Carnival of Homeschooling: Winter in Idaho Edition

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling! If you are unfamiliar with this weekly event, let me introduce you.

A carnival sounds fun, right? It is! Each week homeschool bloggers are asked to submit a post to share. Then the host reads, organizes, and presents them to the community.

I offered to do this in August, but we were in the middle of selling our house in Texas and moving back to Southern Idaho. This carnival features a few of our adventures since we arrived.

Remodeling- Sometimes we make changes

Sweet Pea watches Grandpa install a subfloor

The New Year lends itself to reflection and plans to be better organized.

• The Thinking Mother Looks Back Upon the First Half of the Homeschool Year 2009-2010.
• While thinking about the year, it might help to have some music. Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog has a link for The Year in Rap 2009.
• Eclectic Education shares helpful hints and links to help Get your Homeschool Organized in the New Year.
• Special Needs Homeschooling Reviews The Homeschool Organizer.

Hiking- Sometimes we need new perspective

Bug hikes in the Snake River Canyon

• Raising Arrows talks about drowning in guilt in The Shame On Me Sea.
• A Day in the Life opens up an honest discussion about a Startling Revelation.
• The Legacy of Home gives us a peek into A Housewife’s Pink Mood. What color is your happy self?
• Homeschool Idaho shares a humorous Letter from an Imperfect Homeschool Mom.

Laughing- Sometimes we simply enjoy family life

Sunshine smiles behind my gift

• My Domestic Church encourages with the post Homeschooling to Build Family.
• Crazy Homeschool Mama writes about a new season of life in A Different Kind of Christmas.
• The Mommy Earth has a story entitled Girl Meets World.
• Free to Learn and Loving It shares Life Lesson # 221: Never mix lights with darks.
• Real Life Montessori has a creative way of Making Cookies for toddlers.

Conversing- Sometimes we defend our crazy ways

"Are you sure the bookshelf is a good bed?"

• Homeschool Distractions answers a question about dealing with distractions in the post The Cons of Homeschooling.
• A Tings Thinking Corner examines Robin West’s controversial anti-homeschooling article “The Harms of Homeschooling”.
• Home School Online shares ideas for answering typical questions about homeschooling.
• Why Homeschool found the same questions put to music in this funny video, The 14 Days of Homeschool.
• Our Curious Homeschool has lots of questions to discuss other than the socialization ones. See if you can answer one or two.
• Alasandra congratulates the winner’s of the Homeschool Blog Awards.

Learning- And now it’s time to curl up with the books

The view out my back window

• Abundant Harvest shares the Reading Journey of Child #3. See if waiting and relaxing can really work.
• Laura Grace Weldon wonders about All Day Every Day Video Game Learning?
• Little Green Blog writes ‘Teaching maths’ with home education – 10 Tips.
• Our Journey Westward created Simple Machine Stations. You can, too.
• Topsy-Techie has helpful hints for teaching writing.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed your tour through these homeschool blogs and perhaps found a new favorite or two.

The next edition will be published at the carnival founders’ Why Homeschool. Consider submitting a post at Blog Carnival.

Request for Submissions to the Carnival of Homeschooling

I hope your Christmas was full of wonder and hope. The first Christmas in our new home was blessed by family and friends.

Sled at Top of Run

When my sister walked in with sleds on Christmas Eve, my little girls’ eyes furrowed in confusion. Their older brother announced the welcomed gift, but my Texas girls still don’t get it. I can’t wait to see their faces when we finally get to the sledding hill.

In the midst of Christmas clean up and New Year’s preparations, I’m honored to be hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling.

I’ve neglected blog reading lately, so please submit a post for me to read and share here on December 29th. Anything related to homeschooling and family life is welcome.

It’s simple to participate, just fill in the form located at Blog Carnival. If that doesn’t work for some reason, you may use my contact form.

Is Education a Race?

I eliminated certain words from my vocabulary for freedom’s sake.

When I created scrapbooks, the stacks of pictures caused frustration. How could I ever get all those images into albums? I’d never catch up. The negative thoughts robbed me of the joy of the process. Scrapbooking suddenly became a race against time. A race I could never win.

Jogger

Instead of being stressed, I set aside the terms behind and catch-up. Scrapbooking was a hobby. I would simply finish what I could by working on it a few hours a week. My albums are still mostly empty, but I enjoyed putting color and texture behind a few memories. The guilt was gone and what I did capture will be special to my children.

I wonder if we need to do something in regards to education.

Homeschooling shrouded with guilt impedes the joy of learning. Are we doing too much or not enough? Is this curriculum a good fit? Would that one be better? Can we fit one more thing into our schedule?

Planning and judging are necessary, but most of our time needs to be spent learning not planning to learn and then doubting the whole process. Yes, there are learning thresholds. Yes, there are certain things our children need to know, but who determines whether they are behind?

Is education a race?

Education is important, but so is the child. What if a child doesn’t learn to read by the age of 6 or 7? What about those who struggle to learn? Should they try to push themselves beyond their capabilities to meet an arbitrary standard? Watching the backs of peers leap ahead, it would be hard to stay enthusiastic and motivated.

And what if your child is the one leaping ahead? Will he enjoy the rewards of diligence if lessons are always easy?

I propose that education is an individual thing. No one has the exact same knowledge. We all have different interests. The universe is immense, and we cannot know even a speck of all the treasures within it.

Perhaps, the race is really against ourselves. Perhaps, it is an internal measurement of growing in character and learning to learn.

Is education a race? Does every homeschool feel behind? What do you think?

Our Jesse Tree

We gather sticks from the fallen tree. One girl in pajamas and slippers and coat runs back inside. The boy breaks a branch. The littlest girl holds her prized stick high. The parade goes indoors to find a pottery vase.

We rummage around in boxes, then return to the cold outdoors to dig in the dirt. Our dying stems need to be supported or else they flop and spin.

The sap still tries to run up these green boughs. The flow doesn’t allow a clean break. The sticks tear apart. The shreds of bark are underneath the dirt now. They don’t show, but the brittle end begins.

Life cannot return to these in the jar, but maybe what hangs from the branches will bring life to us.

Printed paper cut and pricked to hang from dying boughs. Ink blotted and colored to remind us of the promise in a story begun ages ago…

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow from out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-2)

(Ornaments from A Glorious Coming)

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I promised pictures of our homestead. I haven’t forgotten. My computer didn’t survive our move, so Dylan has been working to restore my hard drive.