The 72nd Carnival of Homeschooling: In My Backyard

Aloha, and welcome to the 72nd edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. I imagine spring has sprung where you are by now, and summer is fast approaching. It's nearly always summer here, and I'm inviting you into my backyard to enjoy the flowers. Pull up a lounge chair, pour a cool drink, put on some sunscreen, and enjoy!

We'll start with entries that relate to the different subjects covered in school.

Reading:

Remember those Scholastic flyers you got in school -- the book orders? I loved those. Love 2B Homeschoolers shares how homeschoolers can get in on the deal.

Robin at Life Without School tells about how her daughter learned to read in her own unique way.

Michelle at Scribbit writes about a fun way to encourage children to read. What a neat idea!

Kaber at All About (my) Boys posts 20+ ideas that are especially helpful for children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties.

Sprittibee reviews The Mislabeled Child.

Summer writes about seeing her children's imaginations at work and 13 books she's looking forward to reading to them at Wired For Noise.

Science:

Check out At Home With the Kids for a way to incorporate the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 into spring gardening.

Learning On Our Own shares that learning and living in Kingdom Animalia has been helpful in her homeschooling.

Are you teaching/learning chemistry in your homeschool? Up the Hill Gang shares how they make and use element cards.

Waldorf Our Way reminds us of one of the benefits of homeschooling -- cool field trip opportunities. Check out their field trip in Wild Beasties.

Day by Day Homeschooling announces a Cafe Press store for homeschoolers who accept evolution.

Math:

More4Kids gives some guidelines for math skills to work on according to your child's age.

Denise at Let's Play Math! links to a geometry puzzle -- "Can you find the center of a circle?"

K T Cat presents Teaching my Kids Financial Responsibility posted at The Scratching Post.

History:

The Headmistress, Zookeeper at The Common Room says, "The thing about history is everybody dies." Now you've got to go read that, right?

Sherry at Redbud's Lane tells about a video instructional series on Western civilization. And it's free!
Barbara Frank shares news of a new book on Pearl Harbor (hey, that's in my neck of the woods!) that may be helpful for teens studying history.

Bible:

Jocelyn posts her one week Bible unit study.

Foreign Language:

The Seabird Chronicles gives tips and resources for introducing children to Spanish.

Handwriting:

Jenny at Little Acorns Treehouse asks and answers, "What to do with horrible handwriting?"

Art:

My Quivers Full shares a funny picture of what homeschooling looks like at her house.

Harmony Art Mom explains how she organizes and keeps her children's artwork.


Now we'll move onto more general homeschooling entries. These bloggers are talking about -- what else? -- blogging:

Henry Cate at Why Homeschool reminds us that we can be part of the homeschooling community at The Truth Laid Bear.

Alasandra shares her desire for homeschooling to be the main dish in blog posts.

Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse wonders, "Is divisiveness really the point?"

These homeschoolers share reasons they do what they do:

Andrea shares another reason to homeschool at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom.

And Andrea (a different one!) at Families.com lists another reason she's glad she homeschools.

My Domestic Church explains that life happens, and their homeschool is rolling with it.

Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths says that learning is non-traditional in her homeschool.

Kris at Paradise Found reflects on memories, dances, and homeschooling in "Queen of Hearts".

Not suprisingly, homeschooling parents are thinkers. Here are some things these homeschoolers are thinking about:

Small World asks "Are homeschoolers difficult?" She gives some answers, too.

Melissa Markham at Yesterday's Hopes is excited that her children are learning what she's teaching them.

Trinity Prep School posts Tips for Coping With Homeschool Burnout. That sure is timely as many of us near the end of our school year.

Patti at All Info About Homeschooling explains how she makes end-of-the-year portfolios for her children.

Christine, The Thinking Mother, admits that homeschooling is getting more difficult for her the older her children get. Oh, how I agree!

Judy Aron at Consent of the Governed reminds us that it's convention season, and she shares some practical and helpful advice.

At home, on fire remembers her own youth group experiences as she considers the youth group question.

Mother Crone appreciates the freedom and empowerment homeschooling affords to raise her children free of what she calls "sexist bias".

Dana at Principled Discovery is thinking about homeschooling and freedom of thought.


Whew! It was a big carnival this week. Mahalo to those of you who participated, and a special thanks to Henry and Janine Cate of Why Homeschool who keep this carnival going each week.

The next carnival will be hosted by Melissa Wiley at The Lilting House. Click here for information on submitting your homeschooling post. And if you have extra time on your hands, click here for the carnival archive.

And now that you've been in my backyard awhile, feel free to pull a few weeds! :-) Notice I didn't include any pictures of those.