Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey

We are thrilled to be part of this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling, but have been so busy following the links from the other posts on the blog midway that we haven’t taken time (til now) to pick our favorites. Here they are so far:

Janice Campbell hosts the Carnival of Homeschooling this week. We really enjoyed seeing these ideas, some new, others reminding us of things that we had forgotten we knew.

Carletta Sanders discusses Homeschool Games on Successful Homeschooling, mentioning chess and Scrabble in particular. These are two favorites at our house and we love the idea of using the chess timer for the Scrabble game. (We have a couple determined players who take an excruciatingly long time in order to maximize the score.)

I just sorted through our collection of games. I love finding old games, no longer readily available, at yard sales. We acquired Scrabble Rhebus and Scrabble Duplicate Crossword this way. Even Monopoly works well for reinforcing math skills and especially for reinforcing cooperation (our kids break the rules and make loans to each other to keep everyone in the game.)

We were excited to see the posting by Sarah Scrafford regarding The U.S. Department of Education’s Recommendations For Online Students posted at Online Universities.com. With three in college and three to go we need all of the information we can get from such a reasonable source.

Plus, we love Janice Campbell’s own post: Add a Microbusiness to Your Teen’s Curriculum. We have tried this before and hope to again. The kids are always looking for a way to raise money. She lists some great resources for children getting into this.

Janice makes one point which I agree with so strongly: “Athough I granted him credit on his transcript for what he learned, I didn’t teach him any of it– he found out what he needed to learn, and studied and practiced on his own. If he had waited for me to figure it out and create a “class,” we may never have gotten past…”

So many people seem to think that children can only “learn” what they are “taught”. If ours had waited for me, they wouldn’t be so far. In homeschooling, it is not about “No Child Left Behind”, but “How Far, How Fast—Don’t Wait for Mom, Please.”

Most exciting for the boys was the post from Silvia at Po Moyemu–In My Opinion. She describes her daughter’s project, making Slingshots. The only problem is, these are illegal in New Jersey. Another reason to do as Blaise urges, “let’s just move to Missouri”.

Then I saw the idea for a mobile, A Floating Inspiration Board from Melissa on her Pink Paper Peppermints blog. I too, lack enough wall space. We won’t talk about flat spaces. Up to the ceiling, and beyond! I am going to make one the centerpiece of the school room this fall. Teachers decorate bulletin boards—homeschoolers take a multidimensional approach.

(Martine)

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