Carnival of Homeschooling — The Rhythm Method

“Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.” — Elvis Presley

Actually, I don’t, much of the time.

I don’t mean musically — I do OK in that department. I mean giving a sense of rhythm to our days. That’s why this week I’m eager to learn at the feet of homeschoolers who have a good sense of rhythm and have learned to use that beat to carry them through their homeschooling.

It’s a work-in-progress, especially since one of the best things about homeschool is that you don’t have to have a rigid, classroom-style schedule. You can figure it out as you go. Elisheva shares what she does Instead of Scheduling at Ragamuffin Studies.

“Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps.” — Hans Christian Anderson

A Day-Month-Year in the Life of Homeschoolers

We all homeschool in different ways, but I love to learn from how others schedule their time. The next several posts are for the voyeur in all of us!

I can really relate to Cher Mere of Catching Fireflies full plate in her efforts at Scheduling with Passions.

I wanted to pack up my girls and send them to New Zealand to be schooled by Patience, who describes her changing daily rhythms at Knitting the Wind.

We found out when we pulled our daughter from school that homeschooling made it easier to maintain our family’s own rhythm. Mrs. C of Homeschool and Etc. has an inspiring story and good news for new or would-be homeschoolers worried that they can’t handle it: Homeschooling is NOT So Hard.

Laura Williams gives some specific suggestions for homeschooling parents scheduling multiple activities and lessons in Homeschooling More Than One.

HappyCampers shows us what a full 12 months of homeschooling looks like in A Year In Review…Blog-Style! posted at Reese’s View Of The World.

Considering year-round school for yourself? Christine presents The Joy of Year-round School, posted at Welcome to My Brain.

I love the idea of scheduling around the seasons — working with the natural rhythm of the year in mind rather than trying to get around it. (Though I think here in Minnesota we’d naturally be hibernating right now.) Angela of Mother Crone’s Homeschool describes how her family’s pattern is continually evolving with the seasons. Scheduling Your Homeschool Around the Seasons is an inspiring read about scheduling days and years as kids grow from playful little ones to more academically focused teens.

April reminds us that even when we use a curriculum someone else invented, we’re still in charge. I felt a little frisson of empowerment just reading the title of her contribution: Curriculum Hacking 101: Bending schedules to your will posted at Lunablog.net.

Alasandra notes that even for dedicated organizers, life sometimes intervenes, in Organization and Homeschooling.

Laura, blogging at I Ate the Sandbox!, gets her kids in on the act of creating curriculum in Creating a Child-Led Unit Study. This planning process is an education in itself!

However you schedule, kids are learning all the time, as Barbara Frank notes in a sweet story of Learning by Example.

The Activities Coordintor asks whether homeschoolers can really go Back to School? at Life On The Planet.

Thinking about how homeschooling moms schedule their lives, ChristineMM observes that “Mothers can have it all, but not all at once” posted at The Thinking Mother.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” — Thomas Merton

The Power of the Planner

Elizabeth of Real Learning knows her way around a planner—here is her Very Last Calendar-Home Companion Book post . . . for now. Get ready to blow the dust off your old planners and try again!

Summer is on the hunt for a New Planner for the New Year, so help her out at Mom Is Teaching.

Dawn has a new way of using blogging for homeschool scheduling, created simply because she was Bored and Evil… posted at Day by Day Homeschooling.

Another beauty of homeschooling? You can adjust your rhythm to fit both your kids’ needs and your own. Samantha of Bookworms and Tea Lovers is taking advantage of the new year to tweak her schedule with her ‘I-hope-this-will-work-better’ study plan.

Planning for college can be a major factor in deciding how and whether to homeschool through high school. Charity writes about documentation, transcripts, homeschool-friendly colleges, and more in Homeschooling High School, and Beyond, at All Things Hold Together.

Kids can also plan, and learn a lot from the planning, as Lisa of Apples of Gold points out in her post, Travel Agents in Training. Too bad I didn’t read that before our recent trip to Disney!

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” — Plato

Dancing to Their Own Drummers

Many homeschooling parents have decided that they’d rather dance to their own tune than try to play along with the rest of the crowd. Not long afterwards, homeschooled kids show their own independent streaks — and that’s a good thing, right?

Cindy at Life Without School considers what can be a parenting conundrum when she addresses the question of To Choose or to Force

Veteran homeschoolers know that kids will follow that internal rhythm of learning, no matter what tempo we set the metronome! Julie of Home Education Resources drives home the message that we all have different learning styles, and we need to work with them when home educating.

That doesn’t mean we make every educational decision based on what’s most immediately comfortable or gratifying. Renae reflects on the need for discipline in Exactly, Reason 1 of Why Study Math, posted at Life Nurturing Education.

Sonya of Love Learn Serve suggests that expecting obedience without guidance is setting kids up for failure, in a Changing View of Parenthood.

It’s not easy figuring out the right balance. Piscesgrrl shares her family’s struggle with the always controversial issue of giving kids control over screen time in Unschooling Q&A – How Did We Get Here? Part III, posted at Wistful Wanderlust.

Theresa reminds us that some kids have different needs than others, including ADHD kids. Check out ADHD through the years posted at The Mother Lode.

Annette also has questions about Control Issues?? at Fish and Cans.

Savvy Homeschoolers suggest that you consider the finite amount of time available to your kids in Two Million Minutes–another reason to homeschool posted at Homeschooler Savvy.

However you do it, it’s your choice as a home educator. Consider Dana’s thoughts on choice in Defining Homeschooling, posted at Principled Discovery.

“The concept of number is the obvious distinction between the beast and man. Thanks to number, the cry becomes a song, noise acquires rhythm, the spring is transformed into a dance, force becomes dynamic, and outlines figures.” — Joseph Marie de Maistre

Getting Down to It — Curriculum and Other Resources

Denise offers middle school and high school students some Puzzles for the New Year, posted at her popular and useful blog Let’s play math!.

Sol reviews a math resource written by a homeschooling parent (one that I think I will check out, given the popularity of geometry around here): Math Mammoth Geometry 1 Elementary Math Workbook posted at Wild About Math!.

Michele the Homeschool Housewife reviews Fishin for Addition, part of a math program she is really liking. Don’t miss the crazy accompanying photos!

Elena shares her experience with bringing the passage of time to life in Homeschooling through Medieval Times posted at My Domestic Church.

Megan encourages homeschoolers to teach their kids about personal safety, posted at Imaginif.com.

Mom to Cherubs, blogging at Adventures on Beck’s Bounty is adding handicrafts to her homeschool, thanks to A Charlotte Mason Style Resolution.

Julie has Phonics Resources At Your Fingertips, posted at Parenting Squad.

Kathy recommends 21 Balloons for tweens; see the review at Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews.

Amanda at The Daily Planet has a lot of ideas for fellow high-school-age readers, noted in her Reading List of an 18-Year-Old.

GrrlScientist notes a newly available free science resource: Science, Evolution, and Creationism — The Free Download, posted at Living the Scientific Life.

Would you like to give your children access to a university
level education? Henry of Why Homeschool found that Berkeley is putting many of their courses online!

Whatever your curriculum (or lack thereof), the new year will surely offer teachable moments. Cristina’s Home Spun comic strip #181, posted at Home Spun Juggling, gives a perfect example.

I got rhythm,

I got music,

I got my man —

Who could ask for anything more?

Education Essentials

The start of a new year is a good time to get a new rhythm going. Kerry, a Ten O’Clock Scholar, has some carefully considered Homeschool Resolutions for 2008.

We can’t keep a rhythm going if we don’t have what we need. Andrea has a good list of Five things this she does not want to give up in 2008 posted at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom.

Tammy also has a list of her Five Homeschool Must-haves for 2008, at Just Enough, and Nothing More.

Crimson Wife (who has a darling avatar!) looks at the question of educational essentials by considering the educator’s priorities in What Does it Mean for a School to be “Effective”? posted at Bending the Twigs.

Many of us computer-age families can’t imagine homeschooling without Google, but The Not-Quite Crunchy Parent points out that reference books still have a lot to offer, in the post Afterschooling with Audubon.

Jocelyn, another teen homeschool blogger, considers a list of 101 Things You Should Do Before You Graduate at A Pondering Heart.

Then there are those things you might do better to get rid of. Nissa presents her New Year’s Resolution: Elimination Diet, at Simple Gifts. Check out the sweet bird-and-twig graphic – too cute! [confidential to Nissa: We worked with a professional organizer, and for quite a while visitors to our house could not figure out why it was even messier than before, as we pulled stuff from every nook and cranny. She assured us it was part of the process.]

Talking to a new homeschooler helped Sherry of Large Family Mothering thinking about paring down to Just the Essentials.

How much will those essentials cost? Ask Tiffany, who considers What It Costs to Homeschool Your Child at The Attached Parent.

Jacque, blogging at Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths, has a few pointed questions for those who say that Homeschooling Is Too Expensive.

NerdMom has a light-hearted look at how homeschooling parents simplify — but it’s not necessarily cheaper! Check out Martha’s vs Homeschool Mom’s Way, posted at Nerd Family.

“Music is a safe type of high. It’s more the way it was supposed to be. That’s where highness came, I guess, from anyway. It’s nothing but rhythm and motion.” — Jimi Hendrix

Homeschooling and Culture

Another bad year for pop culture divas: Adso of Melk ponders What to Do with a Hannah Montana doll, and other questions about contemporary girl culture, at lorem ipsum.

A history lesson led homeschooling teen Jess top reflect on whether she would be among the Martyrs for Christ in her blog From the Pages of My Heart.

Karen reflects on a homeschooling opportunity to include history, politics, social studies, math, and philosophy all in one conversation in The Other 99.9% posted at Author Mom With Dogs.

Homeschooling bloggers have also been talking about the current crop of presidential candidates. Rose shares her views about Homeschooling and Politics at Learning at Home.

“Rhythm is the basis of life, not steady forward progress. The forces of creation, destruction, and preservation have a whirling, dynamic interaction.” — Kabbalah

That’s All Folks!
Many thanks to the many bloggers who contributed posts to this 106th edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling, and special thanks to the Cate family for keeping it going for two years now! Thanks to all who’ve promoted the carnival this week and in all the weeks past.

If you have enjoyed this carnival, please spread the word. Please mention the carnival on your blog, and other appropriate places.
Go here for the archives of previous carnivals.
Next week the carnival will be held at Consent of the Governed.
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See an error? E-mail me at shaunms at mac dot com