Carnival of Homeschooling: Think Spring Edition

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling! I particularly like that this carnival falls on the Queen of all Carnival days: Fat Tuesday. While we won't be doing any Mardi Gras parading or masquerading around our house today, I just might be brave and tackle making a King Cake this year.

But I think what is on everyone's minds more than Mardi Gras, the Olympics, and possibly even more than my birthday (tomorrow) is, well, Winter. Seems to me that here in the States, at least, we are all marveling at the record frigid temperatures and outrageous amounts of snow. Or even that some states have snow. I've seen more gray skies in the past month than I hope to see ever again. And so instead of festive beads or figure skating or birthday cake, I'm giving this carnival a touch of spring. It really is coming.

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"
~Mark Twain

Let's start with Conni of Mrs. MamaHen, who has a great suggestion for combating the winter "blahs." As she says, "Sometimes you just need to break out of the monotony of the classroom, and get out and enjoy the freedom that homeschooling gives you. Our family took off this week on a spur of the moment field trip to the state capital and museums there." Check out their Spur of the Moment Field Trip.

Melissa relates a great homeschooling connection with The swans....(a "homeschool rocks" moment) posted at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys in the Yard.

Aadel presents some great resources for Minoans and Mycenaeans . . . posted at "Hi, I'm (insert name)."

Denise presents great ideas for teaching math at Prime Numbers Are like Monkeys posted at Let's play math!.

At Home Is Where You Start From, Jenny and her kids have been making wood block prints. She lists the materials and walks you through the steps at Wood Block Prints with Kids.

I think we'd all agree with Cookie that "homeschooling means doing what works" in Captain Crunch is Teaching My Child to Read posted at Cookie's Domain.

Michelle has a goal of training her kids to be "capable young adults," and she shares one way to go about this in Kids in the Kitchen posted at Michelle Dennis Evans.

ChristineMM of The Thinking Mother is excited about her Son's Self-Initiated Writing Project. It's so great to watch kids writing on their own!

And speaking of writing, this is a great place to introduce you to my WordSmithery here on SmallWorld at Home. I have several weeks' worth of free creative writing lessons on my blog. If you're looking for a way to break out of the winter doldrums, join us on the WordSmithery!

"The daffodil is our doorside queen; She pushes upward the sword already,
To spot with sunshine the early green." ~William Cullen Bryant

Miranda Kuskie presents Why I’m Choosing To Homeschool My Daughter posted at Keeper of the Cheerios. Go over and cheer on Miranda as she pulls her daughter out of public school and begins the homeschooling journey!

Tiana wonders "Why do we beat ourselves up so much? Why do so many homeschooling families quit after just a year or two?" Here she presents lessons learned from A Little Bit of Spontaneity posted at God Made, Home Grown.

Kerry presents her ideas on How to be a radical home educator at The Ten O'Clock Scholar.

Margy tackles some common misconceptions with Debunking the Homeschooling Myths posted at Homeschool Highschool.

Alasandra of Alasandra's Homeschool Blog is tired of homeschoolers being all lumped together. Read why at Fed Up.

Shannon presents Socialization...Again -- Oy vay posted at Mountaineer Country.

Katherine at No Fighting, No Biting! discusses her take on The Economist's article about homeschooling in different countries with Why Is Homeschooling So Popular?

Find out how Carletta of Successful Homeschooling overcame "supermom syndrome" in How Do You Do It All?

What you perceive isn't always what's really going on, as Abigail of Little RV on the Hillside observes in Sometimes…It Is All About Perception…and Focus.

"No bird's song is more associated with the return of Spring than the Bluebird's…"
~Frank M. Chapman, Birdlife, 1897

Cabin fever can be terribly contagious in February. Pamela presents what her family did during A Break In The Rain posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.

A recent child development book discusses downsides of excessive socialization by peers. Check out Catherine's assessment of the NurtureShock chapter "Plays Well With Others" at Petticoat Government.

Linda Dobson stresses the importance of digging deeper to pull the curtain on the "Might Education Wizard" at Oz Never Did Give Nothin’ to the Children They Didn’t Already Have posted at Parent at the Helm.

Cheryl presents the importance of promises in Why You Should Keep Your Word? posted at Homeschooling for 3.

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." ~Anne Bradstreet

As Barbara Frank says, "Sometimes cabin fever can make you question why you're homeschooling." Read her Questions, I Get Questions at Barbara Frank Online.

Cristina presents Home Spun comic strip #446 posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Deana has been blogging for a year now, so she's celebrating with lots of giveaways at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom. Check out the list of giveaways on her sidebar!

Denise presents Adding Photos & Giving Credit at Blogging 2 Learn.

Lots of mom bloggers do the "day books" on their blogs. Tricia takes a different approach by having her kids do one at Kids' Day Books posted at Home School MamaMi.

Dana discusses how we tend to "focus on all the superfluous, irrelevant, subjective details" in such cases as related here in Homeschool family charged with murder, torture, child abuse posted at Roscommon Acres.

"O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?" ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Sounds like a surprising field trip, but Kimberly makes the Andersonville Prison Camp sound like a great place to visit at Life of a Homeschool Family.

Niner presents a great winter project with How To Make a French Memo Board posted at 19 & Still Alive.

Rachel has some great ideas with 3 More Games to Play While Waiting posted at Minds in Bloom.

Jennifer writes that her homeschooling journey has been "defined by the learning disabilities and health struggles in my family." Here she presents What I have Learned While Homeschooling! at Creative Learners .

The Deputy Headmistress of The Common Room argues that "good spiritual training AND good academic skills are NOT mutually exclusive" in Character and Education. This post should be required reading for homeschoolers!

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool digs back into his archives and shares some of his Reasons to Homeschool. It's always good to look back and remember why we started this journey—and to be amazed at how many more reasons we've added along the way.

And finally, Monica brings us back to the Olympics in Far from perfect, reaching for gold posted at Educating Magpies.


Thanks for visiting here at SmallWorld. That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. You can submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on Why Homeschool. Thanks to Henry Cate for being the official CofH organizer. The next carnival will take place at The Daily Planet.

And remember:

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow!"