Way back when, it seems like ages ago now, Henry Cate asked if I'd be willing to host the carnival this week. "Sure!" I said, perhaps too enthusiastically. I love hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling. It gives me a chance to connect with other homeschoolers, and find a few new blogs in the process. Nothing much is ever going on around here around the holidays. It's all quiet and peaceful, like Let a Woman Learn's Celebration of Winter. So stop by Lesson Pathways for some free Christmas Printables, I thought, or make some activity kits with Minds Bloom. Maybe even make a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with Peanuts are Evil. You know, something to keep them occupied while I was occupied. Maybe if I was feeling particularly schoolerish, I could set them down with a Christmas Break book list like Seaside Tales.
But that was then. Before accepting an offer on our house which sent us in a flurry to get our other house ready to move into. Hey, maybe that could be #16 of 15 great uses for a digital camera from The Creative Homeschool: document progress on impossibly huge projects that never seem to get anywhere. Kinda like parenting. Each day seems like the next, but I look at those photos and realize how much they have grown. The Stone Age Techie says a bit about that with her camera. At any rate, the digital camera is definitely in the Tuesday Toolbox, and Homeschooling Hearts and Minds shares hers, as well.It was also before the other party's financing fell through, killing the whole deal and throwing our house back on the market. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the phone call on Friday
We'd like to show your house tomorrow.I painted while S.A.G.A. shared her American Idol Experience (part II andpart III). I fought with the plumbing while Baby Steps went to see The Nutcracker. I washed windows while Four Squares had Library School. Some online math games and lessons as shared by TutorFi would have been welcome by that point, but we do not yet have internet access out there.
And the phone call Saturday.
We'd like to show your house tomorrow.Causing Teachable Moments' journey to homeschooling to go totally underappreciated and Rational Jenn's A Day in the Life post took a backseat to my own hectic schedule. And I totally missed Homeschoolers on TV. Good thing Why Homeschool was there to discuss it. Education may not be a race, as Life Nurturing Education points out, but cleaning the house sure is.
And Monday.
We'd like to show your house tomorrow.I could so use some efficient teaching ideas for homeschooling mothers by The Legacy of Home. Or even just the reminder that Life is tasty in small bites, as PrincipledMom shares. These are definitely the times I think homeschooling would be easier if it weren't for the kids. No Fighting, No Biting also shares struggles which may be bringing their homeschool journey to a close. Sometimes it is hard to see past the insanity of the moment, and sometimes you do need to step away from it all.
So I told the realtor all about the rest of my life.
See, there is this thing called the Carnival of Homeschooling which is like this weekly magazine published online and it is my turn to host it. A great deal of time goes into posts like Reading Aloud: The Words Endure by CircleReader or Thoughts on Joy Hakim In Depth Show by The Thinking Mother or Materialism: What's with wanting so much stuff, anyway? by Laura Grace Weldon. Thus far I have gotten about nothing done on it. I've read zero of thirty to forty entries. Categorized zero of them. Gotten back with zero of the authors. Come up with zero ideas for a theme to tie them all together.Yeah, right. As if I'd tell a realtor that. I didn't even wince as I said "Sure, no problem!" Even though it was a bit of a problem, but not really so much for the realtor. Or for me, really. After all, who in their right mind complains about a house showing? It was just a problem for this poor carnival.
I am so ready to just go away somewhere. About.com makes the Monterey Bay Aquarium sound like a nice field trip. A good nature study could be nice, as shared by The Mommy Earth. Bug got excited about the mouse tracks I showed her in the snow on the one walk we took last week. So excited I remembered why we homeschool for a few frozen minutes before returning to my paintbrushes. It's all about that Pursuit of Happiness Parent at the Helm wrote about. And so it begins, as Quiverfull Family points out. Another toddler joining the ranks of the homeschooled.And here I am, getting ready to shove ALL of the unfinished laundry in the washing machine. (Please nobody start the washer without sorting it first!) There are a few pots that may find their way into the oven. A basket of unfolded laundry is sitting next to me, destined for the trunk of the car. These are my "dirty little secrets" of preparing for a house showing, though I'd never call it housecleaning.
The public's imagination seems to think homeschooling is an excellent place to hide abuse from the public's eye. Every now and again, a horrific tale of abuse is turned up in which the family claimed to be homeschooling in order to hide from authorities. Such was the case of Calista Springer's tragic life and death. Corn and Oil points out how homeschooling is not to be blamed with Lax is such a dangerous word, and Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards turns the focus on Child Protective Services with Calista was a victim of lazy or inept Child Protective Services.
There is no shortage of stereotypes against homeschoolers, as Pamela Jorrick points out. I've always wondered if that says more about the homeschoolers or those with the stereotypes. But even homeschoolers don't always like each other, as Successful Homeschooling shares in her post, Judgmental secular homeschoolers.
But I haven't had any time to really think about any of that. I didn't even have time to submit a post to my own carnival.
So Sprittibee shares her less than ideal holiday season and I think, "Oh yeah! Christmas is on Friday!" How can I forget a thing like that? Whether or not it was ideal . . . well, I'll answer that after I've gotten some sleep. And some coffee.
Thank you for visiting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling and my hectic week leading up to it. Next week, Renae of Life Nurturing Education will be hosting. Her life is every bit as hectic right now, what with moving to Idaho, and all, but she does a much better job of not showing herself unraveling on her blog. If you would like to submit a post, you may do so via the submission form at Blog Carnival. This carnival is organized by Why Homeschool where you can also find the archived carnivals.