Homeschool Showcase #22

Welcome to the May 4, 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. As a bonus this week, Homeschool Showcase is the featured carnival on Blog Carnival's home page. If you're a homeschooling parent visiting for the first time today, I hope you'll bookmark us and join in the fun on the next edition and, if you're a regular reader, be sure to visit Blog Carnival to see what other carnivals you might want to join.

Our featured post this week is from Jolanthe, of Homeschool Creations. Jolanthe and her kids have made another awesome and educational craft while studying biomes and ocean life. She shares her creativity with us in her post, Making a Sea Fan and Coral Reef, which offers photos and a step-by-step tutorial. I love her idea for using needlepoint canvas for making sea fans! They turned out so cute!

Amy Smith has gotten me terribly excited about the book, The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach, which you can find posted at Kids Love Learning. It sounds like Amy's homeschooling style is very much like my own and she mentions that this is one of the best homeschooling books she's ever read. Yeah, I may have to get my hands on a copy of this one.

Have you ever studied light and struggled to find a fun experiment the whole family could enjoy? Well, Samantha, of To Be Busy at Home, shares with us a fun and unique tool that she and her kids discovered in her post, Ultraviolet Light Sensitive Beads. Samantha says, "The ultraviolet light sensitive beads were so cool! We were all completely amazed by how well they worked!"

Amida of Journey Into Unschooling, has a fantastic new header picture that screams, "Spring!" and her post, Life-Sized Field Guide, beckons us to get out and enjoy the season. She shares her tips for making a sturdy, customized, hands-on field guide for learning about the plants in, literally, your own backyard.

Make it from Scratch's Stephanie shares recipes and photos from her family's Czech for Lunch, which they prepared while learning about the Czech Republic. I'm warning you, though, the post you'll find at Make It From Scratch will make you hungry!

jenafer shares the excitement of Our First Camping Trip of the Season Completed, along with some beautiful photos, posted at Cage Free Monkeys.

In her post, The Joy of the Parenting Relationship, Erin offers some of the most practical parenting advice I've seen in awhile. She speaks about what I have called the hardest part of homeschooling. Erin hits the nail on the head when she says, "The days can pass too quickly with only conversations about schoolwork and chores. If we speak only in commands, we have missed out." Don't miss her insightful words and timely tips, posted at Delighting in His Richness.

In a similar vein, Tracy Dear reminds us to beware of allowing ourselves to become slaves to our schedules in her post, Beginning to Rain? Jump at the Chance! posted at higher education. It's a wise parent who occasionally lets those impromptu memory-making moments trump the schedule.

Vikki Lawrence-Williams has come up with a unique way to simultaneously help her son with his stuttering problem and fulfill their state's requirement for "speaking." Check out her post, Videos to Overcome Stuttering at School-At-Home / Kid Whispers. I think Vikki has hit on a great way for any student to review what he's learned while improving organizational and speaking skills.

Fiona Lohrenz offers her A Late, Great Idea, which could easily be adapted for any theme for either an indoor or outdoor activity. You can find her modified Easter egg hunt ideas on her blog, Child Care Only.

Jimmie and her daughter recently decided to "kick off [their] chemistry study with the purchase of real lab equipment." Not only does Jimmie share some fabulous photos and links to their curriculum sources, but she also feeds the curiosity of those of us who enjoy the cultural aspect of her blog as much as the home educating side as she tells us about purchasing Chemistry Equipment. Be sure to visit Jimmie at One Child Policy Homeschool.

Nate Desmond offers a fabulous resource for homeschool students preparing to go to college with his 10 Killer Tips for Scholarship Applicants posted at Debt-free Scholar. You'll want to bookmark this list and refer to it frequently if you've got a college-bound student who could benefit from a scholarship and, with the current economy, who couldn't benefit from free money for college?

Those planning for college will, at some point, have to take the grandaddy of all standardized tests, the SAT. If you or your student are one of those preparing to take the SAT, be sure to read Erika Collin's article, 100 Free and Excellent Online SAT Prep Tools posted at Rated Colleges.

And, if you're looking to supplement an older student's education or your own, OnlineCollege presents The Master List of Free Online College Courses posted at Universities and Colleges.

Do you have a piano-player in your home? Helene Zemel presents Piano Practice Techniques that Everyone Can Use posted at The Piano Blog. I am always rather envious of people who can play piano; I can't even play Chopsticks.

Britannica Blog poses the questions, What Can Cognitive Psychology Do For Teachers?, saying, "What, if anything, can knowledge gleaned from cognitive psychology do for classroom teachers? I have heard the gamut of opinions on this subject, from “Anyone who is not a teacher cannot tell teachers anything of value” to “Cognitive science is going to save American education.” (The former opinion was expressed by a teacher; the latter by a college president.)" You'll find the answer posted at Britannica Blog,

You may find some areas of interest to explore with your children during your summer break or for an upcoming project on 100 Favorite Library Sites for Children and Their Parents, posted by Patricia Turner at Online University Lowdown. Each entry includes a brief synopsis of the services you can expect to access at each site.

Sarah Scrafford shares another extensive list of online tools in her post, 100 Tips and Tools to Research the Social Web, which can be found posted at Select Courses.

That concludes this edition of Homeschool Showcase. I hope you found some encouragement, inspiration, or ideas you can use. I'd like to thank everyone who submitted a post for this week's carnival. You can submit your blog article to the next edition of Homeschool Showcase, scheduled for May 18, using our carnival submission form. Please be sure to read the guidelines if you're new to Homeschool Showcase. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

rain photo by mimentza

beaker photo by mrpattersonsir