Welcome, one and all, to the Carnival of Homeschooling!

It’s been a rough time for us lately… Unemployment… New job, but underemployed, and having to move out of our house… Living in the RV with three kids and four cats…

And we just learned that my Father-in-Law has been diagnosed with lung cancer (He’s going through a troubled recovery from throat cancer, beginning two years ago, and his wife has just been through a bout with cancer as well). We’ll be heading for Mississippi tomorrow to spend a week with the family there.

Nothing like struggles to make you re-evaluate your priorities!

With that in mind, I present this, the

To my regular readers, I feel I must add the disclaimer. Since this carnival is open to all homeschooling bloggers, there may be sites and content here that I would not otherwise link from this blog. I have indicated such content, where possible.

And to the carnival participants and any new readers, a disclaimer for you, as well. Although the Carnival of Homeschooling is not Christian, I am. Please feel free to simply skip over areas of my post which do not apply to you, and enjoy the remainder.

Here, in no particular order, are some priorities that have come into focus for us recently… with this week’s bloggers illustrating my point!

What Matters: People

In this instance, it means that being with Grandpa right now is worth hubby taking time off work, pulling my marching band kid out of school for a week… Family matters more than any of that “stuff.”

Mrs. White has some great suggestions for quick and easy lessons that are fun for mom to do right alongside the kids, in Efficient Teaching Ideas for Busy Homeschooling Mothers Part Three posted at The Legacy of Home.

Laughing together is a GOOD thing – and so is cooking together! Check out Cristina’s Home Spun comic strip #440 posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Tammy relates how the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count is about her family as much as the birds, at Adventures On Beck’s Bounty. Susan Ryan is on the same page, with Citizen Science posted at Corn and Oil.

What could be cozier quality time than reading together? Dave Roller enjoys reading to his children from Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough to Vote, as he shares at Home School Dad, and Amy shares Read Aloud Thursday – including a Mr. Linky roundup of others’ read-aloud lists – at Hope Is the Word.

Susan Gaissert presents an insightful look at The Consequences of Saying Yes at The Expanding Life.

Tonya discusses people-sensitive curriculum choices, in Choices, Choices, Choices: Choosing Curriculum posted at Live the Adventure.

Lizzie just wants to touch base, and offers her School Update at A Dusty Frame.

Catherine appreciates the flexibility to meet her daughter’s specific needs, in Math Slowdown, posted at Petticoat Government.

Katherine sends out kudos to her local children’s librarian at No fighting, no biting!.

What Matters: Obeying God

Oh, so many things, but let me use an illustration I am in the process of writing a post about in and of itself: Do we tithe 10% of the unemployment check that is already not enough to pay the bills? Oh yes, we must!

Tiana Krenz’ wonderful contribution this week discusses our choice to homeschool in light of How Doing Something “Good” Can Keep You From Obeying posted at God Made, Home Grown.

Oh, the joy! Lara DeHaven shares her children’s delight in Honor Your Parents posted at Texas Homesteader.

What Doesn’t Matter: The Lastest, Newest, Trendiest…

We just plain don’t need to spend the time, energy, money, and stress chasing after or worrying about it! Sheesh! And you know what, so many times, the tried and true “old-fashioned” way works best anyway.

Jennifer Bogart shares An Oldie, But a Goodie for penmanship at Bogart Family Resources.

Perfectly on topic here, Deana describles how to Make Your Own Word Family Review Cards (for Preschool) over at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom.

Jamie describes the simple and classic methods she’s using in A day in the life… posted at Jam Side Up.

What Doesn’t Matter: Other People’s Opinions, “Conventional Wisdom”

Even the well-meaning folks don’t know your circumstances and your family the way you do. And just because “everyone says so” is absolutely no gurantee that it’s right or good in any given situation! As homeschoolers, of course, most of us have no problem being “unconventional” with our schooling – we just need to carry the mentality even further.

Summer discusses respecting her son’s developmental pace in Reading And Not Reading posted at Wired For Noise – and what a cute video! (Please be advised there is language that will be objectionable to some in this blog (including the header), although none in this specific post).

Barbara Frank invites us to reconsider – Is College Worth the Cost? at Barbara Frank Online.

Avivah allays some fears with her insightful post, Do You Have To Be Smart to Homeschool? at Oceans of Joy.

Linda Dobson explains the transition of Reinventing the Learning Lifestyle on PARENT AT THE HELM.

Amy shares her “confession” of switching to a more unschooled approach for her kids’ sake, in How To Suck the Joy Out of Learning posted at Did I Say That Outloud?.

Sarah discusses her patient philosophy of The Road to Independence, Part I on SmallWorld.

Janine reminds us that this holds true even if “other people” is a whole government, in Have you heard the news? posted at Why Homeschool.

What Matters: Honesty / Dealing With Reality

As much as we have faith that God can handle anything, nobody is served if we hide our heads in the sand and pretend that there is not a problem at the moment. This applies, in our recent life situation, to all kinds of areas – finances and health being the most obvious.

Similarly, Carol Topp, CPA warns about the danger of Fraud in a homeschool group at HomeschoolCPA.

Dolfin offers a candid look at their Hebrew-learning fruatrations in Rosetta Stone Check In posted at Lionden Landing.

Nothing says reality like a budget! Tricia Cobb presents Home Economics 102: Budgets posted at Home School MamaMi.

What Matters: Getting the Job Done

Sometimes it’s about having the right tool for the job. Sometimes it’s a skill. Often, it’s just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, and doing whatever it takes to get ‘er done.

Here’s some tools to help:

Kim shares some terrific kids’ Cleaning Lists at Kim’s Play Place.

Char presents The Best Valentines Printables posted at Printables for Kids.

Denise presents Week 1 Worksheets posted at Blogging 2 Learn.

Dianne M. Buxton presents Your Potential To Get More Flexible – And How To Do Effective Ballet/Sports/Cheer Leading Stretching posted at Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes.

ChristineMM offers her selection of a Homeschool Curriculum List for My Seventh Grader 2009 to 2010 posted at The Thinking Mother.

Rachel Lynette presents 20 Question to Ask Kids posted at Minds in Bloom.

Beverly’s setting a great way to get some support and interation, with Homeschoolers Respond – Recap #3 on Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com).

Misty has collected a 2010 Winter Olympic List of Websites at Homeschool Bytes.

And last, but never least, Miss Amanda reviews some project resources in He’s a Posterboy on The Daily Planet.

What Doesn’t Matter: Perfection

Well, it was bound to happen. Somehow the email forwarding glitched, and these poor folks’ carnival entries were lost in cyber-space! Belatedly, then, here are the [ahem] first four entires this month!

Margy discusses Writing the Personal Statement at Homeschool High School.

Learn about The Power of Compound Interest in Homeschooling at Nolo Promittere.

Read some School Humor at It’s All In Here. (Please note that this blog contains some mild language and thematic elements).

Dana asks the question: Is the current Roscommon Acres.

Thank you for reading… Please let me know if you find any errors or broken links!

I want to extend my hearfelt thanks to the bloggers who submitted these interesting, challenging, and diverse posts for your reading pleasure. As always, it has been a joy to read through them all while putting the carnival together.

Please take a moment to post a link to the carnival on your blog, as well as adding it to any social bookmarking sites you use (try the “Share This” link, below) — help spread the word about homeschooling, and the carnival, and send some traffic to all these terrific folks.

Don’t forget to send in your post for next week’s carnival, as well! Just click on over to the easy submision form at Blog Carnival anytime before Monday at 6pm Pacific.

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