Homeschooling and Black History

 The other day, I wrote about my anxiety about teaching the hard parts of American History, most specifically black history.  The good news, is that once I write these things down and get them out of my heart, I am pretty much over it.

Now I get to enjoy the good parts about it.  Yesterday we spent an hour discussing westward expansion and

Tying it all together

I love the fact that we can make the students curriculum cohesive by making sure that different subjects follow the same time line.  For example, Right we are studying US History 2, so I was able to assign a book for literature that is from the same time period.  It was really cool today to be discussing westward migration and find Mark Twain's name listed as a reason people moved west as he'd romanticized the west. It only makes sense to be reading Huckleberry Finn right now.

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor

An appeal to dropouts and kids who are thinking about it (video)

Video Tuesdays Entry:

I have a special place in my heart for kids struggling to finish highschool. Students who have dropped out, who are in the process of dropping out, or thinking about

Carnival of Homeschooling, August 31, edition

 This week's carnival comes from New Orleans, (A city that captured my husband's heart).  Cajun mama Amy Bayliss did an excellent job putting the carnival  and gives you a peek into each entry. 

Enjoy.

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor

I am not ashamed to say: I'm Glad We Don't Have a Daily School Commute

I have seen it written on many a message board that homeschoolers are lazy and one of the reasons they homeschool is so they don't have to get up in the morning to get the kids on the school bus or drive to school...  While that is crazy, as EVERYTHING we do is so much harder than just getting up in the morning, I am not ashamed to say that I am glad I don't have to take them to school every morning.

If you follow my blog, you know that we homeschool on Mondays, and Wednesday through Friday.  On Tuesdays,

The lesson I never wanted to teach

Can't fathom not being in mixed company

 I finally had to teach the lesson today that I never, ever, wanted to teach.  I'd done a pretty good job avoiding over the years.

NO, it is not about sex ed, or even higher math.  Those things don't scare me.  What scares me (or scared me) as teaching my African American Children about

THE LOOK and other weird responses to homeschooling

A lot of homeschoolers complain about being accosted in public with people questioning them about homeschooling as if they have a personal stake in their children.  (Mama Julep, who I just discovered writes about these intrusions, among other cool stuff.) Interestingly enough, no one does that to me... anymore.

Maybe it's because my kids are 5'5" and 6'2" (they're both 4 inches taller than when this picture was taken)  and people rarely notice that they're school age.  Maybe it's because I've perfected a look that tells them "don't even go there".  But regardless,