Carnival of Homeschooling - Change

A wise man said "That one of the few constants in life is change."  Homeschoolers know this.  From the moment they decide to homeschool they are faced with lots of changes.  They have new schedules.  They may end up with different friends.  They will learn new skills.

Some change is good.  You might get a promotion or get married.  Some change may not be as welcomed, like when a loved one dies.  And some changes are just changes.

My wife and I faced some changes when we kicked off the first Carnival of Homeschooling nine years ago.  We meet many new homeschoolers and made some new friends.

As I'm sure you have guessed by now, the theme for this 9th anniversary edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is: CHANGE.

In Is This Homeschooling Journey of Ours Really Over? Kathy, at Homeschoolbuzz.com, shares some of her thoughts as she faces the change of her sons moving on with their lives.  She starts the carnival with:  "When we began homeschooling in 1999 I didn’t start with the end in mind. I couldn’t see past the cluttered dining room table, the quest for curriculum, and the days that lasted forever despite the years passing swiftly."

In Mid-Year Homeschool Checkup Sabrina, from 7 Sisters Homeschool, has suggestions on how to handle the change of going from Christmas back into homeschooling.  She starts her post with:  "The Christmas holiday season is almost over; the beginning of a new calendar year is looming on the horizon. The mid-year point in a traditional academic year is a good time to take stock and evaluate."

With Assessing Our Path - Gearing Up for the Next 12 Weeks!, posted at Solagratiamom, we are reminded that a healthy way to deal with change is to anticipate and reflect before and after change.  The post starts with: "It's almost time to start back in our Community and begin hitting the school routine in full swing again.  So for me, that means it's time to assess things.  Am I still on the path or did I end up taking a left turn somewhere?  These are the things I think about over my break.  It's part of my gearing up for the next twelve weeks, so I can hit the ground running that first full week of January.  Here are some of the things I do to help me assess:"

Some of the best changes come because we initiate them.  The Best Way to Get to Know People in Your Community by Christy, the Eclectic Momma, has a great idea.  The post starts with:  "We've been the new kids on the block plenty of times in our married life.  We came to our present area in 2007 with no friends, no contacts, nothing.  Boy, were we lonely!  I was thinking today about all the people we've ended up meeting in the small town we call home.  Our family has been able to meet such a wide variety of people all through the same way---volunteering to serve."

As homeschoolers we are often changing what we study.  Ann writes in Pigeons - Outdoor Hour Challenge, posted at Harvest Moon by Hand, about what her and her daughters learned about pigeons.  The post starts with:  "Since we live in a rural area, the only time we see pigeons is if we are in a city. It seems like they tend to congregate in more populated areas in Minnesota. Even though they aren't a bird we regularly see, it still is worth learning about them when we do see them."

This is a change my son would love:  Rose writes about their year long RV trip in 7 Things I learned by traveling with my children, posted at Learning Across America.  She starts the post with:  "For the better part of a year, I have lived in a 38-foot RV with my husband and 7 children. In that time, we’ve experienced over 10,000 miles of on-the-road togetherness. Spending all that time in close proximity, we’ve learned a few things about each other and about ourselves. If you have ever wondered if you could pack up and follow a dream, maybe you will find a bit of inspiration here to make your dream a reality.  Looking back, here are the top 7 things I learned from crossing the country in an RV with the family:"

Part of the need for change comes because each child is different.  Teaching Phonics to an Already-Reader, posted at Trivium Pursuit, addresses this.  The post revolves around this query:  "How do you suggest I teach phonics to a reader? I am trying to give rules when asked for a spelling. My fear is that he will file the rule with that specific word and not see it broadly. I do not want to go ‘down’ and bore him, nor do I want to continue and lose him. He is in the 2nd grade English of Christian Light."

Sometimes the biggest changes are in who we are.  Cristina writes about this in Shifting Identities, posted at Home Spun Juggling.  She introduces the theme with:  "Life as a part-time unschooler has been wearing on me lately. I love my job and I love being mom to creative homeschooled kids, but at the same time I'm frustrated. My focus has shifted. I'm not the one home with my youngest and last homeschooler. I don't bring her to as many activities as I used to bring her siblings to. I can't even convince her to come to work with me regularly, which I considered an advantage of working in the library. I miss being around my kids."

One of the biggest changes in my life was when I became a fluent reader and disappeared into the world of books.  Carol has suggestions on Authors for Teens - Part 1, posted at journey-and-destination.  She starts the post with:  "The books by authors I've listed here are those our children enjoyed reading in their spare time when they were in their teens. An asterisk means some of my children read it before their teens or that it's suitable for a younger age level. Just be aware that this is only my opinion & even in our own family, what might have been right for one child at age 12 or 14 years didn't necessarily mean it was suitable for another at the same age."

We may change how we teach our children.  Sharon has suggestions in New Year, New Beginnings, posted at Reading-Writing-Learning.  She starts with:  "Welcome to 2015! Another year has come to greet us and we can take the opportunity to stop and think about our children’s beginnings. How do we best prepare them for the many years ahead of them?"

In 2015 Mathematics Game, from Let's Play Math, Denise gives us a fun way to practice arithmetic skills in the new year.  She starts with: "Did you know that playing games is one of the Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Brain Fitness? So slip into your workout clothes and pump up those mental muscles with the Annual Mathematics Year Game Extravaganza!"

Susan writes in Building a Foundation of Words, posted at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds, a Virtual Curriculum Fair.  She starts with:  "Welcome to week 1 of the 2015 Virtual Curriculum Fair (VCF)!  Chareen at Every Bed of Roses is joining me from the other side of the world to co-host Playing with Words:  the Language Arts.  The VCF is a month-long blog carnival and we have a great crew of homeschool bloggers joining us---you will find links to their word play at the bottom of this post.  If you’d like to join us, share a post in the linky."

Often we have suggestions on how others can change.  Barbara has a few ideas in Thoughts for a Bitter Homeschool Mom, posted at Barbara Frank Online.  Barbara finishes her post with this advice: "Now that you’re free to spend your day as you see fit, you may become overwhelmed by all the choices you have. And that’s OK. It’s even OK to be bitter, for a little while. But don’t let it become a permanent emotion. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start figuring out who you are at this stage of your life.  Because you were wrong when you said, “It’s over for her.” It is not “over” for any retired homeschooling mom. Personally, I’m just getting (re)started!"

Mama Squirrel has suggestions on how we can change.  How to be a homeschool-parent-mensch, posted at Dewey's Treehouse, is about how we as human beings should act.  She writes: "So what does that have to do with homeschooling parents? The attributes listed in the above poster, which are summarized from Martinuzzi's book on leadership, can be taken as characteristics of good teachers, and also of good parents. I won't paste the explanations as given on Life Without Pants, but here are my own (homeschooling) takes on the list."

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