Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Homeschool Memoirs #5: My Favorite Things


(Yes, I changed the spelling in my post title. I can't help it; I'm not British or Canadian.) Anyway, this week's Homeschool Memoirs asks for a few of our favorite homeschooling-related things—anything from magazines to memes. And so here are a few of my favorites:

1. Definitely in the #1 spot: my friends. I have an amazing group of homeschooling friends. I shouldn't just say "I"; I should emphasize that each person in my family has incredible homeschooling friends. These people are essential to both our homeschooling journey and our journey in general. They are, indeed, our village.

2. My support group. We have around 220 families in our support group, and it is an awesome thing. Although there is vast diversity in our approaches to homeschooling, socio-economic status, education, political views, spiritual views, etc., we all have one very big commonality: we have chosen to homeschool our children. And that in itself is huge. If you are a homeschooler, you know this: you can walk into a room and find 10 people who are dressed just like you, talk just like you, and have kids the same age as your kids. But if there is one person there who homeschools, she'll be the one you strike up a conversation with, even if you appear to have nothing in common on the outside. And to have 220 families who understand....that's just bliss.

3. Sonlight. I love Sonlight curriculum. I love excellent literature. I love reading aloud to my kids. I am so thankful to Laurie B., the woman who first said the magical word "Sonlight" to me nine years ago.

4. Our library. How difficult homeschooling would be without a good public library! (Or even a bad public library.)

5. Homeschoolblogger.com. I'm not part of that community anymore, but I am thankful for it as it introduced me to the homeschool blogging community.

6. The Carnival of Homeschooling. This is a great place to find a wide variety of posts about homeschooling, from snippets of daily life to philosophy to methods.

7. The Homeschool Lounge and Heart of the Matter. I don't visit these as much as I did when they first began, but I think they are fantastic resources. The Lounge is a great community, and folks there are just waiting to answer questions!

8. CurrClick. I download the freebie every week. OK, I haven't actually used any of them, but I know I will one of these days!

9. Lapbooking at Squidoo. Simply the most amazing lapbooking resource I've found.

10. Enchanted Learning. I haven't used it yet this fall, but normally this is a site I use heavily.

11. Bookshelves. And, my newly designated schoolroom that has enough open space for a solid wall of shelves.

12. The Great Smoky Mountains. It is amazingly peaceful to live in such a beautiful place. Even on the most hectic days when we have to run out a zillion times to go here and there, I can always see them. Just knowing there is a place 20 minutes away where we can shut out the bustle of the world has an instant calming effect on me.

Of course, homeschooling wouldn't be homeschooling with my three favorite things and their daddy.

(Do you have a list of favorites? You can join in at Homeschool Memoirs anytime!)

See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

14 comments:

  1. But aren't you missing out on all of those glittery blinky things if you don't go to the Lounge regularly? I don't know first hand, of course, because men aren't allowed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love CurrClick too. Even their stuff that isn't free is very reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've not been to many of those places so I'll have to check them out.

    Having a good support group around you is so very important. I too have been blessed by this though more in cyber space than in geographic.

    Thanks for visiting my list, I actually did this late last night and didn't read it through or I would have followed the set guidelines. Oh well they are some of my favorite things, just not mainly focused on HS.

    Elaine

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is my first year with Sunlght and we are all enjoying it! Thanks for sharing your list.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Always love hearing about people's experiences with Sonlight!

    ~Luke

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there!
    I'm sorry I didn't make it clear in my post, but I wanted everyone to copy the list I made and post their favourite homeschool links under each category.

    I've edited the post and hope I haven't confused too many! LOL

    Also I think there must be something going on with the Mr. Linky site because no linkys will show up on any blogs. Please keep checking back here to leave your #5 post!

    Blessings!
    Miss Jocelyn

    ReplyDelete
  7. oooo fun.
    I get to go link hopping. :-) Thanks for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Smoky Mountains is just about our absolute favorite place! We live in E. Tenn. and get to visit up there a few times a year. I just love it.
    I do the same thing with CurrClick! :) I have some saved on my desktop and yes, we will get around to using them.
    Thanks for sharing your great list.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi thanks for stopping by my site. I am going to check out currclick that you had as a favorite. Thanks for sharing!
    Tina @ www.homeschoolblogger.com/haberhappenings

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for sharing. I have a new lapbook link to check out! We just started lapbooking and my daughter loves it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. You're showing the world that - no matter where you came from - you are INDEED an East Tennsseean in bullet-point 12. You said the Smoky Mountains were "20 minutes away." In most parts of the world, distance is measured in miles - not minutes. Since I too am from East Tennessee, I know that in this part of the country, "5 miles away" can actually be "50 minutes away" because of hills, twists, bad roads, etc. I'm with you on this ... but others may not understand. Just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the Smoky mountains! I have only been to visit the park for a short stay. I'd love to camp there someday.

    The TV show Christy caused me to fall in love with them when I was in 11th grade. And that love has never died!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love your blog, its really nice-I enjoyed catching up on getting to know you! I'm 5 hrs from the Smokeys but we love it when we go there, its just beautiful! I know exactly what you mean about homeschoolers, we are never strangers are we? Thanks for visiting recently, love to have vistors.

    Angela

    ReplyDelete
  14. Those are some of my favs too. :)

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Thanks for taking the time to leave one. I have comment moderation on, so your comment will take a little bit to appear.