Week 443: 24 June 2014 SmallWorld at here
Week 442: 21 June 2014 The Foodie Army Wife at here
Week 441: 14 June 2014 Every Bed of Roses at here
Week 440: 3 June 2014 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: The Graduate Edition
Week 439: 27 May 2014 Consent of the Governed at here
Theme: The Wisdom Edition
Week 438: 20 May 2014 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Eliza Doolittle Day
Week 437: 13 May 2014 Our Curious Home at here
Week 436: 7 May 2014 Nerd Family Blog at here
Week 435: 29 April 2014 Home Grown Mommy at here
Week 434: 22 April 2014 The HSBA at here
Theme: Building Character Edition
Week 433: 15 April 2014 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: The thousand flowers edition
Week 432: 8 April 2014 Petticoat Government. at here
Theme: The Homeschooling and Farms edition
Week 431: 1 April 2014 momSCHOOL at here
Theme: The April Fool's Edition
Week 430: 25 March 2014 Janice Campbell Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: The Learning Lifestyle, Reading, and News edition
Week 429: 18 March 2014 Golden Grasses at here
Theme: The Still Winter Edition
Week 428: 15 March 2014 Every Bed of Roses at here
Week 427: 4 March 2014 Notes From A Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: Just Keep Blogging
Week 426: 25 February 2014 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: The Post Olympic edition
Week 425: 18 February 2014 SmallWorld at here
Theme: The Snowman edition
Week 424: 11 February 2014 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: The Lincoln's wisdom edition
Week 423: 4 February 2014 The Foodie Army Wife at here
Week 422: 28 January 2014 Live Life and Learning at here
Theme: The Winter Edition
Week 421: 21 January 2014 Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: The Robert E. Lee Edition
Week 420: 14 January 2014 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Model Homes Edition
Week 419: 7 January 2014 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: The New Years edition
Week 418: 31 December 2013 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: No Kitchen Table Lessons This Week Edition
Week 417: 24 December 2013 Nerd Family at here
Theme: Christmas Eve Edition
Week 416: 17 December 2013 HomeGrownMommy.com at here
Week 415: 10 December 2013 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Living with Books
Week 414: 3 December 2013 Notes From A Homeschooled Mom at here
Theme: The Vlog hope edition
Week 413: 26 November 2013 Petticoat Government at here
Theme: The Geography Edition
Week 412: 19 November 2013 Every Bed of Roses at here
Theme: An icon for every post
Week 411: 12 November 2013 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Creative Learning
Week 410: 5 November 2013 Under The Golden Apple Tree at here
Week 409: 29 October 2013 The Faithful Homeschool at here
Theme: The Inspiration Edition
Week 408: 22 October 2013 The HSBA Post at here
Theme: Reaping What You Sow
Week 407: 15 October 2013 momSCHOOL at here
Theme: Fall is in the Air!
Week 406: 8 October 2013 The Common Room at here
Theme: Home Education
Week 405: 1 October 2013 Homeschool Atheist Momma Blog at here
Week 404: 27 September 2013 The Foodie Army Wife at here
Theme: Science Experiments and a Printable Slime Recipe
Week 403: 17 September 2013 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: In the clouds
Week 402: 10 September 2013 Golden Grasses at here
Week 401: 3 September 2013 The Informed Parent at here
Week 400: 27 August 2013 As For My House at here
Theme: Chaos
Week 399: 20 August 2013 Home School Dad at here
Theme: Reflections on being a Home School Dad
Week 398: 13 August 2013 SmallWorld at here
Week 397: 6 August 2013 Living Life and Learning at here
Theme: Summer Time
Week 396: 30 July 2013 Janice Campbell - Taking time for things that matter at here
Theme: Summertime
Week 395: 23 July 2013 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Instagram Edition (plus mobile photography)
Week 394: 16 July 2013 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: Homeschooling and Quilting
Week 393: 9 July 2013 The Home Grown Mommy at here
Week 392: 2 July 2013 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Enjoy Reinvention
Week 391: 25 June 2013 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Amazing Superpowers
Week 390: 18 June 2013 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: Floods and Picnics
Week 389: 11 June 2013 Time4Learning Community Blog at here
Week 388: 4 June 2013 Notes from a Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: Getting down to business
Week 387: 28 May 2013 The HSBA Post at here
Theme: May Mashup
Week 386: 21 May 2013 Forever, For Always, No Matter What at here
Week 385: 14 May 2013 NerdFamily Blog at here
Week 384: 7 May 2013 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: "First Teacher" Appreciation
Week 383: 30 April 2013 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Being Flexible
Week 382: 23 April 2013 Teach Beside Me at here
Week 381: 16 April 2013 Every Bed of Roses at here
Week 380: 9 April 2013 The Common Room at here
Week 379: 2 April 2013 Homeschool Atheist Momma Blog at here
Week 378: 26: March 2013 HomeGrownMommy.com at here
Week 377: 18 March 2013 momSCHOOL at here
Theme: Spring Refreshment
Week 376: 11 March 2013 The Foodie Army Wife at here
Theme: Another graduation
Week 375: 5 March 2013 Small World at here
Week 374: 26 February 2013 Consent of the Governed at here
Theme: What do homeschoolers DO all day?
Week 373: 19 February 2013 The Informed Parent at here
Theme: Following Your Interests
Week 372: 12 February 2013 HomeSchoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: With A Big Heart
Week 371: 5 February 2013 Dave Out Loud at here
Theme: The Read Out Loud edition
Week 370: 29 January 2013 - Living Life and Learning at here
Theme: All About Changes
Week 369: 22 January 2013 - Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: The Fire Signs
Week 368: 15 January 2013 - Golden Grasses at here
Theme: The Seasons
Week 367: 8 January 2013 - NerdFamily Blog at here
Week 366: 1 January 2013 - Why Homeschool at here
Theme: The Hope Edition
Week 365: 25 December 2012 at No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: Christmas
Week 364: 18 December 2012 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Week 363: 11 December 2012 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: How'd it get to be December?
Week 362: 4 December 2012 The HomeSpun Life at here
Theme: Christmas Special
Week 361: 26 November 2012 Notes from a Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: No two are alike
Week 360: 20 November 2012 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: Gratitude after Stormy Weather
Week 359: 13 November 2012 HomeschoolBytes at here
Theme: The Light Edition
Week 358: 7 November 2012 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Vote!
Week 357: 30 October 2012 Time 4 Learning.net at here
Theme: Time For A Homeschool Checkup!
Week 356: 23 October 2012 Forever, For Always, No Matter What at here
Theme: 10 Ways to Lighten the Load & Carnival of Homeschooling
Week 355: 17 October 2012 As For My house at here
Theme: Reflections from the End of the Road
Week 354: 11 October 2012 Home School Dad at here
Theme: The Comic Edition
Week 353: 2 October 2012 MrsMamaHen.com at here
Theme: From Alaska - How do you protect the priorities in your home?
Week 352: 25 September 2012 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: Fall Transition
Week 351: 18 September 2012 Janice Campbell Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: Ideas You Can Use
Week 350: 11 September 2012 The Homeschool Post at here
Theme: In Remembrance
Week 349: 4 September 2012 Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling at here
Week 348: 28 August 2012 momSCHOOL at here
Theme: The Makeover Edition
Week 347: 21 August 2012 Teach Beside Me at here
Week 346: 14 August 2012 Under the Golden Apple Tree at here
Theme: Back to Home School
Week 345: 7 August 2012 Homeschool Journeys at here
Theme: Let's Play School
Week 344: 31 July 2012 The Common Room at here
Week 343: 24 July 2012 Raising Real Men at here
Week 342: 17 July 2012 Why Homeschhool at here
Theme: The Change Edition
Week 341: 10 July 2012 Home Grown Mommy at here
Week 340: 3 July 2012 Homeschool Atheist at here
Theme: Momma's Musing Moments About Homeschool
Week 339: 26 June 2012 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Graduate Edition
Week 338: 19 June 2012 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Summer Fun Edition
Week 337: 12 June 2012 Consent Of The Govern at here
Theme: The Flag Day Edition
Week 336: 5 June 2012 Dave Out Loud at here
Theme: The Dave Out Loud Edition
Week 335: 29 May 2012 The Informed Parent at here
Week 334: 22 May 2012 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Floatin' Down the River Edition
Week 333: 15 May 2012 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Week 332: 8 May 2012 NerdFamily Blog at here
Week 331: 1 May 2012 Golden Grasses at here
Theme: The Pioneer Edition
Week 330: 24 April 2012 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: Frost and forcythias
Week 329: 17 April 2012 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Balloon Dog Edition
Week 328: 10 April 2012 Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard at here.
Theme: Fun things children can do instead of turning on the television
Week 327: 3 April 2012 The Faithful Homeschool at here
Theme: The Spring Edition
Week 326: 27 March 2012 Sprittibee at here
Theme: The Texas Edition
Week 325: 20 March 2012 HomeschoolBytes at here
Theme: Creativity
Week 324: 13 March 2012 Notes From A Homeschooled Mom at here
Theme: to those who homeschool because of illness
Week 323: 6 March 2012 The Common Room at here
Theme: Teacher Inservice Edition
Week 322: 28 February 2012 Forever, For Always, No Matter What at here
Theme: If I had a million dollars
Week 321: 21 February 2012 A Life Supreme at here
Theme: Harry Potter Homeschooling Pensieve
Week 320: 14 February 2012 As For My House at here
Theme: Love Is
Week 319: 7 February 2012: MrsMamaHen.com at here
Theme: Changes in Alaska
Week 318: 31 January 2012: Amy Bayliss - Cajun Joie de Vivre: Stepping Stones to a Fulfilled Life at here
Week 317: 24 January 2012 Janice Campbell - Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: The Wintery Mix
Week 316: 17 January 2012 Homeschool Online Blog at here
Theme: The Organized Homeschool
Week 315: 10 January 2012 Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: The Gemstone edition
Week 314: 3 January 2012 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Starting the New Year
Week 313: 27 December 2011 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: Passages
Week 312: 20 December 2011 Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling at here
Theme: Homeschooling encouragement and inspiration
Week 311: 13 December 2011 Teach Beside Me at here
Week 310: 6 December 2011 The Homeschool Post at here
Theme: The Relevant Edition
Week 309: 29 November 2011 NerdFamily Blog at here
Theme: Homeschool Open House
Week 308: 22 November 2011 momSCHOOL at here
Theme: The Thankful Edition
Week 307: 15 November 2011 HomeSchool Dad at here
Theme: The Tweet Edition
Week 306: 8 November 2011 Under the Golden Apple Tree at here
Theme: The Quotes to Ponder Edition
Week 305: 1 November 2011 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: The Saintly Edition
Week 304: 25 October 2011 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Rollerskating in a Buffalo Herd Edition
Week 303: 18 October 2011 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Week 302: 11 October 2011 Raising Real Men at here
Theme: Life, the Universe and Everything
Week 301: 4 October 2011 Home Grown Mommy at here
Week 300: 27 September 2011 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: The number 300
Week 299: 20 September 2011 Homeschool Bytes at here
Theme: Harvest Edition
Week 298: 13 September 2011 Notes From A Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: Homeschooling is hard to categorize
Week 297: 6 September 2011 The Common Room at here
Theme: Let's Do Lunch
Week 296: 30 August 2011 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: Logistics of a Homeschooling Family
Week 295: 23 August 2011 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: the Tell Me Summer isn’t Almost Over Edition
Week 294: 16 August 2011 The Faithful Homeschool at here
Theme: The back-to-school carnival
Week 293: 9 August 2011 Janice Campbell - Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: Summer Isn't Over Yet
Week 292: 2 August 2011 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Hand-Crafted Education edition
Week 291: 26 July 2011 MrsMamaHen.com at here
Theme: Preparing for the next school year
Week 290: 19 July 2011 HomeschoolCPA.com at here
Theme: One Thousand Gifts
Week 289: 12 July 2011 A Life Supreme at here
Theme: Simplified
Week 288: 5 July 2011 NerdFamily Blog at here
Theme: Welcome to the NerdMom's home
Week 287: 28 June 2011 As For My House at here
Theme: Technical Difficulties
Week 286: 21 June 2011 Successful Homeschooling at here
Theme: The Summer Camp Edition
Week 285: 14 June 2011 Cajun Inspired Living at here
Week 284: 7 June 2011 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: The Lemonade Edition
Week 283: 31 May 2011 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: The Memorial Day Edition
Week 282: 24 May 2011 Sprittibee at here
Theme: The Flag Edition
Week 281: 17 May 2011 The HomeSpun Life at here
Theme: The Spring Edition
Week 280: 10 May 2011 Dewy's Treehouse at here
Theme: The Number Ten
Week 279: 3 May 2011 Home School Dad at here
Theme: Top 10 films
Week 278: 26 April 2011 Corn and Oil at here
Week 277: 19 April 2011 SmallWorld at here
Week 276: 12 April 2011 Homegrown Mommy at here
Week 275: 5 April 2011 Under the Golden Apple Tree at here
Week 274: 30 March 2011 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: The Homeschool Journey Edition
Week 273: 23 March 2011 The HSBA Post at here
Theme: The Green Edition
Week 272: 15 March 2011 Life Nurturing Education at here
Theme: The Wish List Edition
Week 271: 8 March 2011 Time 4 Learning at here
Theme: Mardi Gras
Week 270: 1 March 2011 Notes From A Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: Thanks for the Inspiration
Week 269: 22 February 2011 Raising Real Men at here
Theme: Liberty and Freedom
Week 268: 15 February 2011 The Faithful Homeschool at here
Theme: Winter Weather Homeschooling in Small Spaces
Week 267: 8 February 2011 Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard at here
Week 266: 1 February 2011 The Informed Parent at here
Week 265: 25 January 2010 HomeschoolBytes at here
Theme: World School
Week 264: 18 January 2010 Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: Alasandra's Garden
Week 263: 11 January 2010 The Common Room at here
Theme: Surviving bad karma
Week 262: 4 January 2010 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Princess Bride Quotes
Week 261: 28 December 2010 Janice Campbell - Taking Time for Things That Matter at here
Theme: Making Time for Things That Matter
Week 260: 21 December 2010 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: The Homeschoolers 12 days of Christmas
Week 259: 14 December 2010 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Number 42
Week 258: 10 December 2010 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: Gingerbread Can Cure Poison Hour Edition.
Week 257: 1 December 2010 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: The Tryptophan Edition
Week 256: 23 November 2010 MrsMamaHen.com at here
Theme: Our Great Nation
Week 255: 16 November 2010 NerdFamily Blog at here
Theme: The Home Edition
Week 254: 9 November 2010 The HomeSpun Life at here
Week 253: 2 November 2010 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Singing a Happy Song
Week 252: 26 October 2010 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: We Are Clark Kent
Week 251: 19 October 2010 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Celebrity Birthdays Edition
Week 250: 12 October 2010 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Celebrating Autumn Edition - with pictures of the Smokey Mountains
Week 249: 5 October 2010 Homeschool Curriculum and Parenting Advice at here
Theme: New Baby
Week 248: 28 September 2010 Sprittibee at here
Theme: School rooms and places we learn
Week 247: 21 September 2010 As For My House at here
Theme: There is No "All" - Don't have to go with one size fits all
Week 246: 14 September 2010 Raising Real Men at here
Week 245: 7 September 2010 Lesson Pathways at here
Theme: The Road Less Traveled
Week 244: 31 August 2010 Amy Bayliss at here
Theme: General, Education & Family
Week 243: 24 August 2010 Home School Dad at here
Theme: The panorama of homeschooling
Week 242: 17 August 2010 Notes From A Homeschooling Mom at here
Theme: Back 2 Home
Week 241: 10 August 2010 Life Nurturing Education at here
Theme: Remember Summer
Week 240: 3 August 2010 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Summer Get-Together
Week 239: 26 July 2010 The Common Room at here
Theme: The history of homeschooling
Week 238: 19 July 2010 The Homeschool Post at here
Theme: Texas Wildflowers
Week 237: 12 July 2010 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Punctuation
Heather captured the themes for the carnival below and I've updated the list.
Week 236: 5 July 2010 Roscommon Acres at here
Theme: Independence Day
Week 235: 29 June 2010 HomeschoolCPA at here
Theme: All Things Austen
Week 234: 22 June 2010 Janice Campbell Talking Time For Things That Matter Most at here
Theme: Beach Reading
Week 233: 15 June 2010 The Informed Parent at here
Week 232: 8 June 2010 Homeschooled twins at here
Theme: Recapping the 2009/2010 School Year
Week 231: 1 June 2010 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: Recital Edition
Week 230: 25 May 2010 Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard at here
Theme: May
Week 229: 18 May 2010 Under the Golden Apple Tree at here
Week 228: 11 May 2010 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: May Flowers Edition
Week 227: 4 May 2010 MrsMamaHen at here
Theme: Wedding Anniversary Edition
Week 226: 27 April 2010 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Wrinkly Superhero Edition
Week 225: 20 April 2010 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: Cartoonist's Desk
Week 224: 13 April 2010 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: April Goodness
Week 223: 6 April 2010 NerdFamily Blog at here
Theme: Open House
Week 222: 30 March 2010 The HomeSpun Life at here
Theme: Spring
Week 221: 23 March 2010 HomeGrownMommy.com at here
Week 220: 16 March 2010 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Celebrating Life (In Memory of Wren)
Week 219: 9 March 2010 Homeschool Bytes at here
Theme: Party Edition
Week 218: 2 March 2010 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Oddities
Week 217: 23 February 2010 The Daily Planet at here
Week 216: 16 February 2010 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Think Spring
Week 215: 9 February 2010 Raising Real Men at here
Theme: Things Homeschoolers Love
Week 214: 2 February 2010 As For My House at here
Theme: What Matters Most
Week 213: 26 January 2010 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: For Those Considering Homeschooling
Week 212: 19 January 2010 Home School Dad at here
Theme: Library Week
Week 211: 12 January 2010 Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: Dog and Cat Edition
Week 210: 5 January 2010 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: 4th Anniversary
Week 209: 29 December 2009 Life Nuturing Education at here
Theme: winter in Idaho
Week 208: 22 December 2009 A Very Nearly Tea at here
Theme: Hectically Thrown Together Edition
Week 207: 15 December 2009 The Common Room at here
Week 206: 8 December 2009 The HSBA Post at here
Theme: Christmas Ornaments
Week 205: 1 December 2009 Atlanta Homeschooling Examiner at here
Theme: Those Crazy Homeschoolers
Week 204: 24 November 2009 Norfolk Homeschooling Examiner at here
Week 203: 17 November 2009 A Pondering Heart at here
Theme: At the Post (Blog Award Edition)
Week 202: 10 November 2009 - Janice Campbell - Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: NanoWriMo Edition
Week 201: 3 November 2009 The Informed Parent at here
Theme: Saving Time
Week 200: 27 October 2009 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: 200th Edition - Party On!
Week 199: 20 October 2009 No Fighting, No Biting! at here
Theme: Postcards Don't Lie
Week 198: 13 October 2009 Nerd Family at here
Theme: Nerdfamily House
Week 197: 6 October 2009 Walking Therein at here
Theme: How do You Homeschool?
Week 196: 29 September 2009 Heart of the Matter Online at here
Week 195: 22 September 2009 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: Learning About the Autumn Equinox
Week 194: 15 September 2009 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Creatures and Critters
Week 193: 8 September 2009 The HomeSpun Life at here
Theme: Virtual Blog Conference
Week 192: 1 September 2009 HomeGrown Mommy.com at here
Week 191: 25 August 2009 Homeschool Bytes at here
Theme: We've Got Style
Week 190: 18 August 2009 Home Spun Juggling at here
Theme: The Juggling Workshop
Week 189: 11 August 2009 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Lolcats
Week 188: 4 August 2009 Beverly's Homeschooling Blog at here
Theme: Game Day
Week 187: 28 July 2009 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Loving Summer Edition
Week 186: 21 July 2009 HomeschoolCPA's Blog at here
Theme: As Time Goes By
Week 185: 14 July 2009 Tami's Thoughts and Views at here
Theme: Zoo Photos
Week 184: 7 July 2009 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Founding Fathers
Week 183: 30 June 2009 Norfolk Homeschooling Examiner at here
Theme: Lazy Days of Summer
Week 182: 23 June 2009 Our Curious Home at here
Theme: Summer Transition
Week 181: 16 June 2009 The Daily Planet at here
Week 180: 9 June 2009 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: Field Guide to Homeschoolers
Week 179: 2 June 2009 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Baby Bop
Week 178: 26 May 2009 The Common Room at here
Week 177: 19 May 2009 Home School Dad at here
Week 176: 12 May 2009 Walking Therein at here
Theme: Some Things Moms Love
Week 175: 5 May 2009 Atlanta Homeschooling Examiner at here
Theme: Spring Fever 2009
Week 174: 28 April 2009 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: No Child Left Inside
Week 173: 21 April 2009 The Common Room at here
Week 172: 14 April 2009 Guide to Homeschooling Resources at here
Theme: Peter Rabbit
Week 171: 7 April 2009 A Pondering Heart at here
Theme: Get Your Gardens Going!
Week 170: 31 March 2009 Janice Campbell - Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: Spring Fever
Week 169: 24 March 2009 HomeSchoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Spring 2009
Week 168: 17 March 2009 The Homeschool Cafe at here
Theme: Blarney Edition (St. Patty's)
Week 167: 10 March 2009 Life Nurturing Education at here
Theme: Top 10 School Supplies Edition
Week 166: 3 March 2009 Nerd Family at here
Theme: NerdHouse
Week 165: 24 February 2009 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Stimulus
Week 164: 17 February 2009 Topsy-Techie at here
Theme: Hardwired
Week 163: 10 February 2009 Sprittibee at here
Theme: 9 Month Journey Edition (Pregnancy)
Week 162: 3 February 2009 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Identity Crisis Edition
Week 161: 27 January 2009 Life on the Road at here
Week 160: 20 January 2009 About Homeschooling at here
Theme:
Week 159: 13 January 2009 Alasandra's Homeschool Blog at here
Theme: Teal Edition (Cervical Health Month)
Week 158: 6 January 2009 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Third Anniversary
Week 157: 30 December 2008 Practical Homeschooling at here
Theme: A Carnival of Reflections
Week 156: 23 December 2008 Janice Campbell - Taking Time for Things That Matter at here
Theme: Winter in Paris
Week 155: 16 December 2008 SmallWorld at here
Theme: Smoky Mountain
Week 154: 9 December 2008 The Daily Planet at here
Week 153: 2 December 2008 Po Moyemu--In My Opinion at here
Week 152: 25 November 2008 The Common Room at here
Week 151: 18 November 2008 Tami's Thoughts and Views at here
Theme: 4-H Bake-Off
Week 150: 11 November 2008 Walking Therein at here
Theme: Go Vote
Week 149: 4 November 2008 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: May Flowers
Week 148: 28 October 2008 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Halloween
Week 147: 21 October 2008 Melissa's Idea Garden at here
Theme: Who Let the Dogs Out?
Week 146: 14 October 2008 HomeSchoolBuzz.com at here
Week 145: 7 October 2008 Corn and Oil at here
Theme: 4-H Style
Week 144: 30 September 2008 Simple Pleasures at here
Theme: Simple Pleasures of Homeschooling
Week 143: 23 September 2008 A Pondering Heart at here
Theme: Old West
Week 142: 16 September 2008 Nerd Family at here
Theme: Where we Work
Week 141: 9 September 2008 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Hero Edition
Week 140: 2 September 2008 HomeschoolCPA at here
Theme: Labors We Perform as Homeschoolers
Week 139: 26 August 2008 Life Nuturing Education at here
Theme: Women's Independence Day
Week 138: 19 August 2008 Janice Campbell Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: There's More to School than Textbooks
Week 137: 12 August 2008 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Homeschool Memories
Week 136: 5 August 2008 The Homeschool Cafe at here
Theme: Homeschool Bus Stop
Week 135: 29 July 2008 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Boy Scouts
Week 134: 22 July 2008 Life on the Road at here
Week 133: 15 July 2008 Red Sea School at here
Theme: Summertime-and-the-livin-is-easy
Week 132: 8 July 2008 The Daily Planet at here
Week 131: 1 July 2008 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Celebrating July 4th
Week 130: 24 June 2008 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Homesick Camper Edition
Week 129: 17 June 2008 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: Let's Go to the Movies
Week 128: 10 June 2008 The Common Room at here
Week 127: 3 June 2008 Tami's Blog at here
Week 126: 27 May 2008 Walking Therein at here
Theme: End of the School Year? Or is it?
Week 125: 20 May 2008 Po Moyemu--In My Opinion at here
Week 124: 13 May 2008 Mom Is Teaching at here
Week 123: 6 May 2008 Melissa's Idea Garden at here
Theme: Happy Mother's Day
Week 122: 29 April 2008 HomeschoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: Visions of the Future
Week 121: 22 April 2008 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: The Homeschool Bag Lady
Week 120: 15 April 2008 Nerd Family at here
Week 119: 8 April 2008 A Pondering Heart at here
Theme: Workout
Week 118: 1 April 2008 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: April Fools Day
Week 117: 25 March 2008 PHAT Mommy at here
Week 116 :18 March 2008 Janice Campbell Taking Time For Things That Matter at here
Theme: Oh, the Things That You'll Do!
Week 115: 11 March 2008 At Home with Kris at here
Week 114: 4 March 2008 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: March
Week 113: 26 February 2008 The Daily Planet at here
Week 112: 19 February 2008 The Homeschool Blog Awards at here
Theme: Schoolhouse
Week 111: 12 February 2008 The Voice of Experience at here
Theme: Cabin Fever
Week 110: 5 February 2008 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Acrostic
Week 109: 29 January 2008 Life on the Road at here
Week 108: 22 January 2008 Alasandra at here
Theme: American Lit
Week 107: 15 January 2008 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Martin Luther King
Week 106: 8 January 2008 Red Sea School at here
Theme: Rhythm Method
Week 105: 1 January 2008 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: 2nd Anniversary
Week 104: 26 December 2007 Po Moyemu--In My Opnion at here
Theme: New Year
Week 103: 18 December 2007 The Common Room at here
Theme: Abecedarian (A B C)
Week 102: 11 December 2007 Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths at here
Theme: Many Hats of Homeschool Edition
Week 101: 4 December 2007 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Snowed-In Edition
Week 100: 27 November 2007 Mom is Teaching at here
Theme: Centennial Edition
Week 99: 20 November 2007 HomeSchoolBuzz at here
Theme: Thanksgiving Week 2007
Week 98: 13 November 2007 Nerd Family at here
Theme: I Am Thankful Edition
Week 97: 6 November 2007 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: Homeschool University
Week 96: 30 October 2007 Spritibee at here
Theme: Yearbook Edition
Week 95: 23 October 2007 At Home With Kris at here
Week 94: 16 October 2007 The Thinking Mother at here
Theme: October's Checkpoint
Week 93: 9 October 2007 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: Real Life
Week 92: 2 October 2007 Tami's Blog at here
Theme: Fall
Week 91: 25 September 2007 The Voice of Experience at here
Theme: Fall Country Fair
Week 90: 18 September 2007 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Autism
Week 89: 11 September 2007 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Soccer
Week 88: 4 September 2007 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: We are What We Eat
Week 87: 28 August 2007 The Common Room at here
Theme: The Order they Came to My In-Box Edition
Week 86: 21 August 2007 Homeschoolbuzz.com at here
Week 85: 14 August 2007 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: School Stuff Edition
Week 84: 7 August 2007 Nerd Family at here
Week 83: 31 July 2007 Mom Is Teaching at here
Theme: Doctor Checkup
Week 82: 24 July 2007 Tami's Blog at here
Theme: State Flower Edition
Week 81: 16 July 2007 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: Teacher In Service Edition
Week 80: 10 July 2007 Why homeschool at here
Theme: Top 10 Reasons to Homeschool
Week 79: 5 July 2007 The Homeschool Café at here
Theme: Independence Edition
Week 78: 26 June 2007 HomeschoolHacks at here
Theme: Surgery Edition
Week 77: 19 June 2007 Consent Of The Governed at here
Theme: Homeschool Roadtrip
Week 76: 12 June 2007 Kris' Eclectic Homeschool at here
Week 75: 5 Jun 2007 HomeSchoolBuzz at here
Week 74: 29 May 2007 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Alaska
Week 73: 22 May 2007 The Lilting House at here
Week 72: 15 May 2007 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: In My Backyard
Week 71: 8 May 2007 On the Company Porch at here
Theme: Southern Hospitality
Week 70: 1 May 2007 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Yes, No, Yes! Edition
Week 69: 24 April 2007 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Bees
Week 68: 17 April 2007 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Taxes
Week 67: 10 April 2007 Apollos Academy at here
Theme: Poetry of Homeschooling
Week 66: 3 April 2007 Kris' Eclectic Homeschool at here
Week 65: 27 March 2007 Alasandra at here
Theme: Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution
Week 64: 20 March 2007 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: Celebrate the Journey/Migrating Birds
Week 63: 13 March 2007 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Daylight Savings Time
Week 62: 6 March 2007 Tami's Blog at here
Week 61: 27 February 2007 The Homeschool Café at here
Theme: The Print Edition
Week 60: 20 February 2007 HomeschoolHacks at here
Theme: Presidential Trivia
Week 59: 13 February 2007 Nerd Family at here
Theme: Tour Around the House
Week 58: 6 February 2007 About Homeschooling at here
Theme: Celebrating New Life
Week 57: 30 January 2007 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: Connections
Week 56: 23 January 2007 The Thinking Mother at here
Theme: Where You Are in Your Homeschool Journey
Week 55: 16 January 2007 Dewey's Treehouse at here
Theme: Parent's Meeting Edition
Week 54: 9 January 2007 HomeSchoolBuzz at here
Week 53: 2 January 2007 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Anniversary Edition
Week 52: 26 December 2006 What Did You Do in School Today? at here
Theme: A Year and a Day
Week 51: 19 December 2006 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: One Week Short of a Year
Week 50: 12 December 2006 Apollos Academy at here
Week 49: 5 December 2006 Corn and Oil at here
Week 48: 28 November 2006 The Common Room at here
Theme: Antique 'Study of the Child' Graphics
Week 47: 21 November 2006 Tami at here
Week 46: 14 November 2006 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Autumn Blessings
Week 45: 7 November 2006 SpunkyHomeSchool at here
Theme: Library Edition
Week 44: 31 October 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Halloween
Week 43: 24 October 2006 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Benjamin Franklin
Week 42: 17 October 2006 HomeschoolHacks at here
Theme: The Answer to Everything
Week 41: 10 October 2006 Nerd Family at here
Week 40: 3 October 2006 HomeSchoolBuzz.com at here
Week 39: 26 September 2006 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme:Autumn
Week 38: 19 September 2006 The Thinking Mother at here
Theme: Five W's and One H
Week 37: 12 September 2006 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: Taking Flight
Week 36: 5 September 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Labor Day
Week 35: 29 August 2006 Category Five at here
Theme: Weather Conditions Along the Trail of Tears
Week 34: 22 August 2006 Patricia Ann's Pollywog Creek Porch at here
Week 33: 15 August 2006 The Common Room at here
Week 32: 8 August 2006 Sprittibee at here
Theme: Wild, Wild West
Week 31: 1 August 2006 PHAT Mommy at here
Week 30: 25 July 2006 The Lilting House at here
Week 29: 18 July 2006 Nerd Family at here
Theme: Classical School Organization
Week 28: 11 July 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Ode to Summer
Week 27: 4 July 2006 Tami's Blog at here
Theme: What the 4th of July Means to Me
Week 26: 27 June 2006 The Homeschool Café at here
Theme: Black Coffee and Conversation
Week 25: 20 June 2006 HomeSchoolBuzz.com at here
Theme: For the Birds
Week 24: 13 June 2006 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Dads Are...
Week 23: 6 June 2006 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: Pacific Ocean/Fish
Week 22: 30 May 2006 The Common Room at here
Week 21: 23 May 2006 Principled Discovery at here
Theme: The Map to A Progressive Dinner
Week 20: 16 May 2006 Home Sweet Home at here
Theme: Science, Animals and Astronomy
Week 19: 9 May 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Albert Einstein
Week 18: 2 May 2006 The Thinking Mother at here
Theme: Cornucopia of Wisdom
Week 17: 25 Apr 2006 The Common Room at here
Theme: Better Late than Never
Week 16: 18 Apr 2006 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Practical Solutions for Homeschool Struggles
Week 15: 11 Apr 2006 Tami's Blog at here
Week 14: 4 Apr 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Today in History
Week 13: 28 Mar 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Lucky or Unlucky 13
Week 12: 21 Mar 2006 PHAT Mommy at here
Week 11: 14 Mar 2006 The Common Room at here
Theme: Moving/Rooms of a House
Week 10: 7 Mar 2006 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: Spring
Week 9: 28 Feb 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Greek Mythology
Week 8: 21 Feb 2006 HE&OS at here
Theme: 5W's and 1H
Week 7: 14 Feb 2006 About Homeschool at here
Theme: Valentines Day
Week 6: 7 Feb 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Roadsigns
Week 5: 30 Jan 2006 PalmTree Pundit at here
Theme: Hawaii / Beach
Week 4: 23 Jan 2006 The Common Room at here
Theme: Charlotte Mason
Week 3: 16 Jan 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: A-Z
Week 2: 10 Jan 2006 On the Company Porch at here
Theme: Carnival
Week 1: 2 Jan 2006 Why Homeschool at here
Theme: Carnival
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Request for submissions to the Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3
We now collecting submissions for the third week of the Carnival of Homeschooling. Click here for details on how to send a submission.
Submissions relating to homeschooling might include:
1) Homeschooling on the road
2) Homeschooling and difficult relatives
3) Fun homeschool lessons
4) Homeschooling in different countries
5) Homeschooling difficult children
6) Greatest surprise when homeschooling
7) Homeschooling on the farm
8) A good book about homeschooling
9) Blogging and homeschooling
If you think of another interesting topic about homeschooling, please make a comment.
So put on your thinking cap and craft an entertaining post!
Update I (12 Jan 06):
Please review these thoughts about expectations for carnival participants.
Submissions relating to homeschooling might include:
1) Homeschooling on the road
2) Homeschooling and difficult relatives
3) Fun homeschool lessons
4) Homeschooling in different countries
5) Homeschooling difficult children
6) Greatest surprise when homeschooling
7) Homeschooling on the farm
8) A good book about homeschooling
9) Blogging and homeschooling
If you think of another interesting topic about homeschooling, please make a comment.
So put on your thinking cap and craft an entertaining post!
Update I (12 Jan 06):
Please review these thoughts about expectations for carnival participants.
The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 2 is up
The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 2 is up. Go check it out.
Request for submissions to The Carnival of Unschooling - Month #2
Atypical Homeschool.net has requesting submissions for the second Carnival of Unschooling. Here is the post. Entries are due this Thursday, the 12th, at 9:00 PM (Atlantic time)
Here is the first Carnival of Unschooling.
The Carnival of Unschooling is going to be held on the second Thursday of each month.
Here is the first Carnival of Unschooling.
The Carnival of Unschooling is going to be held on the second Thursday of each month.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Problems with public schools reported by John Stossel
EducationNews.org today links to a column reviewing a recent special report on "20/20" by John Strossel. He had a provocative title: "Are American Kids Stupid?" I missed the report. From the column it looks like it was a good report.
John Strossel covered some of the problems with public education. He mentions how when American students enter public schools they are comparable with students in other countries, but over time they fall behind.
His solution is to have some kind of voucher system. I think vouchers would be a great improvement, but for reasons I discussed before, I don't think they are going to happen any time soon.
Update I:
In reading Joanne Jacobs' blog I realized I hadn't read the Newsmax column closely enough. John Stossel's report is airing this Friday, Friday the 13th. We'll watch it. I wonder if it will be a bad luck Friday for public education.
Update II:
John Stossel has a column with more information about his report. He argues for competition in education.
John Strossel covered some of the problems with public education. He mentions how when American students enter public schools they are comparable with students in other countries, but over time they fall behind.
His solution is to have some kind of voucher system. I think vouchers would be a great improvement, but for reasons I discussed before, I don't think they are going to happen any time soon.
Update I:
In reading Joanne Jacobs' blog I realized I hadn't read the Newsmax column closely enough. John Stossel's report is airing this Friday, Friday the 13th. We'll watch it. I wonder if it will be a bad luck Friday for public education.
Update II:
John Stossel has a column with more information about his report. He argues for competition in education.
The impact of blogging
Also on PalmTree Pundit Anne mentions some good news for bloggers. She quotes from a long article (and good) about blogging:
"If you have a blog that is read by more than a few dozen readers, then you are making a bigger impact than you probably realize. If you have 50 people reading your blog, then you have more people in your ‘classroom’ than most professors at Harvard. If you have 90 readers, then you have more people in your ‘pews’ than most pastors have in their churches every Sunday. And if you have more than 1,000 readers a month, you have a larger ‘circulation’ than most poetry and short story magazines."
I think the comparisions are a bit misleading. The impact on people who quickly skim a blog will be less than the impact from the hours a professor spends with his students. But the general issue of bloggers having a greater impact than they realize is a good point.
"If you have a blog that is read by more than a few dozen readers, then you are making a bigger impact than you probably realize. If you have 50 people reading your blog, then you have more people in your ‘classroom’ than most professors at Harvard. If you have 90 readers, then you have more people in your ‘pews’ than most pastors have in their churches every Sunday. And if you have more than 1,000 readers a month, you have a larger ‘circulation’ than most poetry and short story magazines."
I think the comparisions are a bit misleading. The impact on people who quickly skim a blog will be less than the impact from the hours a professor spends with his students. But the general issue of bloggers having a greater impact than they realize is a good point.
Susan Wise Bauer has a blog
At PalmTree Pundit Anne reports that Susan Wise Bauer has a blog. As we've mentioned before, her book the Well Trained Mind was very influential is shaping our approach to homeschooling.
We use her series of The Story of the World as the spine for our history. I've posted reviews of each volume (one, two, three, and four) on Amazon. We have both the books and the CDs. Our daughters enjoy listening to the CDs, have listened to the CDs for about four hundred hours.
I am looking forward to seeing what Susan posts on her blog.
We use her series of The Story of the World as the spine for our history. I've posted reviews of each volume (one, two, three, and four) on Amazon. We have both the books and the CDs. Our daughters enjoy listening to the CDs, have listened to the CDs for about four hundred hours.
I am looking forward to seeing what Susan posts on her blog.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
The blogroll has been updated
I have always been a bit intimidated by blogrolls which have two or three hundred blogs. I've updated our blogroll. On the left side we have the blogs that I check pretty much every day. The ones at the bottom are ones I check on a couple times a week. This way if someone is just looking for a few blogs, they can use the ones on the left. If someone wants to track down every blog I look at, they can review the list at the bottom.
How to Put Together Your Own Curriculum
A newbie, Sarah, posted a question asking how to put together your own curriculum. So here's my meandering answer. [Anyone else feel free to jump in with your two cents worth.]
It happens naturally. You buy something, it doesn't work, so you try something else. I went through three spelling programs before I found one I liked. About three years after I started looking around and trying different programs, I have a curriculum I am happy with. At that point, I tried very hard not to look at other curriculum options, because if it's not broken, don't fix it. If there is something better out there, I really don't want to know about at this point. ;)
Buy it on EBay (used) and if it doesn't work, sell it. Each child and family are different. What works well for one, doesn't work for another. If it isn't working for you, don't feel obligated to use it just because you spent money on it. I have found that the more money I spent, the less likely it was going to work for my family.
Attend a homeschool park day. I started attending 2 different homeschool park day groups a couple years before my kids were old enough to go to school. They would have curriculum fairs. For example, on a selected day, each family would bring what ever they were using for math. It was easy to look and see if there was a program I liked before actually buying it. Also, sometimes people at park day would sell or give away books when there kids were no longer using them.
Leave yourself open to inspiration. If you are a praying person, then pray about it. While it is often helpful to get input from other people, it helps to talk with the Someone who loves your child more than you do and knows him better. Also, other people are not in a position to receive inspiration for your family.
Keep in mind what is really important. Ask your self if what you are doing is helping this particular child reach his potential. It is easy to get sucked along with the crowd, doing what is trendy or what looks flashy instead of what matters in the long run.
A good book to read is Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind. Here's a recent post on the topic.
Because your child is still a baby, wait a few years, there is always something new and free coming out on the internet.
It happens naturally. You buy something, it doesn't work, so you try something else. I went through three spelling programs before I found one I liked. About three years after I started looking around and trying different programs, I have a curriculum I am happy with. At that point, I tried very hard not to look at other curriculum options, because if it's not broken, don't fix it. If there is something better out there, I really don't want to know about at this point. ;)
Buy it on EBay (used) and if it doesn't work, sell it. Each child and family are different. What works well for one, doesn't work for another. If it isn't working for you, don't feel obligated to use it just because you spent money on it. I have found that the more money I spent, the less likely it was going to work for my family.
Attend a homeschool park day. I started attending 2 different homeschool park day groups a couple years before my kids were old enough to go to school. They would have curriculum fairs. For example, on a selected day, each family would bring what ever they were using for math. It was easy to look and see if there was a program I liked before actually buying it. Also, sometimes people at park day would sell or give away books when there kids were no longer using them.
Leave yourself open to inspiration. If you are a praying person, then pray about it. While it is often helpful to get input from other people, it helps to talk with the Someone who loves your child more than you do and knows him better. Also, other people are not in a position to receive inspiration for your family.
Keep in mind what is really important. Ask your self if what you are doing is helping this particular child reach his potential. It is easy to get sucked along with the crowd, doing what is trendy or what looks flashy instead of what matters in the long run.
A good book to read is Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind. Here's a recent post on the topic.
Because your child is still a baby, wait a few years, there is always something new and free coming out on the internet.
Maybe light will improve the NEA
This week I've seen The National Education Association (NEA) talked about a lot on various blogs. The government has some new rules that force the NEA to disclose, in detail, where the money goes. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that the NEA gives most of its political funds, over $65 million, to liberal causes. This was a fun line: "...last year the NEA gave $45,000 to the Economic Policy Institute, which regularly issues reports that claim education is underfunded and teachers are underpaid." Say what we want to hear, and we'll give you money.
In an The Education Wonks post the point is made that union members have no direct influence into the national leadership. Ed Wonks also points to a number of postings by Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency. Here Mike reports that a third of the NEA's $341 million dollar budget in the last fiscal year was spent on salaries for the 600 employees of the NEA. Here Mike has a sample of where the NEA made donations. And here Mike dissects the NEA's response to the WSJ article.
For many years there have been complaints about the NEA. There hasn't been much improvement, but maybe now that the members know exactly where the money is going, there will be increased focus on change. It won't come quickly, it may not even come, but with the full disclosure there is a better chance of cleaning house.
In an The Education Wonks post the point is made that union members have no direct influence into the national leadership. Ed Wonks also points to a number of postings by Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency. Here Mike reports that a third of the NEA's $341 million dollar budget in the last fiscal year was spent on salaries for the 600 employees of the NEA. Here Mike has a sample of where the NEA made donations. And here Mike dissects the NEA's response to the WSJ article.
For many years there have been complaints about the NEA. There hasn't been much improvement, but maybe now that the members know exactly where the money is going, there will be increased focus on change. It won't come quickly, it may not even come, but with the full disclosure there is a better chance of cleaning house.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Reminder - Submissions to the second Carnival of Homeschooling are due 9 January
Submissions for the second Carnival of Homeschooling are due this Monday, the 9th of January. They should be sent to publisher@thehomeschoolmagazine.com before 6:00 PM PST. The carnival will be hosted at On the Company Porch. Spread the word.
Links to interesting postings - 6 Jan 06
Chris of O'DonnellWeb in his Links for 2006-01-06 has a link to a good (and funny) post on Wings and Prayers about things people don't tell you when you start to homeschool.
Kimberly of Number 2 Pencil talks about a couple interesting topics. She writes about how it is easy for today's schoolkids to be confused by conflicting messages. She found a post which points out that many situations it is kinder in the long run to give a student an F and have take a class or grade again, then to just allow him to keep on going.
District Administration has a reference to a Washington Post article on how the State of Maryland is going to try and have more parent involvement. I'm a bit skeptical. My guess is the parents will be able to do things like pick the colors of buildings, and other superficial things, but they will not be allowed to push for fundamental changes like vouchers. The parents will feel like they are engaged, but nothing will really change.
Kimberly of Number 2 Pencil talks about a couple interesting topics. She writes about how it is easy for today's schoolkids to be confused by conflicting messages. She found a post which points out that many situations it is kinder in the long run to give a student an F and have take a class or grade again, then to just allow him to keep on going.
District Administration has a reference to a Washington Post article on how the State of Maryland is going to try and have more parent involvement. I'm a bit skeptical. My guess is the parents will be able to do things like pick the colors of buildings, and other superficial things, but they will not be allowed to push for fundamental changes like vouchers. The parents will feel like they are engaged, but nothing will really change.
Selections from Carnival of Education - week 48
The Carnival of Education was published two days ago. I've been distracted by promoting the Carnival of Homeschooling, so I'm only now getting around to mentioning The Carnival of Education. It is a nice selection of posts. The following are the ones I found especially interesting.
Scott Elliot of Get on the Bus talks about how music teachers in Florida are pushing for standardize testing for music. Some music teachers in Florida feel their jobs will be more secure if there is a test for music. This is another case where politics of education is distracting people from educating the children.
ReformK12 reviews some of the problems with teacher certificates. Homeschoolers are often hit with not being "qualified" to teach. ReformK12 points out that certificates are artificial paper barriers and little correlation to teacher effectiveness. There are a number of good points in this post.
Rhymes With Right talks about another situation of the politics involved in education. Louisiana Governor Blanco wants to spent a half a million dollars on fixing up her office, instead of spending the money on something more important, like education.
Scott Elliot of Get on the Bus talks about how music teachers in Florida are pushing for standardize testing for music. Some music teachers in Florida feel their jobs will be more secure if there is a test for music. This is another case where politics of education is distracting people from educating the children.
ReformK12 reviews some of the problems with teacher certificates. Homeschoolers are often hit with not being "qualified" to teach. ReformK12 points out that certificates are artificial paper barriers and little correlation to teacher effectiveness. There are a number of good points in this post.
Rhymes With Right talks about another situation of the politics involved in education. Louisiana Governor Blanco wants to spent a half a million dollars on fixing up her office, instead of spending the money on something more important, like education.
Good Homeschool Day
The last few days have been what I call "good homeschool days." We did a certain amount of assigned work (math, grammar, etc.). But even more important than that, we played some learning games and we talked about important things. For example, my 5 year old daughter gave me a summary of her philosophy of life. She told me that, "I don't care about getting the best stuff and if I die, I die. I'm just going to follow Jesus." She also explained that when she becomes a teenager she would make sure to be "mature and not snotty." I was happy to hear that.
An important part of our day is prayer and scripture study. Today, the girls read out loud to me while I made breakfast. I ask them questions every few verses and we talk about it. We talked about why previously righteous people start making bad choices and how quickly bad can lead to worse. We do homeschool for academic reasons, but our main concern is the moral development of our children. I'm a bit reluctant to mention such details of our life, but it is who we are. Not talking about it seems unnatural, but talking about sounds a bit ostentatious. I guess blogging is pretty ostentatious anyway. :-)
While taking down the Christmas tree, my 11 year old daughter asked if her dad had ever been my "boyfriend" or had he always been a "fiancé." That took some thought. We decided to get married, before we dated. However, there was that 3 to 6 month period when we were planning on getting married but were not officially engaged. [I must add in that my grandmother didn't buy that for a minute. During this "not officially engaged" period, she asked me if we were engaged. I said no. She asked if we were seeing other people, I said no. She replied, "So you're engaged?"] Anyway, we talked about the dangers and pointlessness of boyfriends.
The discussion then turned to food. Recently, my 5 year old is always hungry. I commented that I thought she must be in a growth spurt. This lead to a discussion about healthy eating habits. Having struggled with an eating disorder in my teens, I'm so happy my kids’ thinking about food is emotionally healthy. Staying out of school and not watching commercial television has helped them develop a healthier lifestyle. Also, the homeschool park day we attend has a lot of "granola head" types. I am in awe of how healthy some of these people eat.
I did a lot of healthly cooking from scratch the last few days. Yesterday, we juiced some oranges from our tree and froze them in ice cube trays. Today I made yogurt. Then, I put a tray of the frozen juice cubes, 1/2 a frozen banana, a couple of slices of frozen peach, 2 cups of fresh yogurt, a little stevia (natural sweetener) and 2 tablespoons of sugar into a blender. It tasted wonderful. No fat. Organic fruit from my backyard. Yogurt made at home without preservatives. [Yea, yea, I know it had a lot of carbs in it, but it was much healthier than some of the alternatives.]
Anyway, I like to play Scrabble on my palm pilot. I recently download a Scrabble game for our PC. The 11 year old and 9 year old have started to play. I might add these kids are "challenged spellers." I'm always happy when I can get them to spend time doing something they need to work on and also have fun. This evening we played a Professor Noggin's game called Pets. It is a fun way to learn facts about animals. My nine year surprised me when she knew the answer about what breed of dog was first bred by Tibetan Monks as a guard dog. [By the way, it was the Lhasa Apso.] She said that she remembered it from a history lesson we had last May.
We've also added a math game to our daily routine. I put a large circle on the board with the numbers like a clock around the edges. I then put a post-it with something like 7 x __. The child then says the math facts for each number around the circle. For example, 7 x 1 =7, 7 x 2= 14, 7x3=21 etc. For the 5 year old, we do simple addition (1+___). We also did subtraction and negative numbers. The kids like it and it doesn't take much time. Also, they hear each other recite the math facts.
Maybe I really am an unschooler and just don't know it.
Well, it is midnight and my husband thinks we should go to bed.
An important part of our day is prayer and scripture study. Today, the girls read out loud to me while I made breakfast. I ask them questions every few verses and we talk about it. We talked about why previously righteous people start making bad choices and how quickly bad can lead to worse. We do homeschool for academic reasons, but our main concern is the moral development of our children. I'm a bit reluctant to mention such details of our life, but it is who we are. Not talking about it seems unnatural, but talking about sounds a bit ostentatious. I guess blogging is pretty ostentatious anyway. :-)
While taking down the Christmas tree, my 11 year old daughter asked if her dad had ever been my "boyfriend" or had he always been a "fiancé." That took some thought. We decided to get married, before we dated. However, there was that 3 to 6 month period when we were planning on getting married but were not officially engaged. [I must add in that my grandmother didn't buy that for a minute. During this "not officially engaged" period, she asked me if we were engaged. I said no. She asked if we were seeing other people, I said no. She replied, "So you're engaged?"] Anyway, we talked about the dangers and pointlessness of boyfriends.
The discussion then turned to food. Recently, my 5 year old is always hungry. I commented that I thought she must be in a growth spurt. This lead to a discussion about healthy eating habits. Having struggled with an eating disorder in my teens, I'm so happy my kids’ thinking about food is emotionally healthy. Staying out of school and not watching commercial television has helped them develop a healthier lifestyle. Also, the homeschool park day we attend has a lot of "granola head" types. I am in awe of how healthy some of these people eat.
I did a lot of healthly cooking from scratch the last few days. Yesterday, we juiced some oranges from our tree and froze them in ice cube trays. Today I made yogurt. Then, I put a tray of the frozen juice cubes, 1/2 a frozen banana, a couple of slices of frozen peach, 2 cups of fresh yogurt, a little stevia (natural sweetener) and 2 tablespoons of sugar into a blender. It tasted wonderful. No fat. Organic fruit from my backyard. Yogurt made at home without preservatives. [Yea, yea, I know it had a lot of carbs in it, but it was much healthier than some of the alternatives.]
Anyway, I like to play Scrabble on my palm pilot. I recently download a Scrabble game for our PC. The 11 year old and 9 year old have started to play. I might add these kids are "challenged spellers." I'm always happy when I can get them to spend time doing something they need to work on and also have fun. This evening we played a Professor Noggin's game called Pets. It is a fun way to learn facts about animals. My nine year surprised me when she knew the answer about what breed of dog was first bred by Tibetan Monks as a guard dog. [By the way, it was the Lhasa Apso.] She said that she remembered it from a history lesson we had last May.
We've also added a math game to our daily routine. I put a large circle on the board with the numbers like a clock around the edges. I then put a post-it with something like 7 x __. The child then says the math facts for each number around the circle. For example, 7 x 1 =7, 7 x 2= 14, 7x3=21 etc. For the 5 year old, we do simple addition (1+___). We also did subtraction and negative numbers. The kids like it and it doesn't take much time. Also, they hear each other recite the math facts.
Maybe I really am an unschooler and just don't know it.
Well, it is midnight and my husband thinks we should go to bed.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Looking for suggestions on how to improve traffic
After all this effort to build the first Carnival of Homeschooling I've been pondering what are the various ways to improve the traffice to a blog. I've thought of the following three:
1) Good writing is a key. By writing readable and interesting posts, people are more likely to come back.
2) Leaving comments on other blogs. If someone enjoys a comment, they may go to the blog of the commentor to read more.
3) Participate in a carnival. Generates some additional exposure.
4) Run a carnival. Can generate a lot of traffic during the carnival. Hopefully some will return.
I am curious, have you found other ways to increase the traffice to your blog?
Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.
Update I
Suggestions from comments:
5) Join a blog ring
6) Put URL in signature file
7) Blogroll other bloggers
8) Write a post linking to a good article, and leave a trackback, if possible
Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.
1) Good writing is a key. By writing readable and interesting posts, people are more likely to come back.
2) Leaving comments on other blogs. If someone enjoys a comment, they may go to the blog of the commentor to read more.
3) Participate in a carnival. Generates some additional exposure.
4) Run a carnival. Can generate a lot of traffic during the carnival. Hopefully some will return.
I am curious, have you found other ways to increase the traffice to your blog?
Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.
Update I
Suggestions from comments:
5) Join a blog ring
6) Put URL in signature file
7) Blogroll other bloggers
8) Write a post linking to a good article, and leave a trackback, if possible
Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.
Hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling
The following are the things I did in hosting the first Carnival of Homeschooling. I've included the steps I think would be helpful to do when creating future Carnivals of Homeschooling. As always I invite constructive feedback.
The Preparation:
The first thing I did was to get the request out asking for submissions. I sent emails to about ten bloggers asking them to mention the carnival, and giving them a link to the main request on our blog.
Next I created a schedule of things I wanted to do, and when I wanted to do them. I kept adding ideas to the schedule over the next week. It helped to have a timeline of what I wanted to happen, and when.
I specifically invited about thirty bloggers to submit a post to the carnival. A few were authors, and one was a columnist. Over half of them responded. Many of them submitted a post, the rest who responded said thanks and they would try to submit something to a future carnival.
One of the most important things I did was to read 10,000 Birds - Hosting a Blog. I read it twice to my self, and then read most of it out loud to my wife, as she was making the last quilt for our daughters for Christmas . It is a great summary of how to put on a carnival. If you are thinking about hosting a carnival, I can't stress enough how important it is to read it.
My wife and I brainstormed for a couple hours on the theme for the carnival. She came up with the idea of using the theme of a carnival to group the various postings. Once we decided on the carnival theme, we reviewed each post and figured out a carnival attraction it would fit with.
The day of the carnival:
In a number of places I've read that with many carnivals most submissions come in near the end. Maybe it was all the pleading we did in the initial request, but most of the submissions came in before Monday. Only a couple came in Monday afternoon. So at 6:00 PM PST my wife and I started crafting the carnival. We took a break, had dinner, and went back to working on it. By 10:00 PM we decided it was done. We then posted it to our blog.
Next I sent emails to all those who had submitted a post. I asked them to review the carnival and let me know if anything needed to be changed. The next day I heard back and there were three changes that needed to be made.
Now it was time to promote the carnival:
At this point I was only half way done. The Carnival of Homeschooling was up, but now it was time to get the word out. I sent 60 emails to people who I thought were likely candidates for posting about the carnival. As reported here we have gotten a lot of traffic over the last three days. We were lucky enough to get mentioned by Instapundit and Attack of the killer robots - Clicked.
By using Technorati and The Truth Laid Bear (TTLB) I was able to find bloggers who mentioned the carnival. Here Technorati shows who has conncted to our blog. By reviewing it a couple times a day I noticed the new links. I was able to find new links in a similar manner by using this link from the TTLB. Michael Leboeuf in The Greatest Management Principle in the World says "The things that get rewarded, get done." With this in mind I thanked every blogger I could find who mentioned the Carnival of Homeschooling, to let them know I appreciated them taking the time to mention it. If we can keep this tradition I think the Carnival of Homeschooling with get more publicity.
I found it helpful to be able to check Site Meter every couple hours. If you don't have a hit counter, you may want to add one to your blog. I think it is worthwhile to know how many visits you are getting, and where they are coming from.
The following is a summary/check list of the things I recommend for creating a carnival:
Preparation:
1) Read the essay on how to host a carnival
2) Build a schedule
3) Get the word out about the carnival, request people send submissions
4) Ask specific bloggers to submit posts, hopefully a couple famous people
5) Read, or reread, 10,000 Birds - Hosting a Blog.
6) Brainstorm on a theme for the carnival
The day of the carnival:
1) Create the carnival, based on the theme
2) Have the carnival participants review the post
Promoting the carnival:
1) Ask the submitters to promote the carnival
2) Ask other bloggers to advertise the carnival
3) Thank people who mention the carnival
If you have any questions, please ask.
If you have any suggestions, please comment. In the spirit of The Wisdom of Crowds I think as a group we can find ways to make the Carnival of Homeschooling one of the best carnivals around.
The Preparation:
The first thing I did was to get the request out asking for submissions. I sent emails to about ten bloggers asking them to mention the carnival, and giving them a link to the main request on our blog.
Next I created a schedule of things I wanted to do, and when I wanted to do them. I kept adding ideas to the schedule over the next week. It helped to have a timeline of what I wanted to happen, and when.
I specifically invited about thirty bloggers to submit a post to the carnival. A few were authors, and one was a columnist. Over half of them responded. Many of them submitted a post, the rest who responded said thanks and they would try to submit something to a future carnival.
One of the most important things I did was to read 10,000 Birds - Hosting a Blog. I read it twice to my self, and then read most of it out loud to my wife, as she was making the last quilt for our daughters for Christmas . It is a great summary of how to put on a carnival. If you are thinking about hosting a carnival, I can't stress enough how important it is to read it.
My wife and I brainstormed for a couple hours on the theme for the carnival. She came up with the idea of using the theme of a carnival to group the various postings. Once we decided on the carnival theme, we reviewed each post and figured out a carnival attraction it would fit with.
The day of the carnival:
In a number of places I've read that with many carnivals most submissions come in near the end. Maybe it was all the pleading we did in the initial request, but most of the submissions came in before Monday. Only a couple came in Monday afternoon. So at 6:00 PM PST my wife and I started crafting the carnival. We took a break, had dinner, and went back to working on it. By 10:00 PM we decided it was done. We then posted it to our blog.
Next I sent emails to all those who had submitted a post. I asked them to review the carnival and let me know if anything needed to be changed. The next day I heard back and there were three changes that needed to be made.
Now it was time to promote the carnival:
At this point I was only half way done. The Carnival of Homeschooling was up, but now it was time to get the word out. I sent 60 emails to people who I thought were likely candidates for posting about the carnival. As reported here we have gotten a lot of traffic over the last three days. We were lucky enough to get mentioned by Instapundit and Attack of the killer robots - Clicked.
By using Technorati and The Truth Laid Bear (TTLB) I was able to find bloggers who mentioned the carnival. Here Technorati shows who has conncted to our blog. By reviewing it a couple times a day I noticed the new links. I was able to find new links in a similar manner by using this link from the TTLB. Michael Leboeuf in The Greatest Management Principle in the World says "The things that get rewarded, get done." With this in mind I thanked every blogger I could find who mentioned the Carnival of Homeschooling, to let them know I appreciated them taking the time to mention it. If we can keep this tradition I think the Carnival of Homeschooling with get more publicity.
I found it helpful to be able to check Site Meter every couple hours. If you don't have a hit counter, you may want to add one to your blog. I think it is worthwhile to know how many visits you are getting, and where they are coming from.
The following is a summary/check list of the things I recommend for creating a carnival:
Preparation:
1) Read the essay on how to host a carnival
2) Build a schedule
3) Get the word out about the carnival, request people send submissions
4) Ask specific bloggers to submit posts, hopefully a couple famous people
5) Read, or reread, 10,000 Birds - Hosting a Blog.
6) Brainstorm on a theme for the carnival
The day of the carnival:
1) Create the carnival, based on the theme
2) Have the carnival participants review the post
Promoting the carnival:
1) Ask the submitters to promote the carnival
2) Ask other bloggers to advertise the carnival
3) Thank people who mention the carnival
If you have any questions, please ask.
If you have any suggestions, please comment. In the spirit of The Wisdom of Crowds I think as a group we can find ways to make the Carnival of Homeschooling one of the best carnivals around.
The traffic report
Over the last three days the first Carnival of Homeschooling has gotten about 4200 visits. The carnival post went up Monday night about 10:30 PM. I sent out emails to those who were in the carnival asking them to double check the carnival for correctness. Through the night our blog got between twenty to thirty hits every hour. By Tuesday morning three submitters reported some slight changes were needed.
About 9:00 AM Tuesday morning I started sending out emails to various bloggers who I thought might be willing to mention the first Carnival of Homeschooling. All total there were about sixty people I contacted asking them to consider posting on their blog a reference to the carnival. Slowly through the morning Site Meter reported a steady climb in the number of visits. We started getting 50 visits an hour, then 75, and then a hundred. We were lucky enough to get mentioned by Glen Reynolds on Instapundit at 5:13 PM (PST) and the number of hits sky rocketed to 200 an hour with a peak of 250 in one hour. During Tuesday we got just over 1800 visits.
During the night and through the early morning the visits per hour fell to the 25 to 50 range. Around 7:00 AM the second half of the Instapundit wave came through. It was a little bit lower, with a peak of 150 hits per hour. It dropped off by 1:00 PM. The rest of the day was fairly light, slowly dropping off as the day wore on. For Wednesday we got just over 1600 visits.
Thursday has been a slower day. The morning was very slow until around 9:00 AM when we got hit with another wave, this time from Attack of the killer robots - Clicked! The peak was a bit lower than Instapundit, reaching only to about 150 per hour. It took about ten hours before the wave petered out.
In the three days of the Carnival of Homeschooling being up over 4200 visitors have come to look at the carnival. Since our normal traffic is in the 30 to 50 visits a day, almost all of this is due to the carnival. About half of the 4200 visitors are due to Instapundit. About a quarter are due to Attack of the killer robots - Clicked! The rest came from roughly 40 blogs.
In looking at the Site Meter data for the blogs in the Carnival of Homeschooling, it appears that most submitters got around an extra 100 hits so far. In the seven blogs I check it appeared that pretty much everyone got about an extra 50 hits on Tuesday and another 40 hits on Wednesday. This was hard to tell with blogs that already had a large amount of traffic. For blogs which Site Meter showed a low amount of traffic in December, I estimated that most of the increase came from the carnival.
The traffic now is in the 30 to 50 hits an hour range.
It has been a lot of fun. I am looking forward to seeing how other bloggers host the Carnival of Homeschooling.
About 9:00 AM Tuesday morning I started sending out emails to various bloggers who I thought might be willing to mention the first Carnival of Homeschooling. All total there were about sixty people I contacted asking them to consider posting on their blog a reference to the carnival. Slowly through the morning Site Meter reported a steady climb in the number of visits. We started getting 50 visits an hour, then 75, and then a hundred. We were lucky enough to get mentioned by Glen Reynolds on Instapundit at 5:13 PM (PST) and the number of hits sky rocketed to 200 an hour with a peak of 250 in one hour. During Tuesday we got just over 1800 visits.
During the night and through the early morning the visits per hour fell to the 25 to 50 range. Around 7:00 AM the second half of the Instapundit wave came through. It was a little bit lower, with a peak of 150 hits per hour. It dropped off by 1:00 PM. The rest of the day was fairly light, slowly dropping off as the day wore on. For Wednesday we got just over 1600 visits.
Thursday has been a slower day. The morning was very slow until around 9:00 AM when we got hit with another wave, this time from Attack of the killer robots - Clicked! The peak was a bit lower than Instapundit, reaching only to about 150 per hour. It took about ten hours before the wave petered out.
In the three days of the Carnival of Homeschooling being up over 4200 visitors have come to look at the carnival. Since our normal traffic is in the 30 to 50 visits a day, almost all of this is due to the carnival. About half of the 4200 visitors are due to Instapundit. About a quarter are due to Attack of the killer robots - Clicked! The rest came from roughly 40 blogs.
In looking at the Site Meter data for the blogs in the Carnival of Homeschooling, it appears that most submitters got around an extra 100 hits so far. In the seven blogs I check it appeared that pretty much everyone got about an extra 50 hits on Tuesday and another 40 hits on Wednesday. This was hard to tell with blogs that already had a large amount of traffic. For blogs which Site Meter showed a low amount of traffic in December, I estimated that most of the increase came from the carnival.
The traffic now is in the 30 to 50 hits an hour range.
It has been a lot of fun. I am looking forward to seeing how other bloggers host the Carnival of Homeschooling.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Carnival of the Newbies
Spunky of SpunkHomeSchool is putting together a Carnival of the Newbies. If you are new to blogging, go check it out.
Links to interesting postings - 4 Jan 06
Michael Lach of Teach and Learn has a fun post about using chemical symbols to spell words. Michael noticed a mention on SlashDot about Mark Nandor, a chemistry teacher at The Wellington School, who published a list of English words that can be spelled just using chemical symbols. I was surprised that there were so many words, a total of 26,812!!!
DistrictAdministrationDaily found an article in USA Today about a program in Southern California at public schools which is pushing to give each student an Apple iBook G4 laptop. The wrinkle is this school district is asking the parents to pay $1500 for the laptops. It sounds like a sneaky way to tax the parents a second time.
DistrictAdministrationDaily found an article in USA Today about a program in Southern California at public schools which is pushing to give each student an Apple iBook G4 laptop. The wrinkle is this school district is asking the parents to pay $1500 for the laptops. It sounds like a sneaky way to tax the parents a second time.
Degrees of Separation
This is from another site. Read below and play along if you feel like it.
**********************************
There is a game known as ‘6 Degrees of Separation’ (from Kevin Bacon - no relation to the best of my knowledge). The way the game works is to try to connect 2 famous people via 6 associations. We have been watching the blogsphere for the last year or so and believe that nearly all blogging homeschoolers will hear about important news items, etc. within 3 days of the first mention in a HS blog.
This experiment will work as follows:
1- If this is the first blog in which you have seen this post and you would like to contribute to the experiment, copy the entire post and post it in your blog.
2- Modify the post to add a link to your blog which displays the appropriate degree you are from the original in the following list:
{original, first degree, second degree, third degree, fourth degree, fifth degree, sixth degree}
That way, visitors can directly see the chain of communication that ended with this post in your blog.
3- Leave a comment in the blog where you first viewed this post indicating that your blog is among the next degree.
4- If you are a homeschooler or are interested in/considering homeschooling and either do not have a blog, would prefer not to blog this or the sixth degree is already taken, you can still contribute to this experiment by leaving a comment in the blog where you first read it.
5- After 3 days report back how many people read, commented and blogged based on your post to the blog where you first read this. (They only report this blog would receive is from the degree below and this blog will report the total from below and comments here to the degree above.) To illustrate how this would work let’s suppose that in this imaginary example every blog has approximately the same number of readers and that each blog entry for each degree ends up with exactly the same number of comments.
Let’s say that each blog would receive 2 comments where the experiment was posted and 2 comments from non-bloggers. This would produce the following:
original: 2 + 2 = 4
first: ( 2 * 2 ) + 2 = 6
second: ( 2 * 4 ) + 2 = 10
third: ( 2 * 8 ) + 2 = 18
fourth: ( 2 * 16 ) + 2 = 34
fifth: ( 2 * 32 ) + 2 = 66
sixth: ( 2 * 64 ) + 2 = 130
That totals 268. If you change the number of experiment posts to 3, the result is ( 5 + 11 + 29 + 83 + 245 + 731 + 2189 = ) 3293. Consider what the number would be when we average about 60 readers a day. (Welcome to math 101) Let’s allow a week for the reporting to roll back through the earlier degrees.
**********************************
There is a game known as ‘6 Degrees of Separation’ (from Kevin Bacon - no relation to the best of my knowledge). The way the game works is to try to connect 2 famous people via 6 associations. We have been watching the blogsphere for the last year or so and believe that nearly all blogging homeschoolers will hear about important news items, etc. within 3 days of the first mention in a HS blog.
This experiment will work as follows:
1- If this is the first blog in which you have seen this post and you would like to contribute to the experiment, copy the entire post and post it in your blog.
2- Modify the post to add a link to your blog which displays the appropriate degree you are from the original in the following list:
{original, first degree, second degree, third degree, fourth degree, fifth degree, sixth degree}
That way, visitors can directly see the chain of communication that ended with this post in your blog.
3- Leave a comment in the blog where you first viewed this post indicating that your blog is among the next degree.
4- If you are a homeschooler or are interested in/considering homeschooling and either do not have a blog, would prefer not to blog this or the sixth degree is already taken, you can still contribute to this experiment by leaving a comment in the blog where you first read it.
5- After 3 days report back how many people read, commented and blogged based on your post to the blog where you first read this. (They only report this blog would receive is from the degree below and this blog will report the total from below and comments here to the degree above.) To illustrate how this would work let’s suppose that in this imaginary example every blog has approximately the same number of readers and that each blog entry for each degree ends up with exactly the same number of comments.
Let’s say that each blog would receive 2 comments where the experiment was posted and 2 comments from non-bloggers. This would produce the following:
original: 2 + 2 = 4
first: ( 2 * 2 ) + 2 = 6
second: ( 2 * 4 ) + 2 = 10
third: ( 2 * 8 ) + 2 = 18
fourth: ( 2 * 16 ) + 2 = 34
fifth: ( 2 * 32 ) + 2 = 66
sixth: ( 2 * 64 ) + 2 = 130
That totals 268. If you change the number of experiment posts to 3, the result is ( 5 + 11 + 29 + 83 + 245 + 731 + 2189 = ) 3293. Consider what the number would be when we average about 60 readers a day. (Welcome to math 101) Let’s allow a week for the reporting to roll back through the earlier degrees.
Monday, January 02, 2006
The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 1
Information Booth
The gates open to the first Carnival of Homeschooling. As guests excitedly move into the park, several stop at the Information Booth with questions. David from Australia at Bruggie Tales answers, Why people homeschool? Christina of Routon Family Homeschool reports on the status of homeschooling in the United States. Rivendell, WIS has a history of homeschooling.
Joining the Parade
Every year more people join the homeschooling parade. Chris of O'Donnell Web has some advice for fathers who are homeschooling for the first time. Laurie Bluedorn (who with her husband wrote Ancient history from primary sources) of Trivium Pursuit offers guidance for parents faced with adult peer pressure. Jane of IndianaJane's Homeschool Notebook shares her experience as a new homeschooler. At The Imperfect Homeschooler Barbara Frank (who wrote Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers) responds to a friends comment that "some homeschoolers raise their daughters to be homemakers and their sons to be senators."
Performers
At the first booth, we see the Juggler. Melissa Wiley (author of The Martha Years books and The Charlotte Years) at Here in the Bonny Glen explains why homeschooling actually makes her challenges easier and more fun to juggle. At the next booth, we have Games of Chance. Patricia of Patricia Ann's Pollywog Creek Porch describes an amazing, spontaneous homeschool moment. The following booth is The Fortune Teller. Mental Multivitamin makes predictions about the future of learning. In our last booth, the Splash Zone, Amber of Trying is Bravery tells about a family outing, opps, I mean field trip.
Next, we wander in to see the Lion Tamers, those brave homeschoolers who take on the question of socialization. Robert Lindsey of Biblical Parenting muses about the complaint of homeschool children not being socialized properly. Kim at Life in a Shoe explores myths about socialization. Headmistress in The Common Room provides some questions to ask about socialization.
Food Court
Before exploring more of the carnival, let's stop at The Food Court. Janine Cate at Why Homeschool eagerly shares her experience as a customer at the Cate Cafe. Joanne, The Happy Homeschooler, explains the Bean Dip Strategy for dealing with hostility towards homeschooling.
Fun House
Now, on to the Fun House. Allison Tannery at Geronimo! shares some of the joys of homeschooling. Tami covers her typical homeschool day. Shana Hickamn (Publisher of Live Free Learn Free) at Live Free Learn Free contributes an Unschool-at-Home Day. Mary Jo Tate on Eclectic Bibliophile points out the danger of thinking that learning only happens at a specific place and time.
Traveling Preachers
At our carnival, traveling preachers share their faith and inspiration with the crowd. Anne of Palmtree Pundit has found a theme for the new year, "for all endurance and patience with joy." Kim Anderson at Mother-Lode reveals a pattern for teaching and training children. Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience asks and answers, How would Jesus Homeschool? Spunky of SpunkyHomeSchool ponders her role in the Christian Homeschooling Movement. Cindy Downes lists 16 mistakes homeschool mom's make.
Bumper Cars
Now on to the bumper cars. There's some contention or conflict in any important issue. Columnist Doug Powers playfully points out how homeschooling could save the environment. Michael Hardt of Family School explains that homeschooling is a teacher's nightmare or a teacher's dream. Daniel Macintyre of Key Words has a response to the NEA's article, Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs.
Lost and Found
Before leaving our Carnival of Homeschooling, don't forget to stop at the Lost and Found. Joanne at A Day in Our Lives shares the benefits of Homeschooling when Adopting an Older Child.
-------------------
Thank you for visiting the first Carnival of Homeschooling. We hope you have enjoyed it. Next week the carnival will be held On the Company Porch. If you are intertested in submitting a post, click here.
If you have enjoyed the first Carnival of Homeschooling, please spread the word. If you have some constructive suggestions on how to improve this carnival, please leave a comment.
For those interested, the Carnival of Education will be coming out on Wednesday.
This carnival is registered at TTLB's Uber Carnival.
And lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who has helped out. In trying to get this started over the Christmas Holidays I was expecting a slow start. But dozens of people spread the word, many bloggers I've never heard of found out about the Carnival of Homeschooling, and posted on their blog encouraging people to submit postings. Thank you.
The gates open to the first Carnival of Homeschooling. As guests excitedly move into the park, several stop at the Information Booth with questions. David from Australia at Bruggie Tales answers, Why people homeschool? Christina of Routon Family Homeschool reports on the status of homeschooling in the United States. Rivendell, WIS has a history of homeschooling.
Joining the Parade
Every year more people join the homeschooling parade. Chris of O'Donnell Web has some advice for fathers who are homeschooling for the first time. Laurie Bluedorn (who with her husband wrote Ancient history from primary sources) of Trivium Pursuit offers guidance for parents faced with adult peer pressure. Jane of IndianaJane's Homeschool Notebook shares her experience as a new homeschooler. At The Imperfect Homeschooler Barbara Frank (who wrote Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers) responds to a friends comment that "some homeschoolers raise their daughters to be homemakers and their sons to be senators."
Performers
At the first booth, we see the Juggler. Melissa Wiley (author of The Martha Years books and The Charlotte Years) at Here in the Bonny Glen explains why homeschooling actually makes her challenges easier and more fun to juggle. At the next booth, we have Games of Chance. Patricia of Patricia Ann's Pollywog Creek Porch describes an amazing, spontaneous homeschool moment. The following booth is The Fortune Teller. Mental Multivitamin makes predictions about the future of learning. In our last booth, the Splash Zone, Amber of Trying is Bravery tells about a family outing, opps, I mean field trip.
Next, we wander in to see the Lion Tamers, those brave homeschoolers who take on the question of socialization. Robert Lindsey of Biblical Parenting muses about the complaint of homeschool children not being socialized properly. Kim at Life in a Shoe explores myths about socialization. Headmistress in The Common Room provides some questions to ask about socialization.
Food Court
Before exploring more of the carnival, let's stop at The Food Court. Janine Cate at Why Homeschool eagerly shares her experience as a customer at the Cate Cafe. Joanne, The Happy Homeschooler, explains the Bean Dip Strategy for dealing with hostility towards homeschooling.
Fun House
Now, on to the Fun House. Allison Tannery at Geronimo! shares some of the joys of homeschooling. Tami covers her typical homeschool day. Shana Hickamn (Publisher of Live Free Learn Free) at Live Free Learn Free contributes an Unschool-at-Home Day. Mary Jo Tate on Eclectic Bibliophile points out the danger of thinking that learning only happens at a specific place and time.
Traveling Preachers
At our carnival, traveling preachers share their faith and inspiration with the crowd. Anne of Palmtree Pundit has found a theme for the new year, "for all endurance and patience with joy." Kim Anderson at Mother-Lode reveals a pattern for teaching and training children. Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience asks and answers, How would Jesus Homeschool? Spunky of SpunkyHomeSchool ponders her role in the Christian Homeschooling Movement. Cindy Downes lists 16 mistakes homeschool mom's make.
Bumper Cars
Now on to the bumper cars. There's some contention or conflict in any important issue. Columnist Doug Powers playfully points out how homeschooling could save the environment. Michael Hardt of Family School explains that homeschooling is a teacher's nightmare or a teacher's dream. Daniel Macintyre of Key Words has a response to the NEA's article, Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs.
Lost and Found
Before leaving our Carnival of Homeschooling, don't forget to stop at the Lost and Found. Joanne at A Day in Our Lives shares the benefits of Homeschooling when Adopting an Older Child.
-------------------
Thank you for visiting the first Carnival of Homeschooling. We hope you have enjoyed it. Next week the carnival will be held On the Company Porch. If you are intertested in submitting a post, click here.
If you have enjoyed the first Carnival of Homeschooling, please spread the word. If you have some constructive suggestions on how to improve this carnival, please leave a comment.
For those interested, the Carnival of Education will be coming out on Wednesday.
This carnival is registered at TTLB's Uber Carnival.
And lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who has helped out. In trying to get this started over the Christmas Holidays I was expecting a slow start. But dozens of people spread the word, many bloggers I've never heard of found out about the Carnival of Homeschooling, and posted on their blog encouraging people to submit postings. Thank you.
Thoughts on homeschooling from Joel Turtel
Joel Turtel, author of Public School, Public Menace, submitted the following essay on homeschooling:
-----------------------
Home-schooling removes children from public school. That alone makes home-schooling worthwhile.
Unlike public-school children, home-schooled kids are not prisoners of a system that can wreck their self-esteem, ability to read, and love of learning. Home-schooled kids don’t have to read dumb-downed text-books, study subjects they hate, or endure meaningless classes six to eight hours a day.
Home-schooled kids won’t be subject to drugs, bullies, violence, or peer pressure, as they are in public schools. Home-schooled children who are “different” in any way won’t have to endure cruel jokes and taunts from other children in their classes.
Slow-learning or “special-needs” children won’t be humiliated by their peers if they are put in regular classes, or further humiliated if the teacher puts them in so-called special-education classes.
Faster-learning home-schooled kids won’t have to sit through mind-numbing classes that are geared to the slowest-learning students in a class. They won’t have to “learn” in cooperative groups where other kids in the group do nothing and are not cooperative.
Home-schooled children do not have to waste their time memorizing meaningless facts about subjects that bore them, just so they can pass the next dumbed-down test to obey and please school authorities.
Home-schooled kids don’t have to endure twelve years of a third-rate, public-school education that leaves many students barely able to read their own diplomas. The notion that tests tell teachers and parents what children have learned turns out to false.
John Holt, teacher and author of "How Children Fail," pointed out that most children soon forget what they memorized for a test as soon as the test is over, so the entire test-taking process is usually worthless. Facts or ideas that are not useful or relevant to children pass through them like a sieve and are soon forgotten.
Home-schooled kids don’t have to study an arbitrary, meaningless curriculum of subjects imposed on them by foolish public-school authorities. They don’t have to be treated like little mindless, spiritless robots that have to learn the same subjects at the same time and in the same sequence as their classmates.
Home-schooled children don’t have to sit quietly in a class of twenty-five other students and pretend they like being in this mini-prison called public school, just to avoid being punished by a teacher for “acting-out” or fidgeting in their seats.
Any adult’s mind would wander if they were forced to sit through a boring lecture for just one hour. Yet public schools expect children to sit still for boring lectures on subjects that are meaningless to them, for six to eight hours a day.
Home-schooled children do not have to be fearful of displeasing a teacher because they get the wrong answers on meaningless tests. They therefore do not have to be fearful of learning and have their natural joy in learning crippled as a result of this fear.
Infants and very young children embrace life and learning with a passion, which is why they learn so fast. Yet, as John Holt found out, by the time these same children have progressed to the fifth grade in school, most are listless, bored, apathetic, and often fearful in class.
Home-schooled children won’t be terrorized by test grades and comparisons to their classmates, and associate learning with this terror. They won’t associate learning with always having to get the right answer that schools authorities insist on. They won’t be made to feel that learning means passing an arbitrary test, and that failing a test is a shame or disgrace.
Home-schooling also gives parents control over the values their kids learn. It prevents school authorities from indoctrinating their children with warped values, pagan religions, or politically-correct ideas.
Unlike public-school students, home-schooled children are not forced to sit through explicit or shocking sex-education classes. School authorities can’t pressure home-schooling parents or children to take mind-altering drugs like Ritalin.
So keeping a child out of public school is an enormous benefit in itself. Other positive benefits of home-schooling are:
1. Home-schooling lets parents give children a custom-made curriculum that makes learning a joy. Parents can expose their children to many different subjects and ultimately focus on subjects that their children enjoy and benefit from. Children can also learn about subjects that are not taught in any school, and have time for non-academic subjects like art and music. Parents can choose from a wide range of teaching materials that not only engage and delight their kids, but bring real results.
2. Home-schooled children can learn at their own pace. Slower-learning kids will benefit by their parent’s love and attention. Bright children will progress as fast as they want to. Children will learn to read or learn any other subject when they are ready, not according to a prescribed time-table. Unlike public schools, home-schooling parents treat each child as a unique individual with his or her own special in-terests, talents, strengths and weaknesses. Parents can also tailor-make the instruction to each child’s per-sonality and learning style.
3. Home-schooling parents can give their kids a one-to-one teacher-student ratio. This insures that children get individualized attention from a loving, attentive parent-teacher.
4. Home-schooled kids get instant feedback. Children don’t have to compete with twenty other children in a class for their teacher’s attention. A parent-teacher can instantly answer her child’s questions, or research the answer together with her child.
In my book, Public Schools, Public Menace, I explain a total of 15 unique benefits of homeschooling for children.
by Joel Turtel
-----------------------
Home-schooling removes children from public school. That alone makes home-schooling worthwhile.
Unlike public-school children, home-schooled kids are not prisoners of a system that can wreck their self-esteem, ability to read, and love of learning. Home-schooled kids don’t have to read dumb-downed text-books, study subjects they hate, or endure meaningless classes six to eight hours a day.
Home-schooled kids won’t be subject to drugs, bullies, violence, or peer pressure, as they are in public schools. Home-schooled children who are “different” in any way won’t have to endure cruel jokes and taunts from other children in their classes.
Slow-learning or “special-needs” children won’t be humiliated by their peers if they are put in regular classes, or further humiliated if the teacher puts them in so-called special-education classes.
Faster-learning home-schooled kids won’t have to sit through mind-numbing classes that are geared to the slowest-learning students in a class. They won’t have to “learn” in cooperative groups where other kids in the group do nothing and are not cooperative.
Home-schooled children do not have to waste their time memorizing meaningless facts about subjects that bore them, just so they can pass the next dumbed-down test to obey and please school authorities.
Home-schooled kids don’t have to endure twelve years of a third-rate, public-school education that leaves many students barely able to read their own diplomas. The notion that tests tell teachers and parents what children have learned turns out to false.
John Holt, teacher and author of "How Children Fail," pointed out that most children soon forget what they memorized for a test as soon as the test is over, so the entire test-taking process is usually worthless. Facts or ideas that are not useful or relevant to children pass through them like a sieve and are soon forgotten.
Home-schooled kids don’t have to study an arbitrary, meaningless curriculum of subjects imposed on them by foolish public-school authorities. They don’t have to be treated like little mindless, spiritless robots that have to learn the same subjects at the same time and in the same sequence as their classmates.
Home-schooled children don’t have to sit quietly in a class of twenty-five other students and pretend they like being in this mini-prison called public school, just to avoid being punished by a teacher for “acting-out” or fidgeting in their seats.
Any adult’s mind would wander if they were forced to sit through a boring lecture for just one hour. Yet public schools expect children to sit still for boring lectures on subjects that are meaningless to them, for six to eight hours a day.
Home-schooled children do not have to be fearful of displeasing a teacher because they get the wrong answers on meaningless tests. They therefore do not have to be fearful of learning and have their natural joy in learning crippled as a result of this fear.
Infants and very young children embrace life and learning with a passion, which is why they learn so fast. Yet, as John Holt found out, by the time these same children have progressed to the fifth grade in school, most are listless, bored, apathetic, and often fearful in class.
Home-schooled children won’t be terrorized by test grades and comparisons to their classmates, and associate learning with this terror. They won’t associate learning with always having to get the right answer that schools authorities insist on. They won’t be made to feel that learning means passing an arbitrary test, and that failing a test is a shame or disgrace.
Home-schooling also gives parents control over the values their kids learn. It prevents school authorities from indoctrinating their children with warped values, pagan religions, or politically-correct ideas.
Unlike public-school students, home-schooled children are not forced to sit through explicit or shocking sex-education classes. School authorities can’t pressure home-schooling parents or children to take mind-altering drugs like Ritalin.
So keeping a child out of public school is an enormous benefit in itself. Other positive benefits of home-schooling are:
1. Home-schooling lets parents give children a custom-made curriculum that makes learning a joy. Parents can expose their children to many different subjects and ultimately focus on subjects that their children enjoy and benefit from. Children can also learn about subjects that are not taught in any school, and have time for non-academic subjects like art and music. Parents can choose from a wide range of teaching materials that not only engage and delight their kids, but bring real results.
2. Home-schooled children can learn at their own pace. Slower-learning kids will benefit by their parent’s love and attention. Bright children will progress as fast as they want to. Children will learn to read or learn any other subject when they are ready, not according to a prescribed time-table. Unlike public schools, home-schooling parents treat each child as a unique individual with his or her own special in-terests, talents, strengths and weaknesses. Parents can also tailor-make the instruction to each child’s per-sonality and learning style.
3. Home-schooling parents can give their kids a one-to-one teacher-student ratio. This insures that children get individualized attention from a loving, attentive parent-teacher.
4. Home-schooled kids get instant feedback. Children don’t have to compete with twenty other children in a class for their teacher’s attention. A parent-teacher can instantly answer her child’s questions, or research the answer together with her child.
In my book, Public Schools, Public Menace, I explain a total of 15 unique benefits of homeschooling for children.
by Joel Turtel
Cate Cafe
During our Christmas break, I've been a bit worried that I wasn't giving the kids enough structured work to do. As a homeschooler, this is a worry I often struggle with. Being myself a product of the public school system, I find myself getting nervous when we depart from the public school model (assigned homework, structured study schedules). On a recent trip, I read parts of Joel Turtel's Public School, Public Menace. I came to the conclusion that I may be loosing some of the benefit of homeschooling when I dictate too much of the so-called learning.
A few days ago, while left to their own devices, the older two kids (9 and 11) decided to play "Cate Cafe." They cleared off the kitchen table and set it. They wrote out a menu, complete with a lunch special and a children's menu. They wrote prices on the menu and handed out play money.
They invited Henry, Ellen (5 year old sister) and me to eat lunch in their cafe. They then cooked the food (macaroni and cheese, and oatmeal) and served drinks. They presented us with the bill and Ellen paid it with the play money.
This spontaneous activity covered handwriting, grammar, spelling, etiquette, math, and home economics. And, I didn’t have to make lunch that day.
Tuesday, as we get back into our more structured schedule, I'm going to leave more time for discovery learning and make sure I'm not falling into the "busy work" trap.
I'm also inspired by Spunky's "remodel the basement curriculum." Who knows where that could lead? (Note: This is part of a series of posts called From Honeymoon to Happy Home.)
A few days ago, while left to their own devices, the older two kids (9 and 11) decided to play "Cate Cafe." They cleared off the kitchen table and set it. They wrote out a menu, complete with a lunch special and a children's menu. They wrote prices on the menu and handed out play money.
They invited Henry, Ellen (5 year old sister) and me to eat lunch in their cafe. They then cooked the food (macaroni and cheese, and oatmeal) and served drinks. They presented us with the bill and Ellen paid it with the play money.
This spontaneous activity covered handwriting, grammar, spelling, etiquette, math, and home economics. And, I didn’t have to make lunch that day.
Tuesday, as we get back into our more structured schedule, I'm going to leave more time for discovery learning and make sure I'm not falling into the "busy work" trap.
I'm also inspired by Spunky's "remodel the basement curriculum." Who knows where that could lead? (Note: This is part of a series of posts called From Honeymoon to Happy Home.)
Links to interesting postings - 2 Jan 06
Paul Graham has another great essay, this time about procrastination. Here is a line from his essay: "So the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well." He talks about different types of procrastinators, and says that Type-C procrastinators put off the small stuff to work on the big stuff. He explains: "What's small stuff? Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary." There are a number of good thoughts; it would be worth having older children read it, and then having a discussion about the ideas in the essay.
EducationNews.org found an article about how a drive in Boston to increase teacher diversity has stalled. It seems it would be better to focus on getting good teachers, without worrying about their race. The goal should be giving the students a real education.
Today's CNN section on education had an article about how more schools are starting to teach Mandarin. Last week we posted about one school doing this. There seems to be a national trend to teach more children Mandarin. The CNN article had some interesting numbers, about 3 million students are taking Spanish, while about 24,000 are taking Mandarin.
On Education Watch John J. Ray links to an article about the high cost of private schools in Australia. One private school is charging $22,000 a year (About $16,000 in US dollars) per student!!! John J. Ray said that because schools are heavily regulated in Australia, new schools are not being allowed to be quickly created. My wife tells me we are spending less than $4,000 a year for all three daughters. This includes our library fines.
EducationNews.org found an article about how a drive in Boston to increase teacher diversity has stalled. It seems it would be better to focus on getting good teachers, without worrying about their race. The goal should be giving the students a real education.
Today's CNN section on education had an article about how more schools are starting to teach Mandarin. Last week we posted about one school doing this. There seems to be a national trend to teach more children Mandarin. The CNN article had some interesting numbers, about 3 million students are taking Spanish, while about 24,000 are taking Mandarin.
On Education Watch John J. Ray links to an article about the high cost of private schools in Australia. One private school is charging $22,000 a year (About $16,000 in US dollars) per student!!! John J. Ray said that because schools are heavily regulated in Australia, new schools are not being allowed to be quickly created. My wife tells me we are spending less than $4,000 a year for all three daughters. This includes our library fines.
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