The skies are gray, the temperature’s headed back down again, somebody still isn’t catching on to fractions and keeps whining to you that it’s too hard……feeling down? Get a double shot of homeschool encouragement:
1) Dewey’s Treehouse is sponsoring this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling.
2) The February issue of “The Imperfect Homeschooler” is up. Read the whole thing here and get upcoming issues in your email by subscribing here.
There now, don’t you feel better? 🙂
U.S. News and World Report recently came up with “50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2009.” I don’t agree with everything they’ve put on their list, and a few of them are things I already do, such as “Put Your Cash in Safe Accounts” and “Watch TV Free Online.”
A couple of others are already long-time habits of mine, such as “Lose the Microwave Mentality” and “Air Dry Your Laundry.”
But there are just two that I would like to try this year: “Keep a ‘Clothes Hanger’ Journal” and “Get Fit as You Get Older.”
How about it? Do any of them strike a chord with you?
Convention season is on the way. It won’t be long before that brochure shows up in the mail box again, offering early bird discounts and listing a stellar line-up of homeschool speakers.
Some homeschoolers avoid conventions, believing that they can learn what they need to know from Web sites, books, magazines and of course, like-minded friends.
Those are all good resources, but there’s an energy found at the convention that you can’t get anywhere else. Being around so many other homeschooling parents is quite invigorating. Some speakers are really encouraging. And having the opportunity to flip through new homeschooling resources for hours is a huge plus.
The homeschool convention makes a good outing for the couple that can get someone to watch their children. My husband went with me a few times, which gave us a really good opportunity to talk about our children and how the homeschooling was going (what our goals were for the kids, etc.) in a way we could never find time for in our daily lives.
There are things you can do to make your homeschool convention experience a fantastic one. Ive experienced many homeschool conventions as an attendee and also as a vendor. You’ll find my tips for a great homeschool convention experience in “Keys to a Successful Homeschool Convention Experience.”
Wait until you see the clever way Beverly over at Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog set up this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling. It’s really cute, and she sure got a lot of submissions. Check it out!
Once I learned about the prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup in the foods we eat, and how it makes people fat, I began making even more foods from scratch using sugar or honey. I also like honey in my tea.
Now I find out that some of the honey being sold here in the U.S.A. is actually made in China and then labeled as coming from a different country. Yes, the process really is called honey-laundering, and it’s becoming a real problem.
China is finally getting the negative attention it deserves for allowing all sorts of awful things in the foods it exports (see my recent post on fish), and is responding by sneaking its foods into this country using the subterfuge of mislabeling.
I’m going to have to find a local resource for honey, that’s for sure.