has put together some great information about Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay and she adds: whoever said that kids remember things set to tunes was right! Five years ago my two oldest studied Mt. Everest on the 50th anniversary of reaching the peak. At that time they wrote a song to help remember the facts, they remembered the song and taught it to my 7 year old this week as we studied Tenzing Norgay.
Flash Cards are a great way for kids to learn material that has to be memorized. Visit Homework.Dinner.Life and read the post Flash Cards- The Best Teaching Tool Ever Invented! for some great tips on making your own flash cards and some of the best opportunities for using them.
Saying Thank You
Sometimes, it is hard to find just the right words to tell our Moms how much they mean to us. We want to thank them, but 'thank you' just doesn't seem to be big enough. First, let me tell you that 'thank you' speaks volumes. But if you want some 'special' words this Mother's Day, check out these Mother's Day Quotes and Mother's Day Poems
Tammy at Just Enough and Nothing More shares how she responded when her 10 year-old-son dropped the 'socialization' bomb in front of someone else. You will enjoy her article Homeschooler Doesn’t See Friends Often Enough
Katherine, over at No Fighting, No Biting! finds herself looking for the biting creepy crawlies on a fun nature walk in Maine. You can read all about it in her post: not a good nature walk for the squeamish.
Eric at Teachers Call shares some simple steps for us to follow in How to Teach Speaking
Special Meal
Mother's Day is a great opportunity to treat the Mom in your house to a meal she hasn't prepared herself. I have to tell you that when someone in my family cooks a meal for me, it always tastes better than anything I make (at least to me it tastes better). I am pretty sure this is because I didn't have to do the cooking! Whether you want to take your Mom out to dinner or you want to fix her a special meal at home (check out Family Fun for some easy and yummy recipes), she will be grateful to have a break from meal preparation!
Like a good chef that mixes together lots of spices for a wonderful dish, Alasandra of Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards shares that it takes a lot of different flavors to make up the diversity found among today's homeschoolers in her article There are Many Reasons to Homeschool
In Other People's Homework, we learn that projects that seem like great ideas, are not necessarily all they are cracked up to be and you can find how one mom is helping a public school kid learn even though her own kids aren't all that interested over at Life Without School.
Beverly at Beverly's Homeschool Blog reminds us that a Lemonade Stand is a favorite summer pastime for cooling down the neighbors and making some spending money. She shares some helpful hints and links in Lemonade Stand Printables as well as a way your child's lemonade stand can make a difference.
Best Mom's Advice
Advice is something often given freely, whether you want to hear it or not. But some of the best advice a person ever receives comes from their mother. Check out some Best Mom's Advice at Family Fun and join in the fun, by submitting your own Best Mom's Advice story!
Jenny B at Ship Full of Pirates has a great way to keep up with your child's reading material and making sure they have fresh books to read without a bunch of clutter in her article Books In Yer Bunk, Matey!
There are so many things that we want to teach our children, and honestly, there are things we shy away from. Read what The Reluctant Homeschooler has to say about a class she will be teaching next year titled Heart Ache. Trust me folks, you will want to read this one!
Mothers wear many hats. Visit Hayes Happenings and remember that one role is The Servant Mother.
When we take on the task of teaching our children, we are all only too aware of our strengths and weaknesses. Some of us struggle with helping our children to understand math concepts, while others of us struggle to help our children perfect their writing skills. If you are not sure of the best way to edit your budding writers, head over to In Our Write Minds and check out her helpful post, Editing Tips for the Faint of Heart.
Carol at Homeschool CPA answers the question How much money can a homeschool group earn?. As a homeschooling Mom and and CPA, she has other great advice to share on her blog.
One of the many cool things about homeschooling is being home and getting to see things that we would miss were we off at work and school. And not only seeing those things, but learning from them as well. Be sure to enjoy the Saga of the enourmous king snake and the birds at Homeschooler Savvy.
There were so many great posts submitted for this week's carnival and I hope you have enjoyed your visit. Please let me know if a link isn't working. I think I got them all right, but one never knows for sure.
Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homeschooling using our carnival submission formThe next carnival of homeschooling will be hosted by Mom is Teaching
Wow! This is quite a variety of stuff to read. Thanks for your hard work!!!
May 6, 2008 9:00 AMWow! Thanks for putting the carnival together. What a great theme --- and what a lot of work it must have been! I can't believe the CoH has grown so big.
May 6, 2008 9:11 AMIt all looks great! I really like your Mother's Day theme. Thanks for including me :)
May 6, 2008 10:04 AMHow fun to use a Mother's Day theme for the CoH, Melissa. I've really enjoyed visiting the various blogs and soaking up the ideas, wisdom, and encouragement.
May 6, 2008 10:32 AMOh darn. I thought I sent something in! I love the theme, and I look forward to reading through the posts!
Thanks for your hard work!
Happy Mother's Day!!!
~J
What a lovely Carnival of Homeschooling. I am looking forward to reading all the post later today.
May 6, 2008 4:16 PMThanks for hosting, Melissa. You've done an outstanding job. I enjoyed reading about the history of Mother's Day. (I can't believe it's nearly here already!)
Blessings, e-Mom @ Chrysalis
May 6, 2008 5:13 PMMelissa,
Here is another great gardeing activity. I thought your young gardeners would enjoy an indoor gardening adventure, growing the TickleMe Plant (Mimosa pudica).
If you want to give your young gardeners an experience they will never forget, consider having them grow a TickleMe Plant. This is the plant that will close its leaves and lower its branches when you tickle it. They sprout in days and can be grown indoors any time of year. Just Google TickleMe Plants or go to http://www.TickleMePlant.com for seeds and growing kits. This plant has turned many kids into plant and nature lovers. I know, because I grow TickleMe Plants in my classroom. Your children may never look at plants in the same way and neither will you!
So colorful...... Have also bought some beautiful pink flowers from Grower Flowers for mother's day.
May 9, 2008 5:53 AMThank you for publishing the Carnival.
I am interested to see how many people link through to read my book review of the very important parenting book "Ships Without a Shore". The book really made me think and is very important.
I have linked to the CoH.
Have a great week!
May 13, 2008 9:10 AMSonlight Curriculum is a literature-rich, Christian-based homeschool company that provides complete homeschool curriculum programs and materials from preschool to 12th grade. Our comprehensive curriculum has a global focus,and provides children all across the world with the desire to learn.
visit us : http://sonlight.com
June 12, 2008 2:35 AM
