Not Another Homeschool Blog

Just finished filling out attendance sheets for the rest of the year.   I scheduled them to be emailed on the appropriate days. At the end of April, we will have made the 180 school day requirement. No.  nothing will change, so I felt comfortable filling them out in advance. We don't do sick days.  If the kids get sick, I put them on the couch and hand them a book or put on some educational videos.  This is homeschooling people... real life.  They never stop learning, even when they feel a little yucky. If something changes drastically, I can always cancel the scheduled email and make changes anyway... but at the end of it all, we do wayyyy more than 180 days a school year, so I am not worried about the details. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

Tech week starts Saturday.  My daughter will have drama club rehearsal and set building every.single.day and for many hours each day.  All other learning will stop.  It will be hard for me to work.  We will be eating, sleeping, buying junk food and fast food, and getting back to business. In anticipation of this production of Annie Get Your Gun, some of the boys in the drama club made a funny video.  Link here:  oh, and here's my daughters finished ball gown for the show. We did some costume reshuffling.  Her purple ball gown was remodeled to be  her can-can outfit.  The top to the can-can outfit and underskirt are now the ballgown.  (We added alot of lace trim)  In other news, the ACT is coming up a week after the show.  My sons (my son and his friend) practice test scores look very good.  Here's to hoping they don't panic on the test. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Br...

 As the school year winds down, I find my schedule filling up.  We need to re-work drama club costumes for the play. Finish up our curriculum for the year.(We might actually take the summer off!) Get my son ready for his ACT and so much more. I planned to get the curriculum finished early because I knew the end of the school year was going to be hectic. I was right. And when all of this is done, I need to finalize educational plans for the kids Jr. and Sr. years of homeschooling. Yikes! FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

 If I could ride a bike I would say that learning to use the sewing machine again was as easy as riding a bike.  I guess I could say it was easier. In a weeks time, we have made a Western Costume, for Annie Get Your Gun as well as a skirt for her Can-can costume, and altered a ball gown.  My daughter is circle-skirt queen, so I am just sewing on the ruffles which she finds tedious and doing the waistbands. I also had to alter an outfit to make it more Disco for a different performance.  As my daughter wants to study Theater and costuming in college, and I really enjoyed sewing this week, I am seriously considering making and selling costumes on Ebay, especially with the web-content business being shaky right now.  (Google changed algorithms and my pay per-read article income got cut. FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE MY BUSINESS WEBSITE WalletPop Contributor Brighthub Contributor

Welcome to the March 1, 2011 edition of carnival of homeschooling. I am happy to be hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling once again.  As a homeschooler of 8+ years, I find the Carnival as my best source of inspiration and education when it comes to homeschooling.  From new Ideas to encouragement, you fellow homeschoolers truly inspire me.  I am entitling this Carnival, Thanks for the Inspiration for that reason.  I am truly appreciative. Here is this week's Carnival:  Teaching and Learning: Katherine presents storytime hits posted at No Fighting, No Biting! , saying, "Big kids enjoy (and learn from) storytime as much as preschoolers." Elena LaVictoire presents The necessities of kindergarten posted at My Domestic Church . nak presents Economics for Nine-Year-Olds : The Mississipi Bubble posted at Sage Parnassus . Carol J. Alexander presents Homesteading Homeschoolers--Meet the Beachy's posted at Everything Home...with Carol . N...

 I wrote this article on the proposed changes to the HOPE scholarship here in GA. Governor's Proposals Would Dim HOPE Scholarships Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's proposed changes to the HOPE scholarship would significantly alter the pledge that Georgia made to students back in 1992 .  Read more  Basically, the HOPE scholarship is taking a 10% cut plus fees will no longer be paid.  This may cost the average student $1500 a year. If students are superior with a 3.5 GPA and 1200 SAT, they get the full ride, minus fees. But what about homeschoolers? As of right now, homeschoolers need a 85th percentile score to get HOPE as a Freshman.  They can get it retroactively if they maintain a B average.  So, why do homeschoolers need a higher SAT/ACT score than the Top public school students who will get a full ride.  And, if they do get that higher score, do they get the full HOPE or HOPE lite.  And if there are two tiers now, do they set a higher tier ...

From the time  I began homeschooling, I always worked from the premise that my kids were gifted... that they had genius potential. Hearing a mom say that surely has many rolling their eyes, but I have always felt that every child was gifted at .. something.  It is up to the parent and educators to help them find what that area of giftedness is and to bring it out. Over the years I have become frustrated with people who told me that my child wasn't ready for this or that based on their age or based on what other kids were doing.  It seemed strange to me that I was homeschooling and that people still expected me to follow the crowd.  It has been hard fighting a tide of when a child is supposed to do what and when, but as the parent and educator is has been my goal to and my responsibility to advocate for my children and to get them the resources they needed. I wish I had met these people (The Staffords) a few years ago and known that they had a program to help pa...