Carnival of Homeschooling: Week 80

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling: The top 10 reasons to homeschool*

* According to the 1999 Survey by the Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics


I've noticed that these reasons for homeschooling are phrased with the assumption that there must be something wrong with the school, wrong with the child or wrong with the family to motivate homeschooling. This is not surprising considering the list came from the Department of Education. Thus, I've added my own commentary in parenthesis.

NOTE: We apologize if we missed any posts. Google’s spam filter is very aggressive. Henry found 5 or 6 posts buried in with the 370+ spam emails the Carnival of Homeschooling received this week. Also, we've noticed that some entries spent 12 hours in limbo before they were delivered to CarnivalofHomeschooling@gmail.com.


Can give child better education at home (or good enough for less time)

Annette at Homeschooling Journey explains the use of Scope and Sequence. If you think you may one day be returning your child to the public school system, it's essential for you to understand what a scope and sequence is.

Barb at The Heart of Harmony explains how art is something homeschoolers push aside many times for the more academic subjects. Summer is a great time to work on drawing with your children. Here is a great book called Drawing with Children to get you started.

From It's a Small World, we get helps on hints for the Five Paragraph Essay.

This is from a homeschool student perspective. Super Angel at the Daily Planet describes the schedule for her last year of homeschooling in It's July... Can you believe it??

From Lothlorien, another homeschool student describes a recent outing in We are Homeschoolers, No Doubt.


Religious (and Political) reasons

From Abrianna at Yankee CowGirl, we get the update on the so-called " The Homeschooling Candidate".

Tiffany at Life on the Road: Home Business, Homeschool, and Cats! passes on information about the Maryland school system's policy that the state supersedes the rights of parents in Remind me not to go to Maryland...



Poor learning environment at school (or to take advantage of a rich home environment)

Schools have a difficult time utilizing Discovery Learning techniques. Dana at Principled Discovery points to the importance of teaching children how to observe in Building a reflective homeschool, sharing the wonder.

This next post is a good summary of all the reasons to homeschool. From The Lady Of RFH at Rowen Forest Homeschool we can read their journey to homeschooling called Homeschooling Since February 17, 1999.

Jenny at Little Acorns Treehouse points out how "with unschooling, you need to have a resource rich environment and access to a wide variety of materials that you can follow as your child asks questions or shows interest" in The Summer of Unschooling.

Stephanie at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood shares A Tree House for Kids.


Family reasons (or to spend time together as a family)

Barbara Frank in The Gravitational Pull of Homeschooling describes how homeschooling is an attractive family lifestyle choice that is hard to walk away from.

Homeschooling is an important part of how we build a strong family. Alasandra responds to criticism that children belong to society (not the family) and that homeschooling should be banned in kestrel9000 Attacks Homeschooling at Daily Kos.

Here's a good example of family time from Gary at Homeschool Buzz in Independence Day aboard the USS Constitution!

Have you ever heard the argument that moms teaching teen boys is unproductive? Kim at Mother-Lode explores this debate in Mothers and Sons.


To develop character/morality

Homeschool parents often run into a conflict between their values and those promoted by the public school system. This phenomenon can also find its way into our relationships with extended family members. Sebastian at Percival Blakeney Academy gives some good advice in Planning for Christmas.

Jacque at Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths explains how teaching manners and character is a continuous process in a Summertime Learnin' - Manners.

To teach character and morality, parents must somtimes "read the riot act" to their kids. At Home With the Kids explains the history behind this phrase in Read 'em the Riot Act.


Object to what school teaches (or simply a desire to follow a different scope and sequence)

Quietly into the Night points to a Seattle Times article that explains This is why my son is Homeschooled.

.....In the name of student achievement, more teachers must follow stricter rules about what — and sometimes how — they teach. In some places, they stay almost literally on the same page.....

christinemm at The Thinking Mother answers the question, "How do you do all that homeschooling?"

The following is a response I sent to an email I received from a homeschooler that lives in my town, who I met about a year ago, who comes to my homeschool support group meetings, has been to my house and has seen all the books and educational “stuff” we have in our home.

Nerdmom at Nerd Family describe the philosophy they are going to follow in Looking for Resources

So if you have used a different scope and sequence, will you have trouble getting into college? Silvia at Po Moyemu--In My Opinion looks into Questions about Homeschooled Kids and College.


School does not challenge child (or parents do not want to wait around to find out)

Patti at All Info About Home Schooling has a challenging and fun First Aid Worksheets.

Lindafay at Higher Up and Further In shares How We Use the Handbook of Nature Study, all 800 pages of it!

Do you remember the Summer Hill School founded in 1920's. Their unique philosphy influenced the homeschool pioneer, John Holt. Wired for Noise describes how she stumbled across a book on Summer Hill School.


Other problems with available schools (or support from the wonderful homeschooling community).

From Life Without School we get a glimps of the diverse and exciting world of homeschooling in Who are you? and it's follow up in Celebrating Our Diversity.

Janine from Why Homeschool found an insightful look at Sir Ken Robinson's Do schools kill creativity?


Student behavior problems at school (or not wanting to mess up an already well behaved child)

Sometimes we can have behavior problems in the blogosphere too. It is easy to get sucked up into a heated response to a comment. Homeschooling and education are one of those topics that can inspire great passion and harsh words on both sides. Hernandez at APMFormulators has some sound advice on how to avoid a tit-for-tat debate in Christian Women who Love to fight.

Taking turns is an important part of good behavior. From the Headmistress, Zookeeper at The Common Room we get some advice on Narrations, Whose Turn Is It?


Child has special needs/disability (or don't all children have special needs?)

Each child has "special" needs and homeschooling helps parents meet those needs. Denise at Let's play math! has a card deck for number games, plus how to make a nifty card holder for young hands in How to make Math Cards.

Because each child has their own set of special strengths and weaknesses, parents may struggle to determine what is best for each child. Lilliput Station reminds us that "No one knows your kids better than you do" in Homeschooling: The Second Generation (Part 3.


Conclusion:

There you have it, a look at the top ten reasons to homeschool according to the Department of Education. If you have enjoyed this carnival, please spread the word. Please mention the carnival on your blog, and other appropriate places.

Go here for the archives of previous carnivals.

Next week the carnival will be held at Principled Discovery.

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

We 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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