Homeschool Showcase (Formerly Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers) #13

Welcome to the December 15, 2008 edition of The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers! You're probably noticing that things look different. For one thing, if you've participated in this carnival for awhile, you probably expected to find yourself at Homeschooled Twins. For another, well, it doesn't say The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers in the title and it's not Tuesday. Finally, if you're a regular reader of my blog,you're probably just saying, "Huh?"



Allow me to clear up the confusion. Last week, Shez, of Homeschooled Twins, emailed me, asking me if I would be interested in heading up the carnival. She's been having some health problems that are preventing her from maintaining the carnival, so please keep her in your prayers. After lots of email conversations, we worked out the details of the transition, as well as a name change.

For the sake of simplicity, I'll detail the changes and submission guidelines in a separate post. For now, onto the carnival...

Presenting Homeschool Showcase, previously The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers:

Angie presents Introduce Your Kids To Lots of Different Careers posted at The Homeschool Classroom, saying, "This is an article about introducing your kids to many different careers in order to help them make more educated choices about what they would like to do later in life."

This, to me, is one of the most awesome benefits of homeschooling: being able to allow our children the time and resources to explore their talents, interests and areas of gifting. It just seems crazy to me that we see our eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds as too young for making decisions about marriage and family (which most of them are!), and yet we expect them to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives, career wise without ever having given them the opportunity to fully explore their options.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Neuroplasticity and the Brain That Changes Itself posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Review of a great book with compelling tales about the amazing abilities of the brain to rewire, readjust and relearn."

JCL at Gifted Uniquely - Homeschool Twins reminds us that it's the simple things in life that are really the most important with her post, The Simplest Confound the Wise.

Have you ever wondered how a homeschooled teen really feels about being homeschooled? Alison of Homeschoolers' Guide to the Galaxy finds out...and she shares it with us! Be sure to read her interview, Artist Girl on Homeschooling.

I was a little envious of Silvia Barrett's experience with Riding Lessons Continue--Bareback! posted at Po Moyemu--In My Opinion. It sounded like so much fun! This horse-loving mama and my horse-loving teen would have gladly taken her place. I agree with Sylvia when she says, "Learning new things with your kids can be just amazing for both of you! I'm so glad they started riding and I get to have an excuse to ride also!"


Visit Delighting in His Richness to get the details on how to make adorable -- and frugal -- little scrapbooks, along with ideas on how to use them in your homeschool, in 5intow's post, Frugal Scrapbooks with many uses.

Although my religious and political views generally differ from those of Alasandra, I have to agree with her thoughts on Why I will not boycott ABC posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards. While you're there, be sure to vote on her blog awards. Voting continues until December 31.

Ignore me while I throw in my own little plug about how Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers is nominated in the adult (no, not that kind of adult) blog category and The Homeschool Classroom is nominated in the group blog category.

(Shameless plug over, back to your regularly schedule blog carnival.)

Amy Smith shows us how to make an adorable craft that even the youngest kids can enjoy in her post Thumbprint Art with Ed Emberley posted at Kids Love Learning.

Being the grammar snob that I can be (shhh...don't tell anyone. I try not to let it show), I think everyone should go read English Subject's submission, Avoiding Tricky English Grammar Mistakes posted at English Tutorial.

GrrlScientist also offers an incredible video of something that I have never, in my entire life, witnessed -- a baby chick hatching from its egg! You're whole family will love Welcome to the World posted at Living the Scientific Life. GrrlScientist says "This is a really interesting little video that features a chick hatching out of its egg. It also includes some really fun banjo playing as background music -- great for homeschooling and for classrooms." I couldn't agree more!

Amy Smith strikes again with a fabulous, ready-to-use, unit study, Ancient Egypt Unit posted at Kids Love Learning. I wish I'd had this one a few months ago when we were studying Ancient Egypt. It would have been a wonderful addition to our Story of the World study, but will work equally well as a stand-alone unit. As a former unit study writing mom who still looks at every study with a unit study mindset, I was very impressed.

Thomas J. West presents The Process of Learning a Musical Instrument posted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, "How does a person learn to play a musical instrument? What does science tell us about the process of learning? Understanding the process of mastering a skill can make you a more effective student."

Gil Ortiz features a video of his trip to the Teotihuacan pyramids in his post, gilocafe posted at gilocafe.

Thomas J. West offers his thoughts on But It's Too Hard! The Myth of Difficulty posted at Thomas J. West Music. He says,"How many times in your life have you heard someone say, "I can't do it. This is too hard!"? It is practically the battle cry of any struggling student in any subject area. It is the mantra of those who were raised in a culture where success and failure continue to be taken personally. When I inevitably have a student tell me that a song they are striving to play on their musical instrument is too hard, I always give them the perspective that "hard" and "easy" are completely subjective terms relative to one's level of experience with any given task."

Be sure to read GrrlScientist's review of the book, The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes, Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies posted at Living the Scientific Life. The book is "by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns, this is an entertaining and informative romp through twenty "kitchen science" projects."

Let me just say that I see some homemade marshmallows and an iPod boom box made with Tupperware products in my future...just as soon as I can get my hands on The Hungry Scientist Handbook!

In an absolutely perfectly-timed post, Amy Smith of Kids Love Learning presents Nativity Crafts and Activities, loaded with links and ideas for fun Nativity crafts and activities. If you were looking for something fun, yet meaningful to do with your kids in the last few days before Christmas, this is your answer!



Heather Dunham of motherbynature.ca shares one of those moments that warms a homeschool mom's heart as her son has a self-motivated learning moment thanks to the Japanese math game, Kakuro. Read about her family's experience in her post Kakuro to the rescue.

We're offered some important tips when Learning Spanish Numbers by Spanish Kit, presented at Learn Spanish Blog.

Belle is excited to offer handmade goat milk soap in her store. I don't blame her. I think that making goat milk soap would be an awesome thing to learn to do. No, I won't ever do it, but it sounds like an awesome learning experience -- and I'm pretty sure that I saw an episode on this very topic on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Maybe he was at Belle's house. ;-) Be sure to check out Born 100 Years too Soon - Goat Milk Soap is now Available at my store posted at Born 100 Years to Soon.

Forget boring flash card drills! Shen-Li Lee has found an innovative way to create Tailor-Made Flash Cards for Your Child Babylicious, posted at Babylicious. I'll bet you'll be as impressed as I was...and get some ideas for using the same technique for lots of applications in your homeschool.

Thomas J. West presents Thomas J. West Music Music Education Practice Tips posted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, "What happens to your musical playing skills if you take 12 days off? Ask Michael Phelps - the answer may surprise you."

And, finally, be sure to check out my own post Step-by-Step: Making Egg Carton Bee Crafts. We thought they turned out really cute. They make a great craft for any age (hey, I had fun making this one!) and can be used for a study on bees or simply the letter B, for preschoolers.

That concludes this edition of Homeschool Showcase: Where the spotlight's on you, formerly The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Homeschool Showcase using our carnival submission form.

Chick photo by montage_man

Horseback riding photo by freeparking