Homeschool Showcase #20

Welcome to the March 23, 2009 edition of Homeschool Showcase, where we spotlight all the the encouraging, inspiring, hands-on, and just plain fun ways that homeschooling families live, learn and enjoy life together.





This week's featured post is the beginning of an awesome unit study full of fun, crafts, fantastic books and family memories. Jolanthe presents Visiting the Netherlands: Week 1 at her blog, Homeschool Creations. You'll find lesson plan ideas, step-by-step craft instructions and even a video featuring Jolanthe's mom, who is from the Netherlands, and her daughters reciting a simple Dutch prayer. I'll definitely be keeping these ideas in mind for future Around the World Day activities with my local homeschool group.

As a big fan (though not as big an implementer) of "living math," I love Jimmie's ideas in her post, Graphing and Tangrams with Living Math, found at One Child Policy Homeschool. Jimmie says "We're using our math textbook and workbook less and less in favor of more hands on activities. This is fun and creative math!" Who wouldn't enjoy more of that?

Speaking of living math, I don't think there's a homeschooling parent out there who doesn't agree that cooking together is one of the best ways to combine family togetherness, practical learning for life, educational opportunity and plain old fun. From reading recipes to measuring ingredients, cooking together offers an incredible opportunity for hands-on fun and practical learning. If you agree that this is true, but don't know where to start, Neighbor Nancy offers us her list of Essential Cookbooks for Kids posted at Recession Depression Therapy.

Jenafer's Scientific Journey Ends With Messy Floors encounter may have created more of a mess than she was expecting, but it sure looks like fun! Be sure to read about their journey, complete with pictures so that we can live vicariously, posted at Cage Free Monkeys.

Remember those dirt and sand ant farms (I do because we had one and it was so much fun!)? Well, C Merrick introduces us to the new and improved Gel Ant Farm - A Space Age Habitat For Ants posted at Gel Ant Farms.

This next entry is incredible! I'm probably not quite as proud as Dana, since, you know, it's her daughter, but as fellow homeshooling moms, I think we can all share the pride a bit when a homeschooled kid does something really awesome. Check out Dana's post, My daughter’s e-zine published!, which you can find posted at Principled Discovery.

If you're studying space and astronomy, as we soon will be, in addition to Dana's daughter's fabulous e-zine, you'll also want to check out Sarah Scrafford's list of 50 Awesome Open Courseware Classes on Space & Astronomy, posted at Rated Colleges.

The following entry, from Scott Palat , will reinforce what we already know as homeschooling parents: Kids learn best when they're interested, encouraged and engaged. Read Scott's post, Five Ways a One-On-One Tutor Can Help a Student, for your daily dose of encouragement as well as some practical tips on how you can utilize the things that interest your students. You can find the article posted at Tutor-fi.

Samantha presents a very timely post for my family since we're studying the Middle Ages this year. You're going to love her Alphabet Book of the Middle Ages posted at To Be Busy at Home. As Samantha points out, this is an activity that is easily adaptable to a wide range of ages. I think I've still got a handful of the "blank books" I purchased at last year's curriculum fair that will be prefect for this project.

Nate Desmond presents Book Review: American Government (CQR), highlighting a study guide that will prove useful to students preparing for the CLEP test or simply those who have recently reached voting age and need a better understanding of how the American system of government works. I haven't seen the book yet, but I have to wonder if it might not also be useful for a unit on the American government or civics. You can find the review posted at Debt-free Scholar.

Seriously, can I just go live at Cindy West's house? They're always doing something awesome and this week is no different. I need to send Cindy a person thank-you for supplying my homeschool group with loads of great ideas. (Thank you, Cindy!) This week, she presents Creation Club - Evergreens, Focusing on Conifers at her blog, Our Journey Westward.

Someone else who always has great ideas is Amida. This week, she presents a fabulous mini-tutorial, complete with photos, on Japanese Kite Making, which you can view by visiting Journey Into Unschooling.

Julie Moses presents a fun-looking and unique way for kids to study spelling words with her post, Spelling Tangle posted at Kids Art Projects and Lessons at Ms. Julie's Place.

I always enjoy the tips and ideas from Amy Smith of Kids Love Learning and this one is no exception. Amy tells us about a recent great Internet find and tips on how she uses it in her homeschool. Check out her find and her fabulous tips as you and your kids Learn About the Orchestra.

With a reminder to keep your children safe, Professor presents Sexual Predator Found Guilty! posted at Professor of Protection.

Becca Glouzstein presents Mothering Sunday Inspiration posted at Inspiration for Mothers . Com, saying, "March 22nd is Mothering Sunday in the UK. This article is dedicated to all you wonderful mothers carrying out hardest job in the world every day" Maybe this will give all the U.S. readers a little head start on ideas to honor your mom for Mother's Day this May.

And, with another timely time for this Twitter-illiterate who was just thinking I might need to get with the program, Erika Collin presents 100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers on Twitter posted at Online College Degree.

That concludes this edition. Thanks to everyone who submitted posts for making this another fabulous carnival week. Please consider submitting your blog article to the next edition of Homeschool Showcase using our carnival submission form. Click here for details and guidelines. Past posts and future dates can be found on our blog carnival index page.

child cooking photo by qwrrty