Homeschool Blogs, Links & Giveaways

// 7.1.09 // 8 Comments » // Food & Fitness, Homeschooling

Time for some homeschool links! I have a guest post up at blogs.com listing the Top 10 Homeschooling Blogs. I listed some of my favorites, but I’d love to hear about yours. Leave me a comment with the URL of your favorite homeschool blogs.

Now, let’s talk giveaways.

• Journey2Learn has a 2009 Schoolhouse Planner~Review & Give Away. This planner looks pretty amazing, with 375 pages of forms, resources, and even recipes.
• ChoosyHomeschooler has an ongoing Wednesday Winner Contest. Just subscribe to their newsletter to be entered to win something new every week.

And I’ve got some excellent workbooks to give away. Summer Bridge workbooks consist of daily activities in reading, writing, mathematics, and language arts with bonus activities in science and geography for grades Pre-K through 8th. The books include flash cards, incentive contract calendars to keep kids motivated, and a certificate of completion. My daughter begs me to do this workbook every morning. I think we might be through the “summer activities” in two weeks!

I’ve got three to give away. (Winners will let me know their child’s grade level and the appropriate book will be sent to them.) Here’s how to enter:

• Leave a comment with a link to your favorite homeschool blog or online education resource — need not be specific to homeschooling! (one entry)
• Twitter this page as follows: @phatmommy is giving away three Summer Bridge Activities Workbooks that will keep your kids sharp over the summer. http://bit.ly/6YaqO

(one entry)

Giveaway will close on July 5th at midnight ET.

Thoughts on School Choice

// 6.7.09 // 4 Comments » // Freedom & Politics, Homeschooling, Link Love

It’s been awhile since I engaged in a good “debate” on homeschooling. After commenting on A Dad First’s response to an anti-homeschool article, I started clicking around the web and came across some gems.

Here is school reform advocate John Taylor Gatto:

“If you gave children and families (schooling) options … inside of a decade the institutional schools would vanish because they don’t teach the way children learn nor can they teach the way children learn. That’s not what they’re set up to do … They’re set up to sort people into occupational categories…”

Hat tip to Muse with Indy Jane.

Sharing Opinions on Homeschooling and Politics

// 1.31.09 // 7 Comments » // Freedom & Politics, Homeschooling, Link Love

I’ve tried unsuccessfully for the past three days to post a comment on the Momversations post, “Homeschool: Good or Bad?” So I’m going to post my comment here, cuz I kinda like what I have to say.

I always have to laugh when I hear people debating whether parents are “qualified” to teach their kids. I realize all homeschooling families are different, but I really “teach” my kids very little. We have co-ops and homeschool groups and field trips and classes and activities and sports. And we read a lot. I expose them to as much as possible. When my kids hit upon something they are interested in, we immerse ourselves in it.

My main goal in homeschooling my children is to teach them HOW TO TEACH THEMSELVES. I truly believe that if a person knows how to learn, they can accomplish anything in life. In public (and even private) schools, children are taught how to pass a test and regurgitate information that the government has deemed important. I just can’t see how that benefits anyone. Oh, wait, except maybe the government.

I also want to share Judy’s blog, Consent of the Governed. I recently went through my Google Reader subscriptions and cleared out almost all of them (I was up to 300+ feeds) because I couldn’t keep up and frankly couldn’t remember why I subscribed to many of them. Now that I have only a few, I am keeping up much better and reading the blogs that are most valuable to me. Consent of the Governed is one that I’m glad to be reading regularly again. I find myself sharing, stumbling, bookmarking and clipping almost every one of her posts. If you want to read some common sense political blogging, check her out.