156th Carnival of Homeschooling- Winter in Paris

Welcome to the December 23, 2008 edition of carnival of homeschooling! As you browse through the posts, I thought you might enjoy some of the scenes from a December trip to one of my favorite cities, Paris, appropriately nicknamed “The City of Lights.”

Paris is a magical city, and it sparkles extra brightly during the holiday season. Squares are flooded and frozen for ice skating, sidewalk vendors offer hand-warming cones of hot chestnuts (yum!), and the whole city feels festive with garlands of lights and greenery.

Prices are low at this time of year, and tourist crowds are light, which makes it an excellent time to visit. Just be sure to pack plenty of warm layers, as it’s a small, walkable city, and you’ll be chilly without hats, scarves, tights, and mittens. Enjoy the Carnival and your virtual tour of Paris! Read more

Teaching, Learning, and Growing Despite Current Events

The current news cycle has presented us with some very useful opportunities for teaching and learning this fall. There’s the election, of course, which offers a perfect opportunity to do a unit study on American government. Next, there is the tsunami of negative economic news. What a perfect time to read and discuss Richard Maybury’s books!

Finally, there’s the blessing of autumn itself. Here in Virginia, we’re just starting to see leaves shading from summer greens into the rosy reds, clear yellows. and warm oranges of fall. The dogwoods are sporting bright red berries, while the pyracantha is blanketed with a heavy crop of rich orange berries. Squirrels are bustling busily with winter preparations, cheeks full of acorns as they make innumerable trips up and down the trees.

I mention these three things together as a reminder that even in the face of political uncertainty, financial stress, and negative news, there are still the steady seasons and cycles of creation to appreciate. Children can be very sensitive to stress and bad news, so as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s important to limit the inflow of negativity. This doesn’t mean mean ignoring important teaching opportunities; rather, using them in a limited and controlled way. Read more

Overstuffed School Schedules vs. The Learning Lifestyle

There’s a new school year coming up, and as you plan, it can be tempting to create a school schedule that would stagger a grad student. I know- I’ve been there. I’ve started school years with so many classes planned for my boys that we would have been at the table for most of the daylight hours if we’d done it all.

Fortunately, I always got a reality check. It usually arrived around lunchtime of the first day or so, with the realization that we’d finished only about 2/3 of the essentials, and there was absolutely no way that anyone’s attention span was going to last through the fourteen electives I’d planned. Read more

What Should You Buy at the Homeschool Convention?

Will you be going to a homeschool conference this summer? If you’re teaching your children at home, I highly recommend taking the time to do this– it will be a source of education and encouragement that can keep you inspired for the entire year (if you bring home the right things). Investing in “mommy education and inspiration” is one of the very best things you can do for your children.

What are the top five things you need to provide an excellent education?

A vision for what you want to accomplish
A plan for moving toward the goal
The best resources available
Wise counsel
Supportive family and friends

Do you have all these ingredients? If not, a trip to a homeschool convention can help. If you can’t make it to a physical convention, a virtual convention such as the Ultimate Home School Expo is a good alternative. Of course, you won’t be able to purchase the supportive family and friends, but by sharing what you learn, you may be able to inspire them with a vision for the future that will help them move forward as well. Read more

How to Manage Withdrawal from Excessive Media Exposure

Changing a bad habit isn’t the easiest thing you’ll ever do, but it can be done. If you’d like to help your family withdraw from the daily media barrage, it will help if you have a specific plan for how to do it.

One of the easiest ways to begin is to wait for a natural transition time– the end of the school year, a family wedding or house move, a vacation, or anything that breaks into the normal routine. Have a family meeting and let everyone know that a change is coming, when it will arrive, and what you expect life to look like once the change occurs.

In A Thomas Jefferson Education, Oliver DeMille suggests a useful method for “detoxing” the family when switching from institutional education to something more nurturing. Read more

The Core Curriculum Teaches Connections

Whenever the weather permits, I eat lunch outside on the patio in the edge of the woodland. At this time of year, there are spiderwebs everywhere. It doesn’t matter that I come out every day and sit in the same chair, I still have to brush away an accumulation of delicate webs each day.

I hadn’t been sitting there for more than a minute or two today when I noticed that one fine strand of web had already been spun from arm to arm on my chair, rather like an airy version of the festive ribbon that outlines special seating sections at a wedding. Inevitably, my thoughts turned to the gossamer threads that link ideas and subjects, and from there to the single greatest benefit of the classic core curriculum.

Although many students never suspect it while they are in school, knowledge is not naturally divided into separate subjects. Math walks hand in hand with science, and both affect the course of history. Literature and the arts both reflect and forecast trends in the culture from which they arise, creating an enduring portrait of what is, and sometimes, what is to come.

The core curriculum, defined as the organized exposure of students to the basics in and the links between each knowledge area- history, literature, the arts, science, mathematics, language; touches the young person’s palate with variety, and ideally, introduces great ideas. Like a healthy diet, the core curriculum offers a varied smörgåsbord of intellectual nourishment, resulting in a healthy, robust mind. Read more

Limiting Negative Input Creates a Healthy Learning Atmosphere

Last week, I wrote about how turning off television can improve your quality of life. However, negative influences don’t come only from television– they can come from many sources. While some sources of negativity may be hard to avoid, such as family members who sport a perpetual bad attitude, there’s no reason to actively seek out and give attention to media personalities who thrive on creating fear and controversy.

Have you ever reproved your children for speaking rudely to a friend or sibling, or wondered where they learned to use ridicule in an effort to make someone else look or feel bad? You may find the answer in the rude rantings of radio talk-show hosts who use ad hominem attacks and ridicule, rather than serious, intelligent communication, to gain support from an unthinking audience. If your children hear these “adults” communicating with name-calling, insults, and mocking, you needn’t be surprised when they try these tactics at home. Read more