The 81st Carnival of Homeschooling

Well, better late than never.

Dana at Principled Discovery wrote me on Tuesday with a tip about the latest Carnival of Homeschooling, which she is hosting this week. I put her message in my “to do” pile for the day, and then…

Blogger decided to shut down access to our blog for the rest of that day, and part of the next.

Even after we were back on the air, things got kind of crazy, so that I’m just now getting around to posting about it. Fortunately for all of us, the helpful information to be found at the Carnival doesn’t stale-date quickly.

This week’s Carnival is a special Teacher In Service Edition, the virtual homeschool equivalent of a teachers’ work day. The post is loaded with how-to tips for parents who teach their kids.

Don’t miss the humorous and very brief introductory anecdote from Dewey’s Treehouse — I won’t spoil it by quoting it here; you must go and read it.

As usual, I scrolled down to look for my field, Math. The first entry I noticed was from Homeschool CPA, a homeschooling mother who is also a Certified Public Accountant, with answers to the question, “When Do I Start Teaching the Kids About Money?”

Next I went looking for my other pet subject, Art. That’s where I ran into one of my favorite bloggers, the Headmistress at The Common Room, who quotes extensively from Charlotte Mason’s books to advise on the best ways to teach art appreciation to children.

Other topic areas include Motivational, Planning, Language Arts, Physical Education, Home Economics, Science, Character, Law, and Field Trips. Each one has a number of blog entries listed under it. There’s a wealth of material available covering all aspects of home education.

And don’t expect any political correctness in these entries, either.

If you want to learn how to teach your kids at home, there isn’t a better place to start than the Carnival of Homeschooling.

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Readers may remember that the future Baron Bodissey was homeschooled by me until he was twelve. A few weeks ago…
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…he graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Chemistry. His interest in the subject began during his homeschooling, when his cousin gave him a Periodic Table of the Elements to supplement his studies.

He was about nine at the time, and immediately became fascinated with chemistry. He just fell in love with the periodic table. He never looked back, and is now about to begin a career in a chemistry-related field, oenology (known to us peons as wine-making).

He has taken a job, and will work for a year in a winery. After that it will be graduate school at Virginia Tech for their two-year oenology program, which combines chemistry, agriculture, and business. Once he has his degree, his dream is to go into business for himself, and start his own winery right here in Central Virginia.

It just goes to show that you never know where homeschooling will lead.