Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Carnival of Homeschool: Week 105 - The 2nd Anniversary

Two years ago we launched the first Carnival of Homeschooling. The carnival did well in 2006 and continued to do well in 2007. The carnival is widely supported. The number of participants keeps growing, month after month. Through 2007 we had about 2,000 posts from over 300 bloggers. Many, many people have helped make the carnival a success. I want to especially acknowledge the bloggers who help with hosting the carnival. A big thank you to everyone!

The theme for this carnival mostly rotates around the 1st of the year. This is a time when many people make new goals, review the previous year and so on.


New Years Resolutions
It is traditional to use the start of a new year as a reason to reevaluate your life and make some new goals.
Summer at Mom Is Teaching asks “What are your homeschooling plans for the new year?” and challenges you to make some Homeschool Resolutions.
From the Cricket’s Corner are a few New Year Determinations and encouragement in the new year.
Jocelyn, with A Pondering Heart, shares her 2008 Goals.


Reflecting
The start of a new year is often a time for reflection and pondering.
Steph Thinks About Silence at Life Without School Blog. In the weeks ahead she plans to be more mindful of allowing more silence into the lives of her family. Moments of stillness. Time to be quiet, with no expectations, and allow new ideas to germinate.
At Home*School*Home FatcatPaulanne has a fun way to look back on the year in First Post of Each Month of 2007.


Education
After a two week break for Christmas, we’re rethinking a little about education.
More4kids Homeschooling has some thoughts on How to Educate Your Child at Home – For FREE!
At Consent Of The Governed Judy writes about online courseware and that it can be a great resource for homeschoolers.
The Not Quite Crunchy Parent writes that with kid's versions and repetition you can easily introduce kids to culture in Introducing great Literature? Beat it to Death.
Mental multivitamin reminds us that each and every day is about learning more, doing more, thinking more, writing more, drawing more, discussing more, connecting more -- all with a clarity of expression that approaches excellence. Every. Day.
April of Lunablog.net combined lots of timeline "how-to's" with activities for introducing timelines to young children, and instructions for making your own time scroll in Free Introduction to Timelines Now Ready!


Christmas
We exchanged presents last week. We have a Christmas tree to take down, and some lights to put away. Christmas is still on our mind.
Katherine from No fighting, no biting! points out that Christmas gifts which are educational are considered cool in homeschooling circles. She shares some they found under the tree in gifts and learning.
Cristina of Home Spun Juggling shows what happens when her family tries to make a simple gingerbread house.


Politics
2008 is a presidential election year in the United States. Politics will often dominate thought and conversation this year.
Mike Huckabee is supposed to be "homeschool-friendly.” Rational Jenn wonders why he thinks a "federal Push for home schooling" is a good idea.
From the land of Corn and Oil Susan shares some insight on Shake ups within HSLDA, following up on Spunky's research and series on Governor Huckabee's endorsement by HSLDA as more details have unfolded.
From Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths Jacque weighs in with her thoughts on Homeschool Politics: Mike Huckabee and The HSLDA.
In response to Kristin Maguire being voted chairwoman-elect to South Carolina’s State Board of Education Dana of Principled Discovery asks What does it mean to support public education?
In Notes From A Homeschooling Mom Andrea wonders What is the Problem with Being a Christian Homeschooler?
Alasandra has some Tips for being a good member of an inclusive homeschool group. Tips 3 and 4 apply to politics also.


Socialization
Maybe some year in the future socialization won’t be an issue. (To Dream the Impossible Dream…)
Timothy Power from Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent considers (at great length!) two different models of socialization and the ramifications of adopting either of these models in Vertical vs. Horizontal Socialization.
ChristineMM, The Thinking Mother, worries a bit about what the future holds for socialization of her children in the teen years (based on what the schooled kids are doing in her area now).


Deciding to homeschool
From My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving a mother looks back at the call to homeschool her children in Homeschooling Year 3.5.
Trish of MamaBugs' Mountain View Christian Academy has a 16-year-old daughter who is Thinking about public school.
From at home, on fire, the point is made in laying it down, living it out, that no one can tell absolute certainty that this "experiment" will be 100% successful and fruitful. Likewise, no one can tell me that what I am doing is destined for failure, doomed from the outset.


Communication
Homeschoolers do a great job of supporting each other. They share ideas, thoughts, and product reviews.
From Po Moyemu--In My Opinion Silvia shares her progress on Radical Unschooling So Far.
Christine, of welcome to my brain, shares her experience with using Sonlight curriculum, Everybody’s smilin’ – sunshine day!
Life Nurturing Education has some good ideas on how to The Notebook as a Tool.
Little Homeschool on the Prairie notices that home education begins from birth. Here are a few of her favorite resources: Favorite Baby and Toddler Books-n-Stuff.
Tiffany shares what she has learned in Teaching Kids About Money from her blog Life on the Road: Home Business, Homeschool, and Cats!


Humor
Humor helps us get through the day. It relaxes us, helps to ease the tension, and helps us bond with each other.
Suzanne from adventures in daily living writes that her daughter is trilingual at age 6 ¼.
Reese's View Of The World has a little humor from a 4 year old in Um, Happy New Year!


Math and logic
Organizing posts and selecting categories is always influenced by the entries sent into the carnival. I was surprised to find that we had two submissions on math.
Maria has some thoughts upon an article that compared Russian and American word math problems at Homeschool Math Blog. You can guess that the former were far more advanced than the latter.
Sol of Wild About Math! has some nice Sudoku sites that are kid-friendly. He found some Free Sudoku resources. Sudoku is a great game to build logic skills and an interest in Math.
Denise of Let’s play math! in Word problems in Russia and America also writes about Andrei Toom extended version of a talk he gave a few years ago at the Swedish Mathematical Society.


Miscellaneous
We’ve found that often there are a few posts that don’t fit into simple and neat categories. Here are those posts.
Sarah of WhenItRains ~ periodic downpours of information for Ontario homeschoolers has some advice for homeschoolers heading for college in Afraid of your “average” homeschooled kid’s university admission chances? Spend LESS time on academics!
Shauna, a Treasure Seeker, is starting a learning meme. You can go over and tag yourself.
In honour of the second anniversary of the Carnival of Homeschooling Mama Squirrel submitted Silly snowmen, ready to serve from her blog Dewey's Treehouse.
Homestead Mama and family are kicking off 2008 with a trip to Mexico. They will do a Mexico scavenger hunt and are looking for some creative ideas. If you have some ideas head over to Love Learn Serve and leave a comment. As a "THANK YOU" they’ll send you some postcards.
For our humble entry to the carnival we have our post about the Contest for the Carnival of Homeschooling graphics.


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 Red Sea School.
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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10 comments:

Kerry said...

Oh, I'm disappointed that my post did not make it in the Carnival. I worked so hard to get it finished by the deadline - and even did so without realizing it. :) If you can add it, great, if not I hope it is ok for my to post it here:

http://theten0clockscholar.blogspot.com/2007/12/homeschool-resolutions-for-2008.html

Silvia said...

Great carnival, and congratulations on 2 wonderful years!

Barbara Frank said...

Rats....missed the deadline. But congratulations on two years' worth of thought-provoking carnivals. The homeschool community owes you a lot of thanks!

Happy New Year to all the Cates.

gary said...

Henry, Janine and family: Starting this carnival and keeping it going for these two years has been a great service to the homeschool community. thanks so much for what you do for us.

Anonymous said...

Minor correction/question -- I think next week's carnival is at Red Sea School -- at least, I've already received some submissions.
I'm hoping for a mini-theme on planning, schedules, and calendars -- click the link for more info!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

Wow what a wonderful COH to start off 2008.

Jenn Casey said...

This is great! What a way to start the New Year.

Henry Cate said...

Shaun, thank you for pointing out the mistake. I've updated the post.

Kerry, sorry I didn't get your post in time. Make sure to submit it for the next carnival.

Thanks to everyone else for their kind words.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on two years of carnivals! I appreciate all the effort you put into this.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all your contributions to making the carnival a success!