January 29th, 2010 § 0
Another cold January weekend….the perfect time to stay home where it’s nice and warm and spend some time visiting this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling.
We can learn so much from others on this homeschooling journey. The carnival makes it easy to check in with a variety of bloggers and get their take on all sorts of homeschool-related topics. It’s a great way to relax and learn at the same time. See you there!
January 7th, 2010 § 3
Back in the day, when I was a wannabe homeschooler, there weren’t many places to go to learn about homeschooling. I received a lovely little newsletter from the Moores that I devoured as soon as it arrived in my mailbox. I got the name of a homeschooling parent several towns away, called her, and soaked up her advice with gratitude. But that was about all the encouragement I could find.
Who could have imagined back in 1984, when I first learned about homeschooling, that someday there would be this thing called the Internet, where you could find more homeschool encouragement than you could ever absorb?
Of course, with so much available about homeschooling, it can sometimes be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. That’s why people like the Cates are so cool. The Cates began the official Carnival of Homeschooling, where each week you can read an assortment of posts related to homeschooling. It’s the best place I know to find bloggers you’ll want to visit again and again.
The Carnival takes a lot of work, and none of those involved get paid for it. I think it’s a labor of love. We bloggers love this lifestyle, and what it does for our kids, and we want to share that good news with anyone who’s interested in learning about it. That goes double for those who organize the posts into each week’s carnival.
This week is the carnival’s fourth anniversary. Wow…..210 weeks’ worth of informative blog posts, laid out in clever themes for your enjoyment. And you can still check any of them out, if you wish, right here.
Many thanks to the Cates, and to all the others who have hosted or will host the Carnival of Homeschooling. You do a great service to parents everywhere.
November 5th, 2009 § 5
R2D2, aka DAK
Some people apparently take frugal tips pretty seriously; note a couple of cranky commenters at this post. Two thought the blogger’s tips were too common, and one misguided soul suggested the blogger stop homeschooling, put her kids in school and start an in-home daycare.
Instead of complaining that someone’s frugal tips are too basic, most commenters helped by sharing their own tips. I think I’ll do the same for the next few posts.
Bread machines
My beloved Oster bread machine died several months ago after about ten years of use. The unit still worked but the pan began leaking oil (or something similar) into the bread because the seal was shot. A perusal of eBay introduced me to a few people* who would love to sell me a replacement pan for $20 plus $10 shipping.
Not interested. Instead, I hit the local Goodwill and bought a replacement, a Regal for $9. It made so-so dough and baked bread that resembled a doorstop in shape and heft.
I waited patiently while watching Goodwill for a new bread machine but kept seeing the same type as the Regal. A blogging friend suggested I buy a Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine
I know how ticked I’d be if I spent $200 on anything and it didn’t work right. So I decided to keep being patient and checking Goodwill. But then I saw a Sunbeam breadmaker at Walmart for $50. It had pretty decent online reviews, so I decided to use my birthday gift money to buy one, but when I went back, they’d cleared out that model and replaced it with another, whose model number came up empty on a Google search. Not a good sign!
Not long after this, I stopped by Goodwill and found four bread machines. Three were Regals or looked like them. The fourth was so funny looking that I didn’t realize it was a bread machine at first. But it came with recipes, and at $5 it seemed worth the gamble.
Turns out it’s old (1990) and works great! It has quite a fan club, and I can see why. I thought I was being so clever calling it R2D2 until I found out that many people call it that.
Anyway, it makes great bread and dough, it was $50 cheaper than the bread machine I saw at Walmart, and $200 cheaper than the Zojirushi. Definitely worth waiting for!
* Sounds like a profitable racket, so I gave my old Oster and the Regal to my eBay seller daughter, hoping she can make some money off the parts, paddles and manuals 
April 21st, 2009 § 8
Having my own homegrown techie available to help me with my site and blog is really convenient, but it has its hazards. She can do things that I can’t do, and I can’t undo.
Case in point: Dd17 was going through one of my childhood photo albums when she suddenly decided my blog needs a photo of me….hence the new addition to the upper right corner of this blog.
“Mom,” she says, “You still have bangs, and you still make that face sometimes!”
Yep, some things never change
March 28th, 2009 § 4
We’re on Spring Break this coming week. For me, that means getting caught up on work around the house, doing some things with my family, and not blogging.
Instead, I’m pre-posting excerpts (for this Monday through Friday) from five books that have had a major effect on me, in order to share them with you. I’ll be back posting “live” the week of April 6.
In the meantime, if you’re a homeschooling parent looking for lots of homeschool articles, you’ll find plenty at my site.
October 17th, 2008 § 2
Many thanks to Renae, who included me in a group of bloggers she has awarded the Excellent Homeschool Blog award. She gave it to me just as I launched this blog, so she’s referring to my old blog, but I hope to keep the title with this blog, too
October 16th, 2008 § 0
This week’s Carnival of Homeschooling is in honor of the Missing Day. Which day was that? You’ll have to go see for yourself. While you’re there, do take time to enjoy the wide variety of posts, all related to homeschooling and sponsored by Homeschoolbuzz.com.
