Carnival of Homeschooling #14: Today in History

Tuesday, April 4, 2006
This is the 94 day of the 2006. There are 271 days left in the year.

We begin our carnival by reviewing the important historical events which took place on April 4th.


636 AD

Isadore, Bishop of Seville, collected science lore into his twenty volume Originum seu Etymologiarium libri XX. The Originium, incomplete at his death on April 4, 636, was edited and issued by his friend and disciple Bishop Braulio. Without Isidore's efforts, the Medieval world would have been much poorer of knowledge.

Becky at Farm School takes on the issue of textbooks and libraries. She makes the observation that "textbooks, which with a few exceptions tend to be committee-written, dumbed down, boring, uneducational, politically correct drivel."

Steve at Dad's Corner tells how the most important lessons aren't in the textbooks, they're in values and integrity.

Kendra at Preschoolers and Peace describes the organization of her home library. She even makes labels with the proper Dewey decimals.

The Deputy Headmistress at The Common Room blogs about what she learned on her visit to the Library of Congress. She was surprised to find that homeschool mothers today were not so very different from those in the Victorian age.


1561

Today in Odd History, an eerie battle raged in the skies above Nuremberg, Germany. It began at dawn, as dozens, if not hundreds, of crosses, globes and tubes fought each other above the city. It ended an hour later, when "the globes in the small and large rods flew into the sun," and several of the other objects crashed to earth and vanished in a thick cloud of smoke.

According to the Nuremberg Gazette, the "dreadful apparition" filled the morning sky with "cylindrical shapes from which emerged black, red, orange and blue-white spheres that darted about."

Sounds a bit stressfull. So, does attending a homeschool conference fill you with feelings of dread? Christine at The Thinking Mother has good advice on how to not be overwhelmed at a Homeschooling Conference.

Do you find teenagers a little scary? Not Maureen at Maureen Wittmann. She reports how homeschooled teens don't have the angst of their peers who go to "real" school.

Melissa from Home Sweet Home takes on a weighty issue. While exercise and healthy eating might seem daunting for some of us, she points out how children follow their parent's example.

And now for the really scary stuff, Harvey Bludorn of Trivium Pursuit recalls how homeschoolers living in Iowa in the 1970's and early 80's faced jail.

Henry at Why Homeschool brings us up to date on a homeschooler in Germany who was sentenced to 5 days in jail for homeschooling.


1609

Charles de L'Écluse died on this date. He was the French botanist who introduced the tulip to Holland. He travelled and collected botanical information throughout Europe, and introduced new plants from outside Europe. Leaving France to escape religious perscution as a Protestant, he spent time in Prague and Vienna. Late in life, in 1593, he succeeded Dodoens as the chair of botany at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He established the botanical garden there and grew a collection of flowering bulbs, including the tulip which initiated the Dutch bulb industry. He is also attributed with cultivating the peony, hyacinth, potato and chestnut.


Twice Bloomed Wisteria points out that "spring is a natural for nature study.

For more scientific discovery, Monica at Grizzly Mama suggests "playing with this odd substance that is easily made from ingredients found in everyone's kitchen."

For some more discovery fun, Meredith at Sweetness & Light shares a lovely day doing all sorts of arts and crafts.



1887

Susanna M. Salter became the first woman mayor in the U.S. She was duly elected by the people of Argonia, KS. Ms. Salter won by a two-thirds majority but didn’t even know she was in the running ’til she went into the voting booth. It seems that her name was submitted by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Susanna M. Salter received $1 for her year as mayor.

Maggieraye at Single Parents & Home Education shares a look back over her role as a Christian mother.

Melonie of Raven Writes describes her decision to homeschool even as a single parent, working from home.

Kay at Home on the Hill takes on the question of homeschooling mommy guilt. She reminds us that sometimes the most important lessons don't fall under the heading of academics.

Susan at Ladies in Training shares some of her homeschool insecurities. She also explores her role as a Christian mother.


1943

On April 4, 1943, the New York Times published an article under the alarming headline of "Ignorance of U.S. History Shown by College Freshmen." The article reported on a test of national history undertaken by 7,000 college students. The test showed that only 6 percent of them could name the 13 original colonies. Additionally, only 13 percent identified James Madison as president during the War of 1812, and only 15 percent knew that William McKinley was president during the Spanish-American War. Moreover, only a quarter could name two contributions made by either Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. This led historian Allan Nevins to contend that "such a historically illiterate bunch might be a liability on the battlefields of Europe in World War II" (cited in Mathews 2004). This was neither the first nor the last time that college students in the USA were tested on national history. This certainly happened many times during the 20th century, and in all cases the results were unsatisfactory.

Tami of Tami's Blog tells us a little about their year-end testing. She relates how their family uses faith to overcome obstacles.

Ali of My God Given Mission Field describes which curriculum they use and how their view and philosophy of education has changed.

Amber at Trying is Bravery share describes her typical day, using a Charlotte Mason approach. She also shares a link to a free online curriculum.

Sorah at Parah warns of the dangers of comparing ourselves to other homeschooling parents or our children to others (even college students in 1943).

Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy questions why do we spend so much time worrying about which level our kids are on?


1983

The Challanger space shuttle made her maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Patricia of Patricia Ann's Polywog Creek Porch shares her daughter's study plans for Florida State History. They are even planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center.


From Another Bruggie Trek , we hear how a homeschool family from "Down Under" are also going on a trip. They remind us that "If you ever see a homeschool family away from home, now you know they aren't avoiding school work, they're on a field trip."

Mental Multivitamin gives advice for when "our students' brains are simply someplace else."

Just Call Me Jamin suggests planning a fieldtrip when we are stuck in a rut.


1993

On this date in 1993, the creator of Scrabble, Alfred Mosher Butts, died. Mr. Butts was the architect, artist and photographer, who invented the board game Scrabble. He carefully analyzed how often each letter is used (that's how he decided how many of each letter to include and how many points each one would earn), then drew a board and glued letters on some balsa tiles. Originally called Criss Cross (1931), the game, which was based on the crossword puzzle and anagrams, was redesigned, renamed as Scrabble, and marketed by James Brunot in 1948.

Scrabble is a great way to practice spelling. Dana from Principled Discovery describes some different methods to help improve spelling in children.

For more fun and games from Germany, Rina at Green Fields and Open Horizons suggests Yuginomics. It is a great game to teach how the laws of supply and demand affect market price.

Denise at Let's Play Math reminds us to look for that "Aha!" factor. Instead of drudgery, mathematics should be a game of discovery.

A homeschool mom at Sprittibee shares a list of computer games from Pre-K through college age.

To close our review of fun and games, High Desert Hi-Jinks share a homeschool mother blooper.


2005

Department of the Treasury announced that the $10 denomination will be the next note slated for a make-over by the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The newly designed $10 note is scheduled to be issued by the Federal Reserve in early 2006.

Barbara at Imperfect Homeschooler muses on the "opportunity cost" of homeschooling. She contimplates why a homeschool mom thinks giving up 20 years of her life and over $600,000 in lost wages to homeschool her children is worth it.

Spunky at Spunky Homeschool also addresses the issue of money in her post Answers Please! She responds to the comment, "I can't afford to have that many children."

Carmon at Buried Treasure Books joins the discussion about money. She points out that poor writing skills costs taxpayers money.

Nerd Mom at Nerd Family answers questions about the cost of homeschooling.


We end our carnival with a post entitled, "When Does Homeschooling Stop?" from A Father's View of Homeschooling.



If you have enjoyed this carnival, please spread the word. Please mention the carnival on your blog, and other appropriate places. There are other bloggers out there who haven't heard of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Go here for the archives of previous carnivals.

Next week the carnival will be held at Tami's Blog.

If you are interested in submitting a post, click here for information.

For those interested, the Carnival of Education will be coming out on Wednesday.

This carnival is registered at TTLB's Uber Carnival.

I'd like to thank everyone who has helped out. Thank you to all the participants in this carnival. And thanks to all those who help promote the Carnival of Homeschooling.


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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling, Isadore, Bishop of Seville, Nuremberg, Charles de L'Écluse, Susanna M. Salter, Susanna Salter, Alfred Mosher Butts, Scrabble